In
DECEMBER 2022
Conversation
RICHARD GANS, PRESIDENT FERGESON SKIPPER, PA
DOUG FELLER, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER VILLAGE ON THE ISLE
IN CONVERSATION WITH REGIONAL COMMUNITY LEADERS ON AGING, RETIRING GRACEFULLY AND LEGACY PLANNING. INTERVIEWED BY WES ROBERTS EDITED BY BARBIE HEIT
RYAN THOMPSON, VICE PRESIDENT J.L BAINBRIDGE
LET’S START BY SHARING A LITTLE ABOUT YOURSELVES AND WHAT YOU DO. JEFF WEATHERHEAD, PLYMOUTH HARBOR: I am the CEO of Plymouth Harbor on Sarasota Bay and I’ve been there since the end of June of this year. I’ve been in the field for about 28 years, started in the retirement community world which they now call life plan communities. I started in the sales and marketing world and moved into nursing home administration in Ohio, moved from there to Florida to become an executive director in a retirement community in
JEFF WEATHERHEAD, PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER PLYMOUTH HARBOR
St. Petersburg, which ultimately took me to Jacksonville. Then I became the chief operating officer for a retirement community in Charlotte, North Carolina for eight years. And earlier in the year when my daughter had her first child, we had an opportunity to explore the possibility of coming back to Florida. Coincidentally, I replaced a man who had been in his role, Harry Hobson, for 18 years, and a very well-respected man. When I first got into this field 28 years ago, I had to take a course in order to become a nursing home administrator. Harry and his wife
Nancy, who were in Ohio at the time, taught the course. So we kind of book ended one another in terms of our careers. It’s been thrilling and I’m really glad to be back here in the Sarasota area. DOUG FELLER, VILLAGE ON THE ISLE: My dream growing up was to be a hospital administrator. And I think it’s because there would never be a time in the healthcare industry where that wasn’t something that was needed. I ended up with an internship at Plymouth Harbor which turned into a full-time position there. I then went to Alabama as a director
of environmental services and was ready for something a little different, so I earned my nursing home administrator license and became their administrator on record for about five years. And then this opportunity in Florida came up, so my wife and I and our three kids, who were two-years-old at the time, packed up and moved down to Florida. I’m now with Village on the Isle. I’ve been here for close to seven years. I was promoted to COO when I arrived and then promoted to CEO about two-and-a half years ago.
ENGAGING READERS THROUGH STORYTELLING.
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11/14/22 7:27 PM