Our Leadership Team 

The core members of our leadership team have dedicated their lives to caring for seniors. Together, the team has decades of experience in health care, skilled nursing and assisted living operations. Our strong operational foundation, coupled with our own personal experience, has helped us to understand the fundamentals of providing quality services and care and to provide the latest and best practices in Alzheimer’s and dementia care.

Barmi Akbar, Chief Executive Officer

As CEO, Barmi leverages his extensive financial and operations experience to lead innovative strategies for growth and expansion into new products, markets, and services. Barmi’s 20-year career spans all aspects of senior living including, finance, operations, development, consulting, and mergers and acquisitions. Barmi’s keen eye for identifying opportunities and implementing strategies that align with quality and operational excellence is truly unparalleled. He was instrumental in the ideation, formation, development, and financing of the first Ganzhorn Suites. In late 2016, he joined a well-known Fortune 500 healthcare services company, as Senior Vice President Chief Financial Officer for their Senior Living Division and later served as Chief Executive Officer of Pennsylvania’s largest post-acute care provider. Barmi’s passion for quality and innovation is what brought him back to the Ganzhorn Suites team.

Jody Linton, LNHA, CADDCT, CDP, Director of Operations

With more than 25 years of experience, Jody began her career working in memory care.  From managing Alzheimer’s/Dementia units to Corporate Director of Alzheimer’s Services, Jody oversaw units across the country.  Her experience includes design and development, policy creation, recruitment, management and operations of the centers.  As the next step in her senior care career, she managed a variety of healthcare facilities including nursing homes and assisted living centers. Her successful management led to many deficiency-free surveys, low staff turnover, expert financial management, and exceptional patient and family satisfaction along with her center being one of the first to meet all 5-star requirements.  And finally, in 2015 her true compassion for dementia guided her to the LeaderStat team to assist in opening and operating The Ganzhorn Suites.  

Deborah Taylor, MPA, CDP,  Corporate Director of Marketing

Deborah has 30 years of experience in the senior living field working for a variety of national and regional post-acute and assisted living providers. She began her career in admissions and marketing for a leading skilled nursing and assisted living center in Northeast Ohio and quickly rose to several different regional and corporate marketing and business development roles. Deborah also spent several years as a senior living business development consultant, assisting providers throughout the U.S. with marketing and business development initiatives. She has extensive digital marketing experience and holds multiple digital marketing certifications. Deborah’s true passion is connecting prospective residents, family members, and referral partners with resources that not only meet their needs but also exceed their expectations.

Wendy Wagner, CDP, Human Resources Specialist

Wendy began her healthcare career in the revenue cycle department of a large hospital system where she was responsible for quality assurance initiatives, onboarding, and training new team members. While she enjoyed the acute care setting, her passion for older adults brought her to senior living. Wendy's senior living experience includes managing the business office and human resources departments for several nursing and assisted living providers. In 2016, Wendy joined the Ganzhorn Suites of Powell as Human Resources Coordinator where she was responsible for recruiting, hiring, onboarding, training, payroll, and scheduling. In 2022, Wendy transitioned to a corporate Human Resources Specialist role to support all of our communities with their human resources functions. Wendy's passion is building talented teams who provide top-notch personalized care and services for all our residents.

Nickia Booker, Talent Acquisition Specialist 

Nickia's professional background includes extensive experience in student recruiting and admissions for several career colleges and private schools in the area. After 12 years in higher education, Nickia joined The Ganzhorn Suites team as a Talent Acquisition Specialist where she leads staff recruiting efforts on behalf of all of our centers. Nickia is passionate about helping others discover their true calling and reach their career goals!