BUSINESS PEOPLE: Aviva CEO joins effort to support Jewish seniors nationwide

Jay Solomon, president and CEO of Sarasota’s Aviva Senior Living, has been appointed to the national board of the Association of Jewish Aging Services.  He will serve on the organization’s Government and Policy Committees until 2025.

The Association of Jewish Aging Services was founded in 1960 as the North American Association of Jewish Homes and Housing for the Aging. It functions as the central coordinator for senior living communities for Jewish seniors in North America. It promotes and supports senior services in the context of Jewish values through education, professional development, advocacy and community relationships.

The AJAS membership comprises over 95 organizations with Jewish-sponsored senior living communities and outreach programs throughout the United States and Canada.

Solomon also serves as a trustee on the board of Leading Age Florida.  He has an extensive background in health care and senior living and has led Aviva since 2017. Aviva is Sarasota’s only single-site, nonprofit, rental, senior residential community offering a full continuum of care with independent living, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities.

Goodwill Manasota has announced its 2023-2024 board of directors.

Steve Boone is the board chair. New to the board this year are James McClure and Laura Ritchey, who join directors Xtavia Bailey, Betsy Benac, Rich Cautero, Debbie Douglas, Rod Hollingsworth, Eric Kaplan, Laurie O’Loughlin, Rob Morris, Allen Weinstein, and Brad West, chair emeritus.McClure is a senior vice president and senior wealth strategist with Northern Trust. He has more than 30 years of financial service experience with an expertise in comprehensive financial planning, estate planning, life insurance planning and investment management.

Ritchey brings a unique combination of strong operations knowledge paired with financial expertise from the diversity of her professional and personal experiences. She began her career in finance before shifting into progressive positions of leadership in supply chain operations. She is currently the chief operating officer at Radial, Inc., a leader in e-commerce solutions for brands.

For the second consecutive year, Furniture Specialist Billy Adams was honored with the Top Inside Salesperson Award from JMX Brands, the parent company of the largest online retailer in Amish furniture at https://www.dutchcrafters.com.

Assistant Sales Manager Christeen Jorno presented the award at JMX’s 2022 annual award ceremony, sharing that Adams “booked 599 orders, which equates to $1,835,216.87!”

Originally from Venice, with a background in furniture design, Adams joined JMX Brands as a sales support associate in February 2020. He was quickly promoted to furniture specialist.

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Easterseals Southwest Florida has appointed two new members to its operating board of directors and three to its foundation board of directors. These new board members bring a wealth of expertise and leadership in their respective fields.

Eric Kaplan and Colby Adams join the operating board.

Kaplan has been a senior financial consultant with Bristol Consultants, LLC since 2003 and with predecessor companies since 1985. He provides consulting services to high-net-worth investors and has expertise in real estate development and operation as well as philanthropic organizations.

Kaplan is a certified public accountant and is a member of the New York, Florida and New Jersey bars.

Adams is a junior at Riverview High School, maintaining a 4.4 GPA. She has experience with children of all ages, including those with disabilities.

She participated in Easterseals’ STAR Leadership Training Program in 2022, learning leadership skills, communication, patience and the ability to work in a team setting.

Joining the foundation board are R. Dean Hautamaki, MD, Charla M. Burchett and Jenifer Schembri.

Hautamaki is a practicing board certified internal medicine/pulmonary and critical care physician in Sarasota.

He’s an assistant clinical professor of medicine with the Florida State University College of Medicine and has served as chairman for the Department of Medicine and co-director of Critical Care Services within the Sarasota Memorial Hospital Health Care System.

He currently is a director for Fibralign Corp. and First Wave Technologies.

Burchett is a partner in the Sarasota office of Shutts & Bowen LLP, where she is a member of the Private Client Services Practice Group. A Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent rated attorney, she is a board-certified specialist in Wills, Trusts and Estates as certified by the Florida Bar and has an LL.M. in estate planning from the University of Miami.

She has more than 30 years of experience assisting clients through challenging decisions and difficult times to preserve their legacies across generations. She focuses her practice on estate planning, including charitable planning and wealth preservation, estate and gift taxation, estate administration, and trust administration.

Schembri is a principal at the law firm Blalock Walters, P.A., practicing in the Bradenton and Sarasota offices. She is the practice group leader for the estate planning and tax law service groups.

She is board certified by the Florida Bar as an expert in tax law, in addition to having an LL.M. in taxation from the University of Florida.

She has received the AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating by Martindale-Hubbell.

Schembri represents both companies and individuals in the areas of individual and business tax planning, entity selection and formation, corporate governance matters, mergers and acquisitions, business succession planning and transitions, charitable planning, tax controversy matters at the federal and Florida levels, and all aspects of estate planning, including trust and estate taxation and wealth preservation.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Aviva CEO named to national board, Inside Salesperson Award from JMX