After more than 25 years at the helm of one of the nation’s largest senior living providers, Paul Klaassen announced Wednesday night he would step down from his role as CEO of Sunrise Senior Living Inc.
Klaassen, who founded the company, will return to the post of board chairman, a position he gave up in March of this year amidst a companywide governance shake-up. Lynn Krominga, who has held the chair for the last four months, will become the company’s lead independent director. Mark Ordan, former chief executive of Chevy Chase real estate firm Mills Corp, will fill the CEO position.
The embattled Sunrise has been grappling with accounting irregularities, insider-trading accusations, and recently faced a delisting from the New York Stock Exchange (McKnight’s 3/20). Speculation has been circulating in some sectors that Ordan, who had previously overseen the sale of his own Fresh Foods to Whole Foods in 1996, was brought on to arrange the sale of the assisted living chain, according to the Washington Post. Both Sunrise and Ordan have denied these claims.
