Merrill Gardens has named Tana Gall president of the company, replacing David Eskenazy who announced his retirement last month. Gall will lead the company in all aspects of operations when she takes over leadership responsibilities at the end of the year.
In addition, Merrill Gardens has acquired Blue Harbor, a senior living management company in Portland, Oregon, where Gall has been the CEO for the past three years. Blue Harbor was owned by Fortress Investment Group of New York.
Blue Harbor currently manages 21 communities in 13 states. The company’s corporate office in Portland and the regional teams that support the Blue Harbor communities will continue to operate to ensure a smooth transition to the Merrill Gardens platform.
“With the acquisition of Blue Harbor, we nearly double the size of Merrill Gardens and Tana’s expertise will be critical as we innovate new ways to best serve our senior population. Tana is a known leader with over 30 years of experience in senior living and we are very fortunate to have her join our team. We are excited to welcome the team members and residents at the communities that will be joining Merrill Gardens,” said Bill Pettit, president of the R.D. Merrill Company, parent company of Merrill Gardens.
Gall was previously with Merrill Gardens as president from 2013 – 2015, when she successfully led the company through a major divestiture of a large group of communities and implemented the rollout of major technology and operating platforms. Gall left to form her own consulting company before she was recruited to lead Blue Harbor. She also spent 19 years at Seattle based Leisure Care Senior Living rising to the rank of president.
“This is a huge opportunity to take a group of communities I understand and a group of people I enjoy working with at Blue Harbor and merge them with a company and team at Merrill Gardens that I have always had immense respect for. These communities will benefit from the resources that Merrill can bring, and I truly believe this is a win-win situation,” Gall said.
Moving forward, Merrill Gardens will be engaging in a strategy to produce a new Merrill brand for the Blue Harbor communities and they plan to run the company as two brands, catering to the different needs in the senior market.