A native of New Hampshire, Dr. Kimberly Townsend is President and Chief Executive Officer of Loretto, a continuing care system located in New York, with assets in skilled nursing, housing, managed care, short-term rehabilitation and medical adult day services. She is also the author of “Lifecircle Leadership: How Exceptional People Make Every Day Extraordinary.”
She initially pursued a print journalism degree at Boston University’s School of Public Communication, but in her junior year, she dropped out of college, got married and started a family.
She was a stay-at-home mom for 9 years, home-schooling her three daughters, and jokes about an initial aversion to schooling, which she eventually overcame. Finding herself in the position of being a single-mother, she ventured on an educational journey that today, is demonstrated in her receiving several degrees: a BS and MBA from the Whitman School of Management, her JD from Syracuse University College of Law, her MPA from the Maxwell School of Public Administration and most recently her Doctorate in Executive Leadership from St. John Fisher College.
Prior to joining Loretto, Dr. Townsend was the Associate General Counsel and Senior Director of Government Affairs for Welch Allyn, Inc. where she spent years successfully lobbying for healthcare reforms. She shares leadership lessons in the courses she teaches as an adjunct professor at the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University, as well as the Syracuse University College of Law.
Kimberly Townsend, EdD, JD, MPA, MBA, CPA, GPHR, is a role model for anyone who wants to make positive change in the world. Like many women, she’s juggling the demands of family and the pressures of a full-time job, while still finding time to volunteer and better the community. She’s inspired by making a sustainable difference in people’s lives and seeing her company and her community prosper.
Dr. Townsend is passionate about living a purposeful, connected life. She is driven by a deep desire to improve herself personally, her company, and her community, through her philosophy of Lifecircle Leadership and pragmatic altruism. She invites others to reconsider their approach to business and life and hopes they discover, as she did, that being and doing good is good for business.