The Principals

The Encore Partners Principals have extensive experience in each facet of senior housing development and operations.  More information about The Encore Partners’ Beliefs and Strategy is also available in About Us.

 

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Don Gorsuch


Don M. Gorsuch
Mr. Gorsuch brings over twenty-three years of experience to the development, construction, marketing, and start up operations of Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC’s), Independent Living and Assisted Living Apartments in North Carolina, Washington, and Colorado.   He is one of the premier marketers of Senior Housing in the Rocky Mountain Region bringing his unique approach to outreach, lifestyle, resident satisfaction, and employee focus to each community.  His experience in the senior housing industry includes site evaluation; market analysis; entitlement; concept development; start up marketing and sales; community outreach; project positioning; operational strategies; staff management, and homeowner association management.

Most recently, Don was co-founder of a Colorado based senior housing development company creating Continuing Care Senior Campuses with equity, rental, and Assisted Living residences in Colorado and Missouri.  As Vice President of Lifestyle and Sales at MacKenzie House, LLC he focused on an ownership/equity model for 55+ housing in the western United States.  As a key team member he was responsible for implementing innovative entitlement processes leading to a “Modifications of Standards” allowing for the construction of a senior community in Fort Collins, Colorado; conducting a national search resulting in the selection and oversight of a 3rd party Management Company to manage the brand “MacKenzie Place”; and was instrumental in introducing the concept to the Colorado marketplace when the first two campuses were constructed in Fort Collins and Colorado Springs, Colorado.
As Vice President of Product Development, Marketing, and Leasing for Concordia On the Lake, an independent senior living community focused on active lifestyles in Littleton, Colorado, Don expanded his concept of “making fun of life”.  During the challenges of the real estate market in 2001 he was able to lead a successful construction, marketing and leasing effort leading to 95% occupancy in two and a half years with above market rates and resident satisfaction.

As Director of Project Development and Construction he successfully managed the creation of a 435 residence Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), Carolina Meadows, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  Mr. Gorsuch directed the design, development and construction process working with all stages of the construction, construction lending, governmental approvals including obtaining a Certificate of Need, and all related reporting.  The community continues to enjoy national recognition and is fully accredited by the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aged.

Don has worked with over twelve age-restricted and age targeted development groups nationwide.  His consulting experience includes working with Life Care Services of America, LLP, and Covenant Retirement Communities, Inc., two of the largest national providers of senior services in America.  His consulting services bring a unique approach to people, a desire to create customer centric environments, and result in desired outcomes in the areas of project development, marketing and sales.

Mr. Gorsuch is a Certified Senior Advisor, founding member of the 50+ Housing Council of the metro-Denver Home Builder’s Association, Member of the American Society of Aging, Colorado Association of Homes and Services for the Aged, and the Community Associations Institute.  Don is a graduate of South Dakota State University; Northern Illinois University; and Regis University in Denver, Colorado.

 

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Ron Vaughn


Ron Vaughn
Mr. Vaughn is a seasoned executive with a broad range of experiences and skills in the development and senior housing arena. He has over 27 years of professional experience in senior housing and commercial/residential real estate fields, encompassing expertise in site selection, market positioning, research, entitlements, team selection, design development, management, marketing and brokerage related areas.
Ron was co-founder of a Colorado based senior housing development company focused on creating Continuing Care Senior Campuses including options of equity ownership, rental, and Assisted Living residences in the Front Range of Colorado, Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri.  As Executive Vice President of Development for MacKenzie House, LLC he focused primarily on new markets, concept development and community design in support of the strategic growth of the senior housing business. Under Ron’s direction, over $200MM in continuing care campuses, Assisted Living and Memory Care, are built and now operational; an additional $350MM of urban and master plan/integrated projects were proceeding in various stages of design and development prior to the collapse in the financial markets. Ron was responsible for the company vision and concepts, directed site assessment, market analysis, land/negotiation acquisitions, concept/program development, re-zone and entitlement strategies, team selection, architectural design, and project management, equity/debt offerings, master condo structure, etc.

Prior to MacKenzie House, Ron was the co-developer of Concordia on the Lake, a 195-unit, age-qualified Senior Apartment community in Littleton, Colorado, and formed Concord Management Company, where he was President of the operational entity created for the asset.  Concordia has consistently remained at or near 100% since stabilization. During this period, Ron was a co-developer of a 5-acre, urban infill mixed use development in Golden, was directly responsible for the site acquisitions program for TownePlace Suites in Colorado, and was instrumental in the commercial components of the historic Courtyard by Marriott, Denver, and three other historic adaptive reuse mixed use projects in downtown Denver.

Ron also spent six years in Seattle as Vice President of Cornerstone Columbia Development Company and Quadrant Corporation. In that role,  he held divisional responsibilty for the management and leasing of a 2.7 million s.f. portfolio of several large mixed-use urban redevelopment neighborhoods in Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue, Washington valued at over $300 million. Before Cornerstone, Ron was Director of Leasing and Management for L.C. Fulenwider, Inc., where he was responsible for a 985,000-square-foot commercial portfolio in Denver. He also served as a senior commercial leasing and investment broker with Van Schaack and Company.

Ron is a certified Assisted Living Administrator in Colorado, holds a Colorado Employing Broker license and is a graduate of Metropolitan State College where he graduated summa cum laude  and received a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Finance. He is a Colorado native, an active outdoor enthusiast and lives in Denver with his wife, Jeanne.

 


Kevin Graff
Mr. Graff has nearly ten years of experience in real estate and finance.  During this time, he has focused on real estate transactions including land acquisition, project financing and asset disposition.  As a Principal at Encore Partners, Mr. Graff focuses on project and corporate finance for the Company’s senior housing developments.

Mr. Graff is an underwriter and asset manager at Parkwood Real Estate Partners.  His responsibilities include asset management for 25 projects around the country including senior housing, retail, industrial, office and land assets with values exceeding $500 million.
Prior to Parkwood, Mr. Graff was Vice President of Finance at MacKenzie House, LLC.  His responsibilities included asset management, project financing and financial strategy.  He was the firm expert in Federal Housing Authority (FHA) insured debt financing and the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) process.  The firm moved all forward development to the HUD structure.  Also while at MacKenzie House, Mr. Graff served as project manager for an 85-unit Assisted Living development in Colorado Springs, CO.  He managed a $50 million continuing care campus in Fort Collins, CO, which included workout negotiations with existing debt as well as management oversight.  These project and asset management roles included budgeting, schedule maintenance and consultant coordination.  He was also involved in the disposition of a $25 million Assisted Living facility to an institutional investor at the lowest capitalization rate in the U.S. year-to-date.
Previously, Mr. Graff worked for Cushman & Wakefield’s Transaction Consulting Group in New York where he was responsible for analysis, research, and due diligence for real estate transactions over 100,000 square feet.  This advisory included over 5 million square feet of office space around the United States.  Notable assignments included:  Time Inc. headquarters cost-benefit utilization (1.5 million s.f.), BASF North American headquarters relocation (1 million s.f.), TimeWarner headquarters disposition (500,000 s.f.), BNP Paribas North American headquarters lease renewal (350,000 s.f.) and Bingham McCutchen headquarters relocation (315,000 s.f.).

He began his professional life as an analyst with Lehman Brothers in the Mergers & Acquisitions Group, where he participated in advisory services on several billion dollar M&A transactions including TeleCorp PCS’s $4.7 billion sale to AT&T Wireless, UtiliCorp/Aquila $550 million merger, Cingular negotiations with AT&T Wireless and T-Mobile leading to purchase of AT&T Wireless and AOL TimeWarner’s $70 billion bid for AT&T Broadband.

Mr. Graff received an M.B.A. from the UCLA Anderson School of Management where he graduated in the Top 10% of his class and received the J. Fred Weston Award for Academic Excellence in Finance.  He received a B.S. in Finance from the University of Colorado at Boulder With Honors.  He lives in the Denver area with his wife Brooke and their son Jackson and continues his lifelong quest for a decent golf game.