WHCA/WiCAL: Announces new executive director John Vander Meer to succeed retiring doctor Tom Moore in association leadership

John Vander Meer or Tom Moore

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MADISON – The Wisconsin Health Care Association and the Wisconsin Center for Assisted Living (WHCA/WiCAL) has named John Vander Meer to succeed Tom Moore as Executive Director of the skilled nursing and assisted living facility trade association.

“On behalf of our community of hard-working long-term care providers, I am very pleased to announce that John Vander Meer, WHCA/WiCAL Communications Director was the unanimous selection of the Search Committee to become our next Executive Director,” said WHCA Board President Mike Schanke.

Schanke said Vander Meer’s direct experience over the last five years with the WHCA/WiCAL membership and long-term care provider community issues, as well as his other professional experience made him the right fit for the association. In addition to his experience in staff roles in the Wisconsin State Legislature, a Masters of Public Affairs in Management and Political Communications from UW-Madison’s Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, Schanke emphasized the importance of Vander Meer’s strong desire to serve our membership and residents.

“I am honored to have the remarkable opportunity to serve as WHCA’s next Executive Director,” Vander Meer said. “Wisconsin’s skilled nursing and assisted living providers face significant challenges in the coming years. With the Family Care re-design at the state level, changes in the Conditions of Participation at the federal level, and the inability of providers to secure enough front-line caregivers to care for our state’s most frail elderly and disabled, I look forward to working with our association’s membership to address these and other critical challenges.”

Schanke said that the transition process would take place over the next two months, and that Moore’s retirement, following 31 years of dedicated service as the association’s Executive Director, would begin in mid-January. Brian Purtell will continue in his role as Executive Director of the WiCAL, a vital and growing division of WHCA.

“I am proud and pleased to pass the baton to John Vander Meer to lead this great organization into the future,” Moore said. “I fully expect the WHCA/WiCAL membership and state’s long-term care community will thrive and expand under his leadership.”