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CALA/ISLE 31^st Annual Conference & Trade Show

Thursday, March 19, 2026

The Aqua Turf Club

We are excited to share the details for the upcoming 31st Annual CALA Conference & Trade Show! We have a wide array of opportunities to sponsor and exhibit at the largest gathering of executives and management teams from senior living communities across Connecticut. We sold out of exhibitor space quickly in 2025, so please make your reservations early this year to ensure your participation. Take some time to review the sponsorship opportunities which allow for yearlong visibility for your organization. As a sponsor, most of our packages include an exhibitor booth and a few new ones, as well as added exposure in the program guidebook and conference signage seen by all attendees. This annual event is the ideal environment to make new partnerships and build relationships with key decision makers and influencers in the assisted and senior living industry. We look forward to your participation with CALA’s 31st Annual Conference and Trade Show on March 19, 2026!!!

Theme: The Technical/Human Connection of Artificial Intelligence in Assisted Living

Keynote Speaker: Jeff Butler, Author & Workplace Strategist

Keynote Session Title: Real-World AI for Senior Living: Practical Insights for Independent, Assisted, and Memory Care

Session Description: Artificial Intelligence has been surrounded by bold promises for decades. From early predictions that machines would quickly master human language to claims that computers would soon replace human work entirely, AI’s history is filled with ambition and exaggeration. Senior living communities have good reason to be skeptical. This program goes beyond the hype to show how AI can support the unique needs of different senior living settings.

Tom Grape founded Benchmark in 1997 and grew the Waltham, MA-based company into a leading provider of senior living in the nation, with 67 communities in eight states. Tom has led Benchmark and its more than 6,500 associates to reach $3 billion in assets under management and revenues of over $665 million. He was a founding board member of the Connecticut Assisted Living Association (CALA), served on the first Governor’s Council to Address Aging in Massachusetts and is a founder and past Chairman of the National Assisted Living Association, Argentum. Tom received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Assisted Living Association

Jeff Butler is an author and workplace strategist who explores human behavior within the working world. After graduating with a computer science degree from UC Berkeley, he worked at various companies in Silicon Valley before starting his own which have included building web applications to analyzing technology trends. Jeff addressed companies like Google, Amazon, John Deere and Coldwell Banker. As a researcher and practitioner, he also runs a consulting company and a tech company, TrinityFix, where he is able to test his ideas in different workplace environments. His ideas have made it to TEDx twice, appeared in dozens of media outlets, including two books on human behavior: -The Authentic Workplace and The Key to the New You. Currently, he lives in Dallas, Texas as an out of place Californian.

JP began his career at Masonicare at the age of 16, working in dining services. Thirty years later, he stands at the head of the largest not-for-profit senior care company in the state. Leading an organization through an industry in flux, turned upside down by a global pandemic, to one of the organization’s most successful years in operation, Venoit has been recognized and celebrated as a distinguished leader. Recently, JP was recognized as the CEO of the year for a large organization by The Hartford Business Journal.

Steve has been working in the senior living industry for 25 years. He got his start with Sunrise Senior Living as an Executive Director in 1999, operating three different communities in Connecticut during his nine years with Sunrise. In 2008, Steve took a regional operations position with Sunwest Management. When Emeritus Senior Living acquired Sunwest in 2010, he was kept on as a Regional Director of Operations, and came to Brookdale Senior Living when Emeritus and Brookdale merged in 2014. Steve was promoted to Vice President of Operations in 2021, and currently oversees 83 communities from New Hampshire to Ohio. He has served on the CALA board on and off since 2010.

BREAKOUT SESSIONS

Session Title: Moving into and Residing in Assisted Living: The Resident’s Point of View (Panel Discussion)
Speakers: