With a campus redevelopment wrapping up, a new partnership with Whitworth University being fostered, and an annual audit underway, Jim Maxwell is picking up right where his predecessor left off, all while searching for his own replacement.

Maxwell began his role as president and CEO of Rockwood Retirement Communities on July 6, taking the reins from now-retired Alan Curryer, who had been with the Spokane-based organization for over 30 years.

Maxwell began his career at Rockwood in 2004 as vice president of finance and chief financial officer, the position Curryer had just vacated when he was named president and CEO earlier that year.

Over the past five to 10 years, Curryer has been preparing Maxwell to step into his shoes yet again, Maxwell says.

“It was pretty well planned,” Maxwell says. “This industry really requires a lot of financial background, and I think that’s a real strength for executives. Having 19 years of experience at Rockwood doesn’t hurt either.”

Rockwood Retirement Communities consists of the recently redeveloped and rebranded Rockwood at Whitworth campus, a 211-unit community in north Spokane; Rockwood South Hill, a 426-unit community in south Spokane; and Appleway Court, a 62-unit senior affordable housing community in Spokane Valley.

The organization currently has about 425 employees and almost 800 residents between its three communities.

The transition from CFO to CEO has been a “whirlwind,” Maxwell says.

“We have a lot of different things going on at Rockwood right now,” he says. “We just opened our Northland building, which was part of our campus redevelopment at our Whitworth campus.”

The Northland is a four-story, 117-unit independent-living apartment building that opened in April. About 90 of the units are occupied, and five others have sold, but Maxwell and his team are working to fill the other 20-or-so units, he says.

As the search for Rockwood’s new CFO continues, Maxwell says, “Right now, I’m doing basically those two jobs. It’s just a busy time—our fiscal year-end happened and we’re in the middle of an audit.”

On top of overseeing various ongoing projects, Maxwell is also tasked with planning for the future of the nonprofit organization as it continues to support the “silver tsunami,” a metaphor he uses to refer to the dramatically increasing population of senior citizens as the baby boomer generation ages in retirement.

“This will continue to affect the need for providing services to this population in upcoming years,” he says.

Despite the “whirlwind” beginning to his time as president and CEO, Maxwell says he finds great value in working for a nonprofit in the retirement community industry.

“(Rockwood) really does care for its mission,” he says. “You get to meet some great residents throughout your career, and those residents have an amazing amount of knowledge, and that’s one part of my job that you probably wouldn’t get in any other position.”

Maxwell grew up in Great Falls, Montana. He attended University of Montana, in Missoula, and graduated in 1993 with a degree in business administration with a dual emphasis in accounting and financial management.

In 1994, he got a job with Spokane-based LeMaster Daniels PLLC, now known as CliftonLarsonAllen LLP, in the accounting firm’s health care department. Rockwood was one of Maxwell’s clients at LeMaster Daniels, which is how he met Curryer.

Maxwell worked for the accounting firm until 2003, at which point Curryer recruited him to Rockwood.

Working as a CFO was “a whole different world of experiences” compared to his auditing role at LeMaster Daniels, although he says becoming familiar with auditing and reimbursement work helped him in his transition to Rockwood, which he describes as a dynamic organization.

“I don’t think there’s ever been a time where I’ve been bored,” Maxwell says. “You have a lot of different things you end up dealing with.”

As president and CEO, Maxwell says he plans to continue developing the relationship Rockwood has with Whitworth University.

The partnership is intended to help provide opportunities for Whitworth students to work at the Rockwood at Whitworth campus, as well as allow for Rockwood residents to take classes, attend sporting events and musical programs, and engage with the college community in other ways, Maxwell says.

“That’s an ongoing thing that we’re trying to develop,” he says. “It’s really new, but there’s a lot of opportunities for both Whitworth and for us.”

In-person activities have been increasing at Rockwood’s communities, Maxwell says, creating more interaction between residents than there has been since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Continuing to strengthen our relationships with our residents and our residents’ relationships with each other is important to us,” Maxwell says.

Despite grappling with some staffing and inflationary challenges, Maxwell says Rockwood will continue its strong history of adapting to changes in the industry.

“We’re going to continue to try to find ways that we can keep our retention up with our employees and try to be the best employer that we can,” he says.

Among various other bits of knowledge he gathered from Curryer, Maxwell says the key takeaway from the former president and CEO is the importance of developing a strong team around him.

“Alan did a good job of building a great team here,” Maxwell says of Rockwood’s executive team.

It’s that team, as well as other staff and residents, that will provide feedback and support to help Maxwell continue to improve as the organization’s leader, he says.

“I’m not perfect,” he says. “There’s always going to be opportunities to grow.”