Assisted Living

Blair Minton
Founder of Blair Minton and Associates, Inc.

Founder and President of Blair Minton and Associates, Inc., Mr. Minton has 30 years of experience in all phases of the health care industry, including 25 years of experience in the administration, planning and development of services for older adults and hospitals.

Blair Minton and Associates has provided consulting services to the health care and senior living industries since 1989. Under his leadership, BMA has been instrumental in the development and operation of numerous assisted living, independent living and supportive living facilities in the Midwest. BMA also manages more than 180,000 square feet of medical office space for a local hospital system.

Rod Burkett has been at the helm of BMA Management, Ltd. since May 1999, serving as the company’s first and only operational leader.
 
As President of the management company, Rod has overseen the opening of more than 35 new senior living communities, including the first affordable assisted living community to be developed by BMA.  These communities have touched the lives of thousands of older adults and their families.
 
Through his leadership, BMA has grown to be one of the 25 largest providers of assisted living in the nation and the largest provider of affordable assisted living in the State of Illinois.
 
Prior to his arrival at BMA, Rod enjoyed a 20-year career in the healthcare management fields of public health, home health, medical clinics, hospitals and nursing homes. During this pre-BMA experience, Mr. Burkett served as Chief Executive Officer of two hospitals and held the position of Regional Director for a large nursing home ownership chain.
 
Rod currently serves as Vice President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition, which is based in Springfield, Illinois, and serves on the Supportive Living Facility Cabinet for Life Services Network, the largest elder care association in Illinois.  He also is a member of the Assisted Living Federation of America’s COO Roundtable and a member of “Vistage”, an international executive development group.
 
He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Community Health from Eastern Illinois University and performed his graduate level studies at St. Louis University and Eastern Illinois University, culminating in an MBA in 1993.
 
Rod enjoys jogging, biking, major league baseball (most notably an avid member of the Cardinal Nation) and spending time with his family, including his two young grandsons.

Rick Banas

Rick brings to his role as Vice President of Strategic Marketing for BMA nearly 35 years of senior housing and health care experience.  He has had the privilege of working with retirement communities, assisted living facilities, hospitals and health care systems in urban, suburban and rural areas in 25 states from Maine to California.

His experience covers all aspects of the marketing and sales process, from market research and analysis to product development, pricing, the development and execution of marketing plans, lead generation, and working with the prospect to overcome objections and close the sale.

A native of the Chicago area, Rick graduated with a degree in Media Studies from the University of Detroit.  He has served as a judge for the national Mature Media Awards and is a Past Board Member and Chair of the Board of the Palatine Township Senior Center in Palatine, Illinois.

He and his wife, Valerie, are members of the Capital Campaign Cabinet for the $11.6 million campaign for Notre Dame College Prep, the largest campaign in the history of the school, which is located in Niles, Illinois.

Areas of Expertise:

• Business contract negotiations
• Development financial pro forma’s
• Accounting, financial reporting
• Budgeting, forecasting
• Accounts payable and payroll
• Cost accounting/decision support

David is a selected member of the ALFA Executive Roundtable, on of only 20 members in the U.S. He has more than 20 years of financial management experience in the assisted living, supportive living, hospital and small business industries.

His background includes Chief Financial Officer of a suburban private duty nursing company and Director of Finance of a suburban hospital.
 
Mr. Mitchell earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Eastern Illinois University in 1985.  He completed studies towards an MBA Degree from Keller Graduate School of Management in 1991. David has been a member of Healthcare Financial Management Association since 1995.

Jamie Durham

Since joining BMA in October 2000, Jamie Durham has been responsible for overseeing numerous construction projects.  His first assignment with the company was to oversee the development and construction of Heritage Woods of Ottawa, one of the first affordable assisted living communities to be developed in the State of Illinois and the second to be developed by BMA.  Since then, Jamie has been on board to open every one of BMA’s 30 plus senior housing communities.

Before joining the BMA team, he was project supervisor and construction manager for several construction companies.  He has nearly 30 years of experience.

Today, Jamie works directly with site designers, architects, engineers and builders to ensure the highest quality of construction and physical plant maintenance.

In addition to his work with communities developed by BMA, Jamie has provided invaluable construction management and consulting services to other senior living providers and has worked on a number of specialty projects, including an affordable assisted living community specially designed for the visually impaired.

His role with BMA also includes expansion and rehabilitation projects.

Excited by the growth, security and strength of our company, Jamie looks forward to many new building projects on the horizon. His drive’s for excellence comes from having faith in a company with modest beginnings, dedication to its mission and a hardworking staff.

Jamie has specialty training from OSHA and HILTI in Hazmat/MSDS, Firestop Systems, Safety, Scaffolding Use & Erection and AGCA construction management courses including Jobsite Safety, Productivity & Improvement, and Planning & Scheduling.

“Construction oversight can be a tough, dirty, sometimes laborious job. When I go to sleep at the end of the day, though, I get real peace of mind knowing that I put in long hard hours helping to give seniors an amazing place to live.”