About Us

Don Petersen, The President and CEO of Premiera Care began his career in 1972 as a caseworker serving nursing home residents in the state of Oregon.  He advanced to the position of nursing home administrator when he told an owner of an Oregon nursing home that he wasn't taking very good care of his patients.  The owner told him that if he thought he could do a better job to try it himself.  He accepted the challenge and actually did a much better job and the rest is history.  He took his industry reforming ideas with him when he became a regional director for a large skilled nursing home company.  In 1987, Don left the skilled nursing business and became the Regional Director, of Eastern States for the Hillhaven Corporation's Retirement Housing Division.  His responsibilities included operational and marketing services for all retirement housing properties of the corporation, east of the Mississippi River.  Don then became Vice-President of Senior Housing for a regional skilled nursing facility company in the state of Oregon, diversifying the company by developing and managing 26 assisted living communities before leaving in 1999 to co-found Premiera Care, LLC, an assisted living management company, with his wife Joani.

Through the course of his career, Don has contributed his time and treasure to professional associations including the Oregon Health Care Association and The California Assisted Living Association where he is currently a member of the Public Policy Committee and serves as Secretary of its Board of Directors.  In 2005, Don had the honor of being appointed as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging.  His most prized awards come from the staff and families of those that he has served through his years of service.

The foundation of Premiera Care has allowed Don and Joani to further pursue a commitment to service excellence and to keeping commitments to their residents, families and staff.  Joani continues to work with Don in the position of Chief Cultural Officer, ensuring that the policies, procedures and services provided by Premiera Care are truly resident-centered and consistent with their personal philosophy of service.

Joani Smith, Co-Founder and Chief Cultural Officer

Joani Smith Petersen’s love for the elderly began early in childhood as her grandmother lived with the family on their dairy farm in Grants Pass, Oregon. When she left Grants Pass she traveled on a work-study adventure to Europe where she was introduced to the hospitality industry in1970 while working as a chamber maid at a small hotel in the upscale Bavarian town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. She developed a passion for gourmet cooking and dining services there and in Geneva, Switzerland.  Upon her return to the states she gained employment in the hospitality and fine dining industry in Sun Valley, Idaho, working for the Sun Valley Lodge’s prestigious Peter Duchin Room and the Duchin 9000 in their dining rooms. Years later these experiences that didn’t pay much at the time would greatly influence Premiera Care’s programs by introducing the concepts of fine dining, and concierge services to its newly developed assisted living communities.

Joani, left the hospitality and restaurant business in 1980 to work as a personal secretary and confidante to Mrs. William Harrah, philanthropist. Following her marriage to Don Petersen, in 1987, she accompanied Don to Boston, Massachusetts and supported his efforts there, while he acted as the Partnership Representative for the Hillhaven Corporation in the development of a $67,000,000 Continuing Care Retirement Community in Westwood, Massachusetts. Joani and Don returned to the west from Boston in late 1990 upon the completion of that project. She then entered the field of residential real estate in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, and then ventured into the commercial title arena, with Chicago Title.

In November of 1999, she and Don founded Premiera Care, working side by side with Don in program development, marketing and sales. Their first project was Premiera Care’s very successful Dale Commons Assisted Living Community, in Modesto, California. This 98 apartment community reached stabilized occupancy in a record breaking 13 months. While all of the Premiera Care communities have been successful, none to date have matched this absorption record. She continues to work closely with Don as the Chief Cultural Officer for Premiera Care, and participates in formulating fine dining concepts, and participates in developing the marketing and sales messages for the Premiera Care family of assisted living communities.

Joani’s entire life has superbly prepared her for her role in the assisted living industry. She has used her life experiences to significantly contribute to the overwhelming positive response we have received to the obvious Premiera Care difference.

Kathy Naber-Jordan, Chief Operating Officer of Premiera Care

 Kathy's first job was as a housekeeper in a hospital nearly 40 years ago and triggered her interest to pursue a career in healthcare.  She combined this interest with her love of cooking and attended Washington State University, Pullman, Washington where she obtained a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Foods, Nutrition, and Institutional Management.

Kathy started working in the nursing home industry in 1977 working for the State of Washington's Office of Nursing Home Affairs as surveyor and the State's Consultant to the dietary departments in the state's nursing homes.

As a Registered Dietitian for 20 years, Kathy's experiences included working in a nursing home, hospital, and in private practice as a consultant to skilled nursing homes and restaurants and as a diabetic educator.  She served as a Board Member for both the Portland Dietetic, serving as President, and Oregon Dietetic Associations, and "Hospitots" a child day care center.  With her geriatric nutrition expertise Kathy became a featured public speaker in the Portland Metro area. 

In 1995, Kathy became a licensed Nursing Home Administrator with a vision to ensure excellence in care and services to residents who resided in a long term care community.   She ventured into assisted living and now has 12 years operational experience working as a Regional Director of Operations for Assisted Living Concepts and Prestige Senior Living. She has sat on assisted living boards in the states of Washington, Oregon, Arizona, and Idaho.  Kathy also sat on the Public Policy Board for the Assisted Living Federation of America.

Kathy has worked for Premiera Care since 2003 and in 2008 became the Chief Operations Officer.  Kathy has a passion for working with seniors, "It is so satisfying to have someone lonely or frail move into our community and then blossom and thrive, and this is what we are about".

 

Rob Hawks, Chief Financial Officer

Rob is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in California, and an Enrolled Agent registered with the IRS.  He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Accountancy "Magna Cum Laude" and is a member of the AICPA as well as the California Society of CPA's.  He received a letter of congratulations from the California board of Accountancy upon passing the extensive CPA exam on his first attempt.

Rob oversees the financial operations of all of our functioning communities by supervising and supporting the Business Office managers at each location.  Rob is responsible for financial compliance, reporting to lenders and investors, and income tax filings.  Rob is also responsible for all accounting functions for Premiera Care properties while under construction.  In addition, Rob also serves as Premiera Care's internal IT consultant.

Rob joined the Premiera Care team in the spring of 2006, after leaving his CPA firm partnership position.  He has been providing accounting services and preparing income tax returns since 1988.  During his career he has worked closely with retailers, contractors, doctors, lawyers, and scientists.  Rob is experienced with all business entity types and non-profit organizations.  He spent ten years at a large local CPA firm in Modesto, California where he began working with Premiera Care during the formation of their first assisted living community, Dale Commons, the organization's flagship community.  Initially Rob performed the annual financial statement audits and later began consulting on subsequent communities and development of a comprehensive Accounting Procedures Manual for Premiera Care.

Rob's extensive professional experience combined with his family background in the construction industry provide him a unique skill set which serves Premiera Care well in the ongoing property management function, in addition to the initial construction and development of their communities.

Linda Hughes, R.N., Vice President of Staff Development and Quality Assurance.

Linda is a graduate of Presbyterian-University Hospital School of Nursing and has 38 years of health experience in areas as varied as home health, intravenous therapy and cardiac care, and was privileged to care for one of the first heart transplant patients in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. For the past 16 years, Linda’s focus has been working for agencies which assist families to care for frail elders and persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias. Her goals for elder-care services include: quality, safety, dignity and preserving independence.

Linda has a BA in Human Development with a specialty in Gerontology from California State University East Bay (CSEB) and an MPA for Health Services, also from CSEB. Additionally, Linda maintains certification as a Residential Care for the Elderly administrator. Linda was interim CEO of Rehabilitation Services of Northern California (RSNC), and prior to that position was executive director of RSNC’s Mt. Diablo Center for Adult Day Health Care in Pleasant Hill, the designated Alzheimer’s Day Care and Resource Center for Contra Costa County and the home of 3 multi-cultural/multi-lingual day programs for Latinos, Russian and Afghani participants. Linda has served on the health, transportation and Alzheimer’s workgroups of the Contra Costa County Advisory Council on Aging, and is the appointed representative for adult day services to the Acute and Long Term Care Advisory group.  She is a founding member of the Adult Day Services Network of Contra Costa County. She has been a member of several other non-profit boards of directors and community action groups, such as the Assisted Living Subcommittee of the Affordable Housing Commission of the City of Pleasanton, which successfully spearheaded the development of an RCFE community with a mandated percentage of affordable apartments. Linda has helped to plan and develop community seminars on a variety of senior care issues. Linda speaks to professional and community groups on topics such as care planning for social day care staff members, adult day services, support groups, community resources, Caring for the Caregiver and “Where did I Put my Glasses?” Additionally, she facilitates an Alzheimer’s caregiver’s support group in Brentwood as a volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association and is a member of their Speaker’s Bureau.

Linda has commented that her best learning experience in regard to Alzheimer’s was caring for her mother. She gained first-hand knowledge of the challenges of the family caregiver and a balance to the knowledge and theory of her professional experience. Recently, she has been a contributing writer for Prime Time, a senior publication in Contra Costa County.