December 13, 2021 —SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. (July 18, 2019) — Howard Smith, Chair of Kendal on Hudson’s Board of Directors, has announced that veteran senior living administrator Steve Fishler has been selected to lead that community as Interim Executive Director until a new Executive Director is recruited.
Fishler, who has more than 35 years of experience in management positions with senior living organizations in California, Illinois, Florida and North Carolina, began serving as Kendal on Hudson’s Interim Executive Director July 1. Fishler is a licensed Nursing Home Administrator, certified by the state of California. Most recently, he was Executive Director of The Sequoias Portola Valley, owned and operated by Northern California Presbyterian Homes and Services.
Before that, Fishler served for 17 years as President and Executive Director of The Forest at Duke, a not-for-profit continuing care retirement community with a programmatic affiliation with Duke University. During his tenure there, The Forest at Duke achieved CCAC/CARF accreditation and reaccreditation, maintained an average census of 95% and earned a Fitch BBB+ long-term credit rating.
“Having served in the leadership of some of the finest CCRCs across the country over the past 40 years, I feel privileged to serve in such a caring and beautiful community as Kendal on Hudson, which enjoys both a spectacular location and a thriving sense of purpose,” Fishler said. “It will be a great pleasure and a special opportunity for me to serve at a community founded and thriving in Quaker tradition and to support this fabulous staff during this important and exciting transition.”
In May, James Antonucci advised the Board that he would be stepping down July 1 from his position as CEO/Executive Director. Having achieved the key fiscal and operational goals set for him when he came to Kendal on Hudson last year, Antonucci said he felt, and the Board agreed that the community is well-positioned to take a slower, more deliberative approach going forward under new leadership.
Fishler graduated with honors from the University of Arizona, Tucson, with a bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, with a concentration in Health Services Administration. He also has a master’s degree in Public Administration, with a concentration in Long Term Care Administration and a Certificate in Gerontology, from the University of Arizona, Tucson.
About Kendal on Hudson
Located in Sleepy Hollow, New York, Kendal on Hudson is a not-for-profit Life Plan Community affiliated with Kendal. The community includes more than 220 apartments in multistory buildings, an assisted living program for people needing personal care services, a memory support program based on the open household model for people living with dementia, a health care center providing short- and long-term nursing care and an array of community amenities.
About Kendal
A leader in the field of aging services with headquarters in the southeastern Pennsylvania/metro Philadelphia area, Kendal is among the 10 largest not-for-profit senior living organizations in the U.S. Kendal-affiliated retirement communities are located in Hanover, New Hampshire; Ithaca and Sleepy Hollow, New York; Northampton and Easthampton, Massachusetts; Lexington, Virginia; metro Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Kennett Square, West Chester and Newtown, Pennsylvania; and Oberlin, Ohio. Kendal at Home, based in suburban Cleveland, combines the security of a continuing care retirement community with the freedom and independence of living at home.