The SageAge Team

Faith Ott

Founder and Chief Strategy Officer

Faith has over four decades of experience in senior living growth strategy, campus master planning, market research, and program/service development. A recognized thought leader and highly sought-speaker in the senior living space, she has worked in every facet of the senior living lifestyle continuum, including Lifecare communities and CCRCs, assisted living and memory care communities, adult day centers, subacute and rehabilitation facilities, long-term care centers, hospice care providers, and home care services.
Faith has successfully guided an extensive list of client-partners in both the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. She has developed strategic business plans for new programs and services, blue-sky and new developments, and campus-expansion projects. She has identified strong market opportunities and guided clients in the successful implementation of market demand and feasibility studies, focus groups, and campus master-planning efforts.

Melinda Schmitz

CEO

As CEO of SageAge, Melinda works closely with our client-partners to provide strategic expertise and experience to lead sustained profitable growth. In creating these strong, lasting relationships, she supports our client-partners with her substantial consulting expertise in key business disciplines such as strategic marketing, advertising and branding campaigns, new development and campus master planning, census assessment and enhancement, and sales oversight and best practices. A seasoned professional, Melinda possesses strategic consulting, customer service and marketing abilities, and has a proven record of accomplishment in successfully guiding client communities to increased occupancy and market growth. Prior to joining SageAge, Melinda held the position of director of strategy and planning at Zillner, a respected national senior living consulting and marketing organization. Today, in her executive leadership role, Melinda is responsible for organizational performance assessments, the creation and execution of integrated strategic marketing plans, client branding and identity development, service excellence strategies, and operational and sales consulting services.

Kendra Belzer

EVP OF PEOPLE

For over 20 years, Kendra has specialized in Client Services and Operations oversight. She spent the first 15 years of her career working with Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) clients such as Procter & Gamble, General Mills, Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Starbucks, to name a few. In her role, she developed marketing strategies and executed product offerings across the retail industry. Most recently, she has partnered with senior living communities nationwide, leading agency client services teams from critical strategy development to operational support and execution. She has nurtured and overseen senior living community relationships while leading these agency partnerships to increase leads, sales and occupancy.

Malissa Illiano, MBA

Vice President of Market Research

Malissa joined SageAge in 2005 as a Research Analyst, bringing market research expertise to the organization. Since then, Malissa has helped grow our Market Research Department, developing SageAge into a respected leader in senior living market feasibility and demand analysis. Malissa is primarily responsible for completing pre-market research and market analysis studies. Her expertise in consumer and market research, which includes surveys, focus groups, personal interviews and referral source assessments, guides the development of marketing strategy and messaging. She leads all market demand analysis efforts and related initiatives such as completing competitor analyses – functions that are essential to making informed recommendations for new business development and expansion. She also assists with the development, creation and implementation of strategic marketing proposals and plans.

Sally Kellam

Executive Vice President of Agency Operations

In this key leadership role, Sally is a driving force at SageAge. Within the organization, she is responsible for ensuring connectivity and collaboration between teams, adherence to processes and efficiencies, and team strength and agility.

Her purview extends beyond our virtual walls. Sally actively establishes and nurtures relationships with client-partners, building rapport and trust that are valued on both sides. She participates in strategic planning and delivers high-level oversight of campaign and tactic development and deployment, tracking performance and ROI. Sally also builds and maintains relationships with vendors, evaluating their services, costs and value, keeping SageAge up-to-the-minute in capabilities and as efficient as possible.

Sean Ochester

Sean is an influential, decisive and insightful business leader who fuses technology expertise with business acumen to build productive operations and technical solutions while driving continual innovation and profitable growth. Skilled at spearheading and managing digital initiatives and optimizing existing systems to create strategic and valuable processes, Sean expands operational and product capabilities, boosts market position, and supports growth objectives through strategy development and tactical implementation.

Cristina Mank

Cristina’s focus is twofold: She works directly with our client-partners leadership teams to create lead-generation strategies and comprehensive marketing plans while providing exceptional leadership to our entire Client Services team.

With over 14 years in marketing and advertising – with most of that time focused exclusively on senior living – she brings insight, experience, and solutions to the table. Forging strong relationships with our client-partners, Cristina plans, strategies, and implements campaigns that not only identify and meet expectations; they exceed them. Analytical and creative, she uses customer data and insights as the foundation for marketing strategies.

Lori Colhouer

Lori works with our client-partners to develop marketing strategies that boost lead generation and promote lead nurturing to meet and exceed sales and marketing goals. Drawing on her experience and skills in senior living, Lori works with senior living leaders to develop and manage compelling integrated marketing programs that resonate with target audiences, develop marketing tactics to build brand equity and generate leads/sales, develop competitive offerings for clients that deliver strong points of differentiation and advantage in the competitive environment, and recommend annual budgets based on real-time data trends and forecasting.

Emily Gordon

With over 15 years of marketing experience in B2B and B2C and product/brand promotions, Emily has focused exclusively on senior living for the past several years. She has worked with communities at all stages of development, from blue sky to those that have been in the market for decades, as well as all types, including national systems and stand-alone communities, supporting community and corporate teams alike. A solution provider, she develops unique strategic approaches for each community she serves, helping them identify and achieve their goals. Emily loves getting to know each community team, building working relationships and being a part of their journey.

Angela Hamilton

Angela sets crystal-clear strategic marketing direction for her clients and makes sure they get results that support their sales and occupancy goals. She does this so exceedingly well because Angela began on their side: Her career started as a sales counselor for a Virginia Life Care community. From there, she advanced to director of sales and marketing for two other Virginia communities. And then, with her keen, field-tested, well-developed understanding of what it takes for a community to reach its goals, she moved to the agency side. Today, she’s known for her industrious partnerships with communities all across the country and at all stages of their life cycles – blue-sky to century-old. Angela takes a collaborative approach to partnering with clients to develop omnichannel marketing strategies that lead to the achievement of lead generation and sales goals. She places emphasis on finding the right audience and delivering the right message at the right time in that prospect’s buying journey.

Faith Franzen

Account Director

Faith has been in the senior living industry since 2007 and has had the opportunity to witness the change in the senior living prospect from more of a passive participant in the process to an active seeker of information.  It’s with this transition she has come to understand the true omni-channel approach our senior living prospects and their families take to narrow down their search.  Now more than ever, senior living providers rely on targeted marketing campaigns along with robust data to not only assist them reaching high quality prospects but also keep them engaged during their decision making process.  Faith’s 13+ years of community based experience gives her a unique perspective into the customer journey and an intimate understanding of the sales process through all levels of care.  Seeing first hand the impact moving into a senior living community has on a resident and their health and wellbeing is what makes senior living her passion. 

Brett Dunahue

Director Digital Strategist

Brett brings 10+ years of experience to her role, overseeing digital strategy for the digital team at SageAge. Her career working in both agency and client-side marketing roles in a range of verticals has helped her hone her abilities and knowledge to work across a range of marketing disciplines. Brett’s professional experience and proficiency in many areas of digital  – including SEO, PPC, media planning, content creation, reputation management, data analysis, email strategy and web development – have uniquely positioned her for her role as a Director Digital Strategist at SageAge, where she works with clients and the digital team to develop successful integrated campaigns that convert.

Brandon Temple

Creative Director

Brandon is driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a love of all things creative. Brandon has been the owner of a graphic design business in Kansas City since 2013 that focuses on brand management and implementation for a variety of clients. On every project, Brandon took the creative helm. Before that, Brandon spent 15 years as the Design and Print Manager for a non-profit membership organization for family doctors here in Kansas City. Brandon has worked for a number of advertising businesses, focusing on production and IT management. He is an expert in creative and production management processes with over 25 years of expertise in art direction for both traditional and digital media.

Cortney Watterson

Resource Director

Cortney Watterson is a seasoned professional with a wealth of experience in client service, project management, and operations. Her journey in the world of client services began as an Account Coordinator, where she honed her skills in managing day-to-day plans and projects for a diverse range of clients. Over the years, Cortney’s dedication and expertise propelled her into increasingly responsible roles within the organization. She seamlessly transitioned into the role of Project Coordinator, where her meticulous attention to detail and commitment to excellence shone through. Her remarkable journey within the company continued, leading to her positions as Project Manager, Senior Project Manager, and Associate Director of Project & Delivery. In her current role of Resource Director, Cortney has demonstrated exceptional leadership and an innate ability to drive successful outcomes. Her strategic vision and knack for problem-solving have made her an invaluable asset to the team and the clients she serves.

Jason Williams

Creative Director

Jason has spent the last decade working in the advertising world as an Art Director and Technology Specialist. He is a unique blend of both artist and engineer who’s passionate about thoughtful design combined with innovative technology. His skills span traditional tactics to the latest in digital trends and techniques. Jason’s experience is a result of working on a wide variety of projects that range from brand development and website design/build to social listening analysis. His design skills and technological expertise  – combined with an artist’s eye – allow him to dream up the big idea, execute the design, manage the development process and assist in launching the final product.

Deborah Potter

Vice President of Consulting

As a member of the SageAge Executive Team, Deborah focuses on the progression of our sales consulting services as well as the evolution of our product and program development. With her background in senior living sales and sales product/program development as a foundation, she developed GROW, SageAge’s growth-focused and change-inspiring sales training program and virtual classroom – a proprietary program that has received great reviews and delivered tremendous results. Deborah leads our team in creating fresh and innovative products, services and programs that enable SageAge to support our clients’ sales efforts. Deborah has a rich history in senior living where she has achieved an impressive record of success.

Chelsea Wilson

Communication and Content Director

Chelsea oversees the development and implementation of communications, content and social media for SageAge’s clients. With over seven years in the senior living industry, she’s worked with communities across the country to develop successful media tactics that generate positive awareness. From local news to senior living trade publications and beyond, Chelsea finds the stories that make the senior living industry shine in all forms of content. Prior to working in public relations, Chelsea was a news producer and has won and been nominated for several Emmy Awards and Edward R. Murrow Awards. At SageAge, she offers clients a broad range of services, including media training, crisis management, media relations and reputation management.