National Senior Housing Digital Summit

As the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Avanti Senior Living, Alford is passionate about empowering older adults with endless choices, state-of-the-art technology, sophisticated living and care and wellness that surpasses the highest benchmarks. Throughout her career, Lori has embraced the “disruptive theory” and has explored ways to challenge the status quo in order to improve the life of seniors and workplace environment. As one of senior living’s most respected innovators, Lori draws from nearly 20 years of experience in senior living as she forges industry-transforming practices and perceptions for senior living. Her passion is focusing on the people and creating a culture of empowerment and pride. Previously, she served as COO of one of the largest assisted living companies in the industry where she was responsible for 32 communities across 10 states and an annual revenues of more than $100M. Lori is actively involved in disrupting the industry and is a frequent speaker and panelist. She has a passion for inspiring women to achieve the best they can be!

Jerry Liang is chief financial officer and executive vice president responsible for development, asset management, capital structuring, investor relations, accounting, treasury, and risk management. Before joining Benchmark in February 2021, Jerry served as senior vice president of investments and development at Sunrise Senior Living, based in McLean, Virginia, for 13 years.

Sharon Ricardi is a seasoned senior housing professional with over 25 years of experience in operations, dementia care, sales, and marketing. As Senior Vice President of the Northbridge Companies, Sharon was instrumental in growing the company from a single asset in 2007 to 17 communities today. Currently she is President of Northbridge Advisory Services, a division of the Northbridge Companies, and is a Managing Director of HallBridge Partners, owners/operators of a portfolio of affordable and middle market assisted living communities. Her experience encompasses the start-up and turn-around of over 30 assisted living communities throughout the Northeast. She is past Chairman of the Board of Mass ALA and is active on their Public Policy Committee. She has been a frequent industry speaker, industry board member, and has authored several articles on assisted living operations, marketing, public policy and dementia care.

As Head of Real Estate at Sunrise, Philip leads real estate and investment strategy for North America, where growth is driven by more than just new buildings, it’s about shaping the future of senior living. He leads the full real estate development pipeline—from market research to site selection and entitlements through construction and stabilization—ensuring alignment with brand, operational, and financial goals. Serving as a cross-functional leader, he bridges real estate, operations, asset management, and finance while advising Sunrise’s real estate investors (both equity and debt) and executive team on opportunities for market expansion and asset optimization. His work includes assessing new markets, analyzing regulatory and demographic conditions, and developing strategic growth initiatives for both new and aging properties. Philip focuses on opportunities that move the business forward for both Sunrise and our property investors. Philip also oversees financing strategies and execution of raising of capital to be deployed for new developments and portfolio expansion. He partners with institutional capital and private equity to create new and expand existing relationships to support their investment strategies across senior housing. He has also focused on building new joint venture relationships, in high barrier to entry markets, with merchant developers who require an experienced luxury/premium operating partner and developer who can also fine tune their product to today’s affluent seniors’ preferences. Philip holds degrees in Architecture and Urban & Environmental Planning from the University of Virginia. Having worked for The Mills Corporation, Bos Group, and Arthur Andersen Real Estate Services, Philip brings over 30 years of experience in real estate development, finance, and asset management.

Rafi is a commercial real estate finance veteran with over 15 years of experience in CRE structured finance, loan origination and equity investments. Prior to founding PLG, Rafi spent his career on Wall Street where he was a Managing Director at Ladder Capital, a publicly traded REIT. At Ladder, Rafi focused on CMBS origination, balance sheet and mezzanine loans as well as equity investments. Prior to Ladder, Rafi worked at Gramercy Capital conducting asset management and loan workouts. Rafi began his career at Credit Suisse in its large loan commercial real estate group. Throughout his career, Rafi has originated and closed over $2.5 billion of commercial real estate loans throughout the country. Rafi has a BS from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Chuck Hurchalla is the president of Evolution Sustainability Group. He has over 30 years of experience in the deregulated energy markets, including natural gas, electricity and petroleum products. He is considered a subject matter expert on hedging strategies and the fundamental and technical drivers of movements in the energy markets, including renewable products. In addition, he has been instrumental in helping clients develop comprehensive energy management solutions that meet or exceed energy efficiency and sustainability goals.