Board of Directors

Arlene Adamson became CEO of Silvera for Seniors (formerly MCF Housing for Seniors) in June 2011. Her job is to oversee all aspects of Silvera, including the implementation of its strategic plan.

Her background in the non-profit sector spans 25 years, including 10 years at the YWCA of Calgary. As its Chief Operating Officer, she reinstated and reinvigorated the YWCA’s fund-development and communications departments, and helped the organization win an Alberta’s Top 50 Employer Award.

She has also served as National Manager of Corporate Development for the Canadian Cancer Society, Manager of Revenue Development at the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation, and spent five years as general manager of the Calgary Winter Festival.
Arlene is currently co-chair of the Seniors and Special Populations Sector Housing Committee and is on the steering committee for the province’s Housing Access Link.

Now with Silvera for Seniors she hopes to increase support to lower income seniors helping them have a stronger voice and the promise of a quality of life that ensures independence and dignity.

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Born and raised in Grande Cache, AB. Raised in an Indigenous community. Hunting, trapping and splitting a lot of firewood (My arms still sore) was a way of life. Grew up around horses and a great dog (Hotdog).

Grew up seeing the shortage of housing in many rural communities. Especially my community. To this day there is still a shortage of Community, Rural, Senior and Indigenous affordable housing.

A Councillor with the MD of Greenview (1st Term) and plans on to be a voice in the future for the people of the Grande Cache. A director with the Evergreen Foundation and plans on taking over the world (we can all wish for that).

It’s an honour to be  VP North with ASCHA. It will be a new path on this wonderful journey (life) to be a voice for the Rural, Senior and Indigenous communities. So all people in these communities can feel safe and know the Sun will rise in the East.

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Chris Thiessen is a City Councillor for the City of Grande Prairie currently serving his third term, and has been an appointed Board Member to the Grande Spirit Foundation since 2018.  Prior to being on Council, Chris was the Client Support Development Officer for Canadian Mental Health Association ABNW while also serving as a social housing advocate and educator in various paid and volunteer capacities, including creating his own charity music festival - Peace Starts At Home - which helped to support the local Women and Youth shelters (2005-2010).

Since being elected in 2013, Chris has successfully advocated for housing to be the top priority of his municipality - with the capital investments to support it across the housing spectrum.  In 2014, he was appointed by Alberta Municipalities (AUMA) to be their representative for the Interagency Council on Housing and Homelessness (2014-16), a multi-stakeholder board through the Province of Alberta Seniors and Housing Department.  In this time, the IAC successfully advocated for more funding in the creation and renovation of seniors, social, and affordable housing ($1.2 billion), new investments for supports to maintain housing, and a cross-ministry approach to address the complexities of housing and homelessness.

Other notable and relevant contributions to the housing and community development sectors include: creating the world’s first ever Edible Landscaping Policy (City of GP 2014), member of the Community Advisory Board for Housing and Homelessness (2015-current), board member for John Howard Society (Grande Prairie 2014-current, Alberta 2017-21, Canada 2018-20), current Chair of the Mighty Peace Watershed Alliance.

“I am a believer that access and availability to housing should be considered a basic human right and it has been my mission in service to actualize this in my community, region, and province for over 20 years.   I am overjoyed to be a part of the ASCHA team and am hopeful that together we can move this needle farther, for our seniors and communities, while helping others to develop and reach their goals as well.”

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Nancy Simmonds became the CEO for Heartland Housing Foundation in January 2019. She entered the non-profit housing sector 10 years prior with a desire to make a meaningful impact on the lives of vulnerable Albertans.

Nancy brings over 20 years experience in management and professional accounting, and has been in leadership roles in the social housing sector since 2009 as Controller and Director of Operations. Prior to her career in the housing sector, Nancy was working in her professional accredited field of public accounting at MNP LLP. Her Chartered Accountant designation (CPA) has allowed her the opportunity to lead teams from a unique financial perspective while supporting the invaluable from-the-heart work required of community-based organizations like affordable housing providers.  Her expertise includes managing large scale financial portfolios, planning and implementing strategic developments for housing organizations, and providing financial managerial support for large conversion projects. 

Now, as CEO of Heartland Housing Foundation, she is leading that organization through strategically-driven and values-aligned growth while advocating municipally, provincially, and federally for action on housing needs. She is looking forward to supporting the important work ahead of ASCHA and proud to represent the North Region on ASCHA’s board.

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After serving 10 years as Mayor of the Town of Blackfalds, Melodie Stol left politics in September 2017 to join The Bethany Group as their Stakeholder Relations Advisor. In this role, Melodie has been able to work with the boards and communities of six Housing Management Bodies, including ASCHA members Flagstaff Regional Housing Group and the Parkland Foundation. 

As part of the Bethany Group team, her goals for seniors housing is two-fold. First, is the importance of seniors housing in overall community development. Our residents should be fully engaged in community and our communities should look at the facilities as hubs to support all seniors. Secondly, she is committed to supporting the elected officials and volunteers that serve the housing management bodies so they can make informed decisions in the public interest.

Melodie has an education background in Local Government Administration, and has a long record of service on boards including the Lacombe Foundation, Central Alberta Victim and Witness Support and Blackfalds Family and Community Services.  While her work takes her throughout Central Alberta, Melodie proudly continues to call Blackfalds home. 

“I am very pleased to be serving on the ASCHA board, and I hope that my experience and passion for community development will support all ASCHA members in achieving their goals”.

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Marty Ratz was first elected Carstairs town council in a byelection in 2015. He is now serving in his 3rd term.  Marty represents the Town of Carstairs on the Board of Directors for Mountain View Senior’s Housing. First as an alternate and now as a Director.  He is currently the Vice Chair for the board for Mountain View Senior’s Housing. Marty now also holds the position of Director for Central Region for ASCHA.

Now retired, Marty worked as a Mediator in human resources departments for several Federal Government Departments and Agencies.

Prior to that, Marty worked as Police Officer in Calgary for more than 23 years. It was there where he first experienced people in various situations, needing help to obtain emergency and long-term solutions to their housing needs.

Marty is active in his local Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion. There he has experience helping Veterans and Seniors in need. As a result of his work in the Legion, in 2019, Marty was awarded a Lifetime Membership.

Marty is pleased to have been elected as a Central Region Director for ASCHA. He looks forward to being a voice for and supporting initiatives for dignified affordable housing for all.


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Biography coming soon!

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Robin James began her career in the housing sector over 15 years ago. Her career started in the financial services department of Lethbridge Housing where she now serves as the CAO. During her time in housing Robin also served as CAO of Willow Creek Foundation in Fort MacLeod. In these roles, Robin has been able to increase available housing stock in Southern Alberta through the build of a new Lodge in Fort MacLeod and the build of 64 units of mixed market housing in Lethbridge, through P3 partnerships. LHA is proud to serve over 2500 Albertans in the south region with housing and rental assistance benefits. Robin’s vision is to provide a housing continuum for Albertans that supports a human-centered approach and provides safe, affordable housing, allowing clients to reach their highest level of independence and success.

Robin completed her education in Business Administration with a major in accounting and previously worked in Southern Alberta’s vast agricultural sector in finance and accounting. Robin’s education, experience and values have allowed her to lead LHA in a fiscally conservative and socially responsible manner.

Robin is passionate about strengthening her community and gives back through volunteering on a wide variety of boards and committees. Robin has gained extensive Board and Committee experience in her time on the Social Housing in Action (SHIA) Committee of Council, the Leaders Council, the Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) Executive Directions Council, the Fundraising Board for the Lethbridge College and the Downtown Business Revitalization Zone (DBRZ) board.

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With a background in economic development and a bachelor of commence, Lauren Ingalls has worked exclusively in the seniors and social housing industry for over twenty years with four different agencies as the Executive Director ranging from 78 units to 1,500 units in the Calgary area.

In May 2011, Lauren joined Westwinds Communities as the Executive Director hoping to remain active in this dynamic industry while achieving more life balance with her growing family.

Lauren’s first exposure to ASCHA was in November 1993 at the annual convention, which was hosted in a very cold Grande Prairie where a lively three hour annual general meeting took place with the primary purpose of determining if ASCHA should hire an executive director. As they say the rest is history.

Lauren currently participates as a committee member on a working group of ASCHA and APHAA, is a past former ASCHA board member, and has enjoyed presenting to sector professionals on not for profit governance and new CAO orientation.

Lauren is happily married to Greg and they have two children in elementary school. Her spare time is spent chauffeuring and cheering on her kids in the endless amount of activities they involve themselves in and walking our new puppy.

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Biography to follow shortly.

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Michael Lavallée joined Seasons in 2009 as the COO where he launched the Seasons operating platform and brand. Promoted to CEO in 2018, Mr. Lavallée has continued to strengthen the Seasons brand and integrate new assets into the platform. A noted expert and accomplished speaker on the Canadian Seniors Housing sector, Mr. Lavallée has successfully advocated for resident qualify of life and care. He holds the ICD.D designation and is the Board Chair of the Ontario Retirement Communities Association (ORCA). ORCA is a voluntary non-profit association that advocates for seniors’ issues and influences governmental policy and regulation development. Prior to joining Seasons Retirement Communities, Mr. Lavallée was Vice President of Operations at Chartwell Retirement Residences. He received his BA from Bishops University.    

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Steve is the Senior Vice President, Retirement Operations for Chartwell Retirement Residences, Canada’s largest operator in the sector. In this role, he is responsible for operations of more than 160 retirement residences in four provinces, including Alberta.  Chartwell’s Alberta portfolio consists of 14 residences with a cross-section of accommodation classifications including supportive living, funded supportive living and memory care. Chartwell has a significant focus on further growth in Alberta with properties that are in the development pipeline. 

He has an extensive career spanning over 35 years in operations management, and a deep connection with Alberta, having resided in the province for 10 years. This experience has included more than 10 years of experience serving on four industry association boards. 

Steve is proud to live up to Chartwell’s vision of “Making People’s Lives Better” and is equally proud to be serving on the ASCHA  board. 

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