Marvin Mashner has had to deal with the same problems that a lot of businesses have faced over the past few years. ACTS Retirement-Life Communities Inc. faced its share of cutbacks and staff reductions as the economy has faltered.
“In our case, it has been dealing with the slowdown of the real estate market and the hit that many people took at the end of ’08 in the investment market,” says Mashner, the company’s president and CEO. “It affected our business, because when seniors move in, many of them use the proceeds from the sale of their residence as a basis for meeting the initial entry fees. So we have seen the aftermath of the recession.”
Mashner and his leadership team have met the challenge by streamlining the organization to fall in line with revenue volume and seeking out growth opportunities that fall in line with the mission and vision of ACTS, which generated $301 million in 2009 operating revenue.
“Our staff has done a great job of recognizing that they will have these issues, then coming up with a financial action plan, resulting in a revised budget and an improvement in overall results,” Mashner says. “Simply put, we’ve scaled down the operation to what the current volumes are.”
Positioning ACTS for growth in a down economy has taken vigilant communication from Mashner and his management team, a willingness to adhere to the company’s governing principles and the ability to make the most of the attractive growth opportunities that the company’s leaders find along the way.
“A lot of it is to just be prudent and appropriately use resources,” he says. “Recognize the fact that other resources are limited and also determine what actions should be taken using available reserves. The whole management team needs to be involved. It can’t just be one person. Everyone has to understand the plan and be able to convey it.”
