Meet our Leadership Team.
Get to know our organization.
We are honored to have a distinguished board of trustees with exceptional experience in health care and senior living at Covenant Living Communities and Services.
The executive leadership team and board of directors are committed to the strategic vision of assisting and meeting the needs of future generations of residents and staff.
David Erickson President and CEO
Jean “Jeannie” Justie Chief Financial Officer
Jeannie began her career in public accounting with Arthur Andersen LLP. SHe later joined Alexian Brothers Health Systems where she progressed to senior vice president of finance, providing executive oversight to centralized accounting and related support functions and oversight of the CFOs for the non-acute care operations. Jeannie is a CPA and graduate of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and holds a graduate certificate in executive ministry leadership formation from Aquinas Institute of Theology.
Dee Brown Chief Human Resources Officer
Dee comes to Covenant Living with over 25 years of Human Resource experience. Dee began her career at Allstate Insurance, where she was responsible for building human capital strategies focused on development, compensation, performance management, talent acquisition, culture, and employee relations. In 2019, Dee enabled talent strategies for the transformational growth efforts at Kemper as a human resource vice president. Dee holds a BA in Organizational Leadership and a MA in Organization Development, both from Roosevelt University. Dee joined Covenant Living in 2022.
Jay Hibbard Chief Growth and Communication Officer
Jay brings extensive experience with sales training and management as well as marketing strategy and execution, having worked with more than 50 continuing care retirement communities across the country. Jay began his senior living career at the Pines at Whiting, before becoming regional director of sales for ACTS Retirement-Life Communities. He also served as vice president of sales at Spectrum Consulting, and president of Bluespire Senior Living (formerly Martino & Binzer), a senior living marketing and communications firm. Jay joined Covenant Living in 2016.
Bill Rabe Chief Information & Technology Officer
Bill joined Covenant Living in 2016 as chief information officer. Prior to that, Bill worked at ACE Hardware Corporation for 15 years in several leadership positions managing infrastructure for 5,000 retail stores and 15 warehouses. He was responsible for the implementation of key initiatives involving supply chain, datacenter consolidations, moving services to the cloud, and telecomm consolidation. After leaving ACE, Bill provided CIO services as a consultant.
Francis “Fran” Palma Chief Marketing & Digital Strategy Officer
Fran began his career in 1995 building eldercare databases and providing online marketing. In 1999 he started an online advertising department for Partner Communications and in 2004 he joined Martino & Binzer to build a digital department. He has worked with more than 100 senior living organizations providing strategic marketing planning and direction, and regularly speaks at senior living conferences on digital marketing, lead generation and analytics. Fran joined Covenant Living in 2016.
Randal “Randy” Gross Senior Vice President, Project Development
Randy began his career at UPS where he was responsible for environmental compliance, project management and facility maintenance for distribution centers in Southern Illinois. In 2005, he joined Cardinal Health as a systems technology manager responsible for facility maintenance and capital expenditures. In 2008, he joined Brookfield Zoo as a department manager responsible for several work groups, including heating and cooling technicians, carpenters, electricians, exhibit builders, and life support engineers. Randy joined Covenant Living in 2011.
Elizabeth McLaren Sr. Vice President of Revenue-Cycle, Reimbursement and HCBS
Elizabeth McLaren joined the Covenant Living leadership team in August 2009 as the National Director of Healthcare, overseeing third party billing and providing support for Covenant Living healthcare communities. Her responsibilities expanded to more direct involvement in the skilled nursing and assisted living facilities, and in 2018, she was named Vice President of Health Services Strategy, Programming & Integration. Prior to coming to Covenant Living, Elizabeth served as a consultant to Covenant Living through Frost, Ruttenberg & Rothblatt (FR&R).
A leader at the national level in the healthcare industry, Elizabeth is a member of the LeadingAge Illinois Skilled Nursing Facility Cabinet. She also is on the American Healthcare Association (AHCA) not-for-profit provider council and the healthcare provider billing advocate committee. In 2011, Elizabeth authored “Long-Term Skilled Services: Applying Medicare’s Rules to Clinical Practice,” a book that is considered a seminal resource for those involved in Medicare billing.
Elizabeth has two daughters, and she and her husband live in Round Lake, Illinois. The family is actively involved in the life of St. Bede’s Catholic Church in Ingleside, Illinois.
Christopher Blair Vice President, Dining Operations
Chris brings diverse operations experience in healthcare, hospitality and restaurant operations to Covenant Living. After earning an undergraduate degree and MBA in Healthcare Management from the University of Illinois, Chris served in several leadership roles within the health care industry, in both clinical and insurance payor operations. In 2001, Chris ventured into entrepreneurship as a multi-unit franchise owner and operator of Culver’s restaurants. In 2015, Chris co-founded a consulting business, specializing in hotel and commercial hospitality.
To learn more about our communities, please click here to contact us online or call us at (888) 401-6459.