Cindy Baier

Lucinda (“Cindy”) Baier is the President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of BrookdaleSenior Living, the nation’s premier operator of senior living communities. As of year-end 2021, the $2.8 billion company operates nearly 700 senior living communities and has the ability to serve approximately 60,000 residents through its independent living, assisted living, memory care, and continuing care retirement communities. The company’s 30,000+ employees are taking care of America’s seniors.

Ms. Baier became Brookdale’s President, Chief Executive Officer, and a member of the Board of Directors on February 28, 2018. Within her second year, the company’s Net Promoter Score® increased 20 percent. In her third year as CEO, J.D. Power recognized the company as #1 in customer satisfaction (in a tie) in assisted living/memory care communities. She focused the company’s efforts on increasing diversity, including the Board and executive leadership team approaching gender parity in 2020. In 2022 Baier published her first book “Heroes Work Here: An Extraordinary Story of Courage, Resilience, and Hope” from the front lines of COVID-19in which she shares how she and her team led Brookdale through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ms. Baier has served more than a decade as a board member for public and private companies. Currently, she is on the board of directors of Argentum, the National Investment Center for Seniors Housing & Care (NIC), and the Nashville Health Care Council, where she serves as Vice-Chair. She is a member of the NYSE Board Advisory Council, which identifies and connects diverse board candidates to NYSE-listed companies seeking new directors, and serves on the Vanderbilt University Medical Center Board.

Some of Baier’s awards and honors include Amazon Best Selling Author, named to Nashville Business Journal’s “Most Admired CEO” list in 2022 for the third time; CEO Forum Group’s2021 Top 10 CEOs Transforming Healthcare in America; Nashville Medical News’ Class of 2021“Women to Watch”; Corporate Citizenship 2020 Award from the Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board; and one of McKnight’s 2020 “Women of Distinction”.

Before becoming CEO of Brookdale, Ms. Baier was the company’s Chief Financial Officer beginning in December 2015. In addition to experience as a seasoned chief financial officer for several companies, she has been responsible for multi-billion-dollar operations, the chief executive officer for a publicly-traded retailer, and served as an executive officer of a Fortune30 company.

Ms. Baier is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of Illinois State University, with Bachelor and Master of Science degrees in Accounting.