Osborn CEO Mark Zwerger received the James W. Sanderson Memorial Award for Leadership at the LeadingAgeNY annual conference in Saratoga Springs, New York last month.
Mr. Zwerger has spent more than 40 years working, leading and mentoring in organizations that care for, and care about, the aging population. He started working at The Osborn in 1988 when the institution was struggling financially and served a population of 115 residents. He spearheaded Pathway 2000, the ten year, $120 million expansion project that restored the institution to fiscal solvency and enabled The Osborn to serve hundreds of additional residents with a wider array of living arrangements and healthcare services.
The Osborn is a modern continuing care community with 430 residents on its 54-acre Rye Campus. Pathway 200 included the construction of the Osborn Pavilion, an 84-bed, all-private rooms, licensed skilled nursing facility and rehabilitation center on campus, and built 188 entry-fee apartments and garden homes.
In 1996 Mr. Zwerger created Osborn Home Care to serve both Osborn residents and those in the community who continue to live in their own homes. This year, The Osborn expanded its homecare services into the state of Connecticut.
Today The Osborn is a financially healthy, highly respected retirement community offering a full continuum of care: independent living, assisted living, memory care, skilled nursing, outpatient rehabilitation and licensed homecare. Over 400 residents live on its 56-acre campus. The organization has an A- rating from Fitch for its financial stability, and three consecutive five year accreditations from CARF-CCAC.
“All of this was engineered while maintaining The Osborn’s charitable mission, giving $2 million dollars annually in scholarships to residents,” noted Board Chairman Jack Miller. “Mark’s leadership extends beyond resident services to the staff, now over 700 individuals. The Osborn has an unheard-of low rate of staff turnover, below 10%, with many employees there for over fifteen years.”
“Mark Zwerger is a highly respected leader in the field of aging services and his commitment to the field is underscored by his service outside of The Osborn. On the state level, he served two-six year terms on the LeadingAgeNY Board of Directors and has also served on and chaired various task forces and public policy forums related to care for the aged,” added Miller.
The award was named for the late James Sanderson, longtime counsel to LeadingAgeNY, the New York State branch of the national association of 6,000 not-for-profit organizations dedicated to advancing opportunities for the aging. The Osborn was a founding member of the organization.
The Sanderson award honors "personal leadership and commitment by a New York State resident devoted to the field of long term care, housing and services, who is employed by a non-for-profit long term care organization.”
Mr. Zwerger is on the Board of Directors of the Rye Free Reading Room where he chairs the Library’s Strategic Planning Committee. On the national level, he served on the Board of Directors of LeadingAge’s Development Corporation, its House of Delegates, and was an inaugural member of the Board of LeadingAge’s Center for Aging Services Technology (CAST).
Established in 1908, The Osborn is a 501c3 continuing care campus for seniors, offering a wide range of programs including independent living, assisted living, dementia care through the H.O.P.E. Center, long-term skilled nursing care, post-acute short-term rehabilitation, out-patient rehabilitation, and home care. Individuals and families interested in learning more about The Osborn and Osborn Homecare are invited to call 914-925-8000 or visit www.theosborn.org.