Derek Preston is the Chief Executive Officer of SNAPforSeniors. As an innovative leader, he has an established track record of success in building service infrastructure and information technology companies. Prior to SNAPforSeniors, Derek founded, funded and sold three companies, including PropertyMover, Inc. He has consulted with dozens of companies in the technology, software and media markets and serves on several private boards.

When he’s not at the office, Derek can usually be found biking one of the many beautiful trails along Puget Sound and Lake Union or enjoying a cup of coffee in Pike Place Market.

I am here today because I believe that I can make a difference. I believe that our team of smart, hard working individuals can collectively improve the lives of our friends, neighbors and families across the country by helping them with one of life’s most difficult processes – helping our parents age with the dignity and care they deserve. In doing that, we are also helping millions of other families with the same struggle. I believe that private companies can support the needs of our communities and work together with government and non-profit organizations to give people more choices, better care, and equal access to information. I also believe that we can generate sustainable income from those activities, and create exceptional shareholder value while providing a positive and exciting workplace for our employees.

SNAPforSeniors is much more than a company to me. It is an inspiring example of how exceptional people organized around a common vision can change the way we serve our communities. Senior residents and their families in our country are dramatically underserved with information and choices, and I’m proud to be a part of changing that. We are helping millions of people live better lives and in doing so build a better future for our own generation; and there’s nothing that’s more rewarding to me than that.

Eve M. Stern is President and Chief Operating Officer of SNAPforSeniors. She has over 28 years of line and staff experience in healthcare sales, business development, product development, operations and marketing. Her past accomplishments include building several successful technology and healthcare product & service companies from start-up or turnaround to a liquidity event for shareholders ranging from mergers and acquisitions to a public offering. Prior to SNAPforSeniors, Eve was Senior Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for NexCura, an online communications and patented technology solution for consumers. Eve was responsible for building national strategic distribution alliances for over 70 major ehealth sites including the leading non-profit advocacy organizations. NexCura was sold to Thomson Healthcare and Scientific-an $8 billion public company- in October 2005. She was Founder and CEO of EthoSolutions, the first online matching service for healthcare, later selling to J. Walter Thompson. Eve was Founder and CEO of Sound Health Network, the largest PPO in Washington state. She holds a Master’s degree in Health Science Administration from SUNY Stony Brook and a Bachelor’s degree in Nursing from Columbia University.

As a former nurse and executive with multiple healthcare service companies, I had seen first hand the struggles families have endured with helping their loved ones find appropriate housing. Then on a personal level, my in-laws were faced with the reality that they could no longer live independently. Our search for the best housing fit was an arduous process. Keeping key, out of town family members involved was important. We did not know what we didn’t know. We had assumed that seeking senior housing would be as simple as other online real estate searches but, we were surprised to find that there was no single objective and comprehensive database of all senior housing options. We learned that the listings we could access were a limited subset of the senior housing universe. Once we understood the financial incentives inherent in the system, we began to question how and why decisions were being made.

My observations of the gaps in real-time available information for all parties involved to make informed decisions were reinforced through the independent market research SNAPforSeniors did before setting up the company. The founders of SNAPforSeniors felt compelled to address the senior housing market with a fresh and unique model that had worked successfully in traditional real estate.

Ralph Brenner is Chief Technology Officer at SNAPforSeniors. Ralph has a distinguished background in successful software development and technical project management. Before joining SNAPforSeniors, Ralph was a Sr. Microsoft .Net Architect with the prestigious Harvard-Westlake School and Technical Advisor for Iventa Corporation in Los Angeles, CA. Ralph was a technology manager with ContentGuard, a digital rights management joint venture between Microsoft and Xerox Corporation. As a result of his technical innovation at ContentGuard, Ralph was awarded an international patent in electronic publishing.

Having worked on several projects at Microsoft, Ralph also managed Corbis Corporation's digital image search product. Ralph went on to design and develop the Experience Music Project's digital asset management system.

Ralph has been developing Microsoft Windows software since version 1.0 and has been a guest speaker and panel member at numerous Microsoft development conferences. As an Independent Software Vendor, Ralph's product Threadz FileFX won industry acclaim as best Windows file management package from InfoWorld magazine. Ralph has a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science and is a member of the Society of Motion Picture Technical Engineers.

Anyone who has ever been faced with the stress and challenges of finding senior housing for themselves, a friend or a loved one understands why I joined the SNAPforSeniors team. My best friend lost her mother to Alzheimer’s disease. During that long struggle I was amazed at that lack of credible online resources available to patients, caregivers and even government agencies who deal with Senior Housing issues every single day. When I learned of the SNAPforSeniors project, immediately I knew that I could use my technical skills to begin to solve this huge problem. We come to work each day knowing that we help make other peoples’ lives better. Making a difference is why I’m at SNAPforSeniors.

Kellie Murray is Vice President of Facility Relations at SNAPforSeniors. She has over 10 years of human resource experience working with large senior housing companies including Emeritus and Holiday Assisted Living as the Vice President of Human Resources. Prior to her senior housing care experience, Kellie worked in healthcare human resources at Virginia Mason Medical Center. Most recently, Kellie was involved in building an online human resource service for start-up and early stage companies. She is a Certified Senior Human Resource and Benefits professional.

SNAPforSeniors is the perfect company for me. It combines my experience in the senior housing industry with my passion for caring for others, in particular the senior. It also gives me an opportunity to create a much needed solution that benefits the industry and the elder population. This is exactly the service I would be looking for if I needed senior housing for a family member or myself!