CJE Senior Leadership

Fagin comes to CJE with extensive experience in the healthcare industry, most recently as CEO of Cedar Village Retirement Community in Mason, Ohio. Cedar Village is a nonprofit continuing care retirement community with a mission similar to CJE’s mission—providing services and supports for older adults and their families.

A Cincinnati native, Fagin was COO of The Jewish Federation of Cincinnati from 2012-2015 where he developed a new shared service organization for Jewish communal agencies and congregations and launched SAFE Cincinnati, a Jewish community security and disaster planning initiative.

From 2002-2012, he was a Managing Director and Healthcare Industry Leader for Protiviti Inc., a global consulting firm that helps business leaders identify, anticipate and solve critical business problems.

Fagin is a graduate of Indiana University, Kelley School of Business (BS, Finance) and Thomas More College (MBA), and during his accomplished 30-year career, he has also worked for Arthur Andersen, Ernst & Young, Kettering Medical Center and Florida Hospital in managerial and information technology roles.

Thomas “Tom” Lockwood, CJE’s Chief Financial Officer, has more than 20 years of experience in the healthcare and eldercare fields, including several hospitals and Continuing Care Retirement Communities (CCRC). He has served on the board of trustees for various senior service organizations, including an inner-city nursing home, the largest meals-on-wheels program in the Greater Cincinnati area, and an organization operating four group homes for the developmentally disabled.

Lockwood was previously an attorney at Peck, Shaffer & Williams, a division of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP in Cincinnati, in the area of public finances, refinancing capital expansions, and annual capital needs for not-for-profit organizations and local and county government. Prior to that, he served as VP of Finance and CFO for Life Enriching Communities, Inc. (a multi-site CCRC) and the Jewish Home of Cincinnati, Inc., and worked in the finance departments of Children’s Hospital Medical Center as Controller and The Deaconess Hospital as Internal Auditor and Staff Accountant.

Lockwood has direct experience leading CCRC campus development as well as merger and consolidation of long term care facilities and operations. In addition to his strategic planning and budget management experience, he has been involved in the planning and development of an upscale retirement community as well as merger of two existing inner-city nursing home operations into a new facility. His experience with labor negotiations, managed care and benefit program contracting, Medicare and Medicaid compliance, and information technology planning will serve him well at CJE.

Julius Pearson is the Vice President of People and Culture at CJE. He has more than 20 years of experience as an employment law specialist and as a labor and employee relations professional with skills in legal negotiations, mediation, and arbitration. He also has extensive expertise in diversity initiatives, organizational culture, talent acquisition and retention, strategic planning, and program development. He has certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) and is a  Senior Certified  Professional from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM-SCP).

Julius has held many executive positions in human resources in diverse Industries, particularly healthcare. Prior to coming to CJE, he was Vice President of Human Resources at Dickinson County Healthcare in Michigan. Before that, he served as Vice President of Human Resources at Howard Brown Healthcare System in Chicago. He was also regional Director of WellSpan Health, a large integrated healthcare system in Pennsylvania.

Julius holds a Juris Doctorate (JD) with an employment and labor relations focus from Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, LA.  His professional achievements include certification in Mediation and Arbitration from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS).

CJE recently welcomed Stephanie Smerling as Vice President of Resource Development. She is responsible for managing both the Development and Grants Departments that raise critical funds that help support many of CJE’s special programs and services, as well as events such as Celebrate CJE, our annual gala.  
 
Stephanie has significant experience in the fundraising arena, serving in leadership positions over the past 30 years at several local, regional and national nonprofit organizations. She is actually “coming home” to CJE, since she was the first person to hold the position of Development Director when CJE SeniorLife was known as the Council for Jewish Elderly back in the 1990’s.  
 
Most recently, Stephanie partnered with Nativ College and United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, to launch Yozma Nativ, a 9-month gap year program in Israel for young adults aged 18-21 with cognitive and social challenges. Prior to 2013, Stephanie was the Director of Institutional Advancement for Rochelle Zell Jewish High School where she managed the annual fund and developed an endowment campaign. In addition, Stephanie held fundraising leadership positions at many other organizations, including the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Cancer Wellness Center and Jewish Theological Seminary.
 
Stephanie considers this is an incredible opportunity for her to bring her extensive knowledge back to CJE to support CJE’s next phase of growth. She said she “knows firsthand how CJE positively impacts the lives of older adults and their families throughout metropolitan Chicago. We have an unparalleled mission and it is an honor to share our success stories with the Jewish and larger community.”
 
A Deerfield resident, Stephanie earned her BA in Sociology from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master of Public Health from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
 

Paisley Valentincic was named Vice President of Sales and Marketing in 2021. She brings to this role close to 30 years of experience as a sales and marketing professional in the senior living and services field, as well as a stellar reputation as a dynamic, highly successful sales professional. In her current position, she is responsible for the overall marketing and sales of the wide and varied spectrum of programs, services, and residences that CJE SeniorLife is proud to provide to older adults and their families. Paisley joined CJE in November of 2019 as Director of Sales and Marketing to lead the charge in the opening and leasing of CJE’s new independent living community, Tamarisk NorthShore. Prior to 2019, she served as Director of Sales and Marketing at Presbyterian Homes - Lake Forest Place for 25 years. During her tenure there, she managed the sales, marketing, and occupancy efforts for independent living as well as become steeped in the knowledge of the marketplace regarding services and housing throughout the continuum of care.

Reliable housing for seniors is an important issue, and something to which Paisley has devoted her entire career. Now, being able to promote and market the entire array of CJE’s services aligns with her values of caring for older adults. She appreciates the opportunity to apply knowledge of the industry to the continued success of CJE and its services. Paisley graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee with a degree in Gerontology. She and her family are long-time residents of Lake Bluff.

Andrea Lebovits brings over 30 years of progressive financial and leadership experience to her role as Vice President of Community Services. In 2006, she began working for CJE SeniorLife's Finance Department, eventually becoming Director of Finance and implementing  technological and operational innovations. Andrea's career at CJE has afforded her the unique opportunity to learn "from the bottom up" CJE's mission, values, goals, successes, and challenges. Over her years at the agency, she has developed strong relationships with fellow staff, leaders, and outside professional colleagues.

Since becoming VP of Community Services in January 2020, Andrea has overall operational, financial, and strategic planning responsibility for the full range of CJE's home and community-based services available to older adults and their families. She plays a leadership role in developing and expanding new programs and community-based initiatives. Andrea also works in conjunction with Jewish Federation lobbyists to track and respond to critical government policy issues that impact older adult services at the state and federal levels. Additionally, she works on behalf of the agency as part of the CJE Executive Leadership and Budget Committees.

Community service and giving back have always been core values for Andrea and her family. Becoming the VP of Community Services has allowed her to align her passion for helping people with a role even more directly impacting the community. She is grateful to lend her skills to the vital task of making sure the growing senior population can successfully age in place through CJE's personalized, compassionate, and coordinated care.
During her tenure at CJE, Andrea has been honored and humbled to receive two President Awards and an Employee of the Year Award.