Knowledge and expertise for Living Well members
Tom Armstrong — Business Lawyer and Capital Financing Advisor
Mr. Armstrong is a partner at the law firm of White & Lee LLP in Redwood City, California. He is a business attorney with over 25 years of experience in representing companies and investors in venture capital financing, private placements, mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate and real estate matters. His practice includes representation of companies and investors in various industries including software, internet, consumer goods, clean–tech, life sciences, medical devices and entertainment. Mr. Armstrong is also on the Advisory Board of Ion Partners, an investment banking firm specializing in assisting companies in capital raising and mergers and acquisitions, a member of The Keiretsu Forum, a leading angel investment group, and Chairman of the Business Section of the Alameda County Bar Association. He holds a J.D. from the Hastings College of Law at the University of California and a B.A. from Pomona College. He is admitted to practice in California and Massachusetts.
Tony Canini JD, CFP — Wealth Management Expert
Mr. Canini is a Vice President and International Wealth Management Advisor at Merrill Lynch in San Francisco where he assists clients with all aspects of investment planning and management. Prior to joining Merrill, Tony worked as a tax attorney/advisor at Morrison & Forester and PriceWaterhouse Coopers where he advised businesses and individuals on tax minimization and planning. With practical and educational experience in tax, estate, and investment planning, Tony helps clients develop a coordinated approach to the varied aspects of financial planning. Tony has spoken on current estate and income tax issues to a variety of groups including the San Francisco Bar Association Barristers’ Club, San Francisco State University, and the University of California, San Francisco. Tony holds a JD (Tax Emphasis) from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law, as well as a BS (Economics), Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude from the University of California, Riverside.
Chip Conley — Founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality and Author, PEAK: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow
Chip Conley is the founder and CEO of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, California’s largest boutique hotel company which was founded in 1987. At the age of 26 with no industry experience, Chip created The Phoenix, taking a 1950’s seedy motel and turning it into a world–renowned "rock ‘n roll hotel" that catered to celebrities from David Bowie to Linda Ronstadt. Building on transformational leadership practices, and an innovative design formula that enables customers to experience an "identity refreshment," the company now consists of over 40 unique and award–winning hotels, restaurants and spas across the state with over 3,000 employees and revenues approaching $250 million. Joie de Vivre was awarded the 2nd Best Place to Work in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2008. Chip and his company’s time–tested techniques have been featured in TIME, Fast Company, Fortune, People and the Wall Street Journal.
Jeffrey Kaye, MD — Geriatric Neurologist, Technology and Aging Expert
Dr. Kaye graduated from Amherst College as an Independent Scholar and received his medical degree from New York Medical College. He trained in neurology at Boston University where he served as Chief Resident in Neurology. Following his residency, he completed a Fellowship in Movement Disorders. The next three years were spent as a Medical Staff Fellow at the National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health in the Laboratory of Neurosciences. He moved to Portland, Oregon in 1989 to develop the Aging and Alzheimer’s Center program. He is currently Professor of Neurology and Biomedical Engineering at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). He directs the NIA - Layton Aging and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at OHSU and the Portland Veterans Affairs Medical Center. He also directs ORCATECH - the Oregon Center for Aging and Technology. His clinical activities include Director of the Aging and Alzheimer's and Memory Assessment Clinics at OHSU and the Dementia and Geriatric Neurology Clinics at the Portland VA Medical Center.
Howard Lau — Entrepreneur and Venture Capitalist in the Geriatric Field
Mr. Lau is founder and CEO of CareMinds.com, a website serving the needs of the eldercare community. Mr. Lau is also a Managing Director of East Gate Capital, a Silicon Valley based venture capital firm. Prior to his current responsibilities, Mr. Lau was Executive Vice President of SAP, founder of SAP Ventures, a founder of Concurro, Inc. and has held management positions at Oracle, Sun Microsystems and Accenture. Mr. Lau has a B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University.
Jonathan Mueller, MD — Neuropsychiatrist
Dr. Jonathan Mueller practices psychiatry and neurology in San Francisco, California. Dr. Mueller graduated with an MD 35 years ago. A leader in Neuropsychiattry, Dr. Mueller runs the San Francisco Clinical Neurosciences.
Dr. Mueller attended the University Of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas and did his residences at: Harvard; Stanford, and University of California in San Francisco. Currently he is an Associate Clinical Professor at the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine at UCSF, in San Francisco.
Dr. Mueller is certified by the Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and with numerous publications and research. He is also well known by his contributions on the creation and development of the COGNISTAT (a rapid, but cognitive domain specific, assessment of patients with strokes, head injuries, dementia syndromes, and a wide variety of neuropsychiatric conditions). As Living Well Advisor, Dr. Mueller supports Living Well best practices for early detection of dementias and support of people living at home with brain injuries or mental illnesses.
Susan Rotella — Senior Living and Technology Expert
Ms. Rotella is a management consultant who brings a distinctive combination of operations, marketing, sales, and financial management skills to organizations committed to enabling seniors to live independent, safe, and enriched lives. She specializes in marketing strategy, new product and market development, and operations, having honed these skills during 25 years in the senior living and technology industries. She is passionate about working with executives in both early stage and established organizations to successfully bring new products and services to market, to improve and scale operations, and to reposition existing operations to meet future market needs.
Ms. Rotella held executive positions with mission-driven senior care pioneers including Sunrise Senior Living, a premier provider of assisted living services internationally since 1981, and Northern California Presbyterian Homes and Services, a not for profit organization with a rich, 50-year history of providing residential and community services to seniors from diverse economic backgrounds. Prior to her transition to the senior care sector, Ms. Rotella held marketing, operations, and sales management roles in early stage and Fortune 500 wireless, media, and Internet technology companies including AirTouch Communications (now Verizon Wireless), SPRINT, Pacific Telesis (now AT&T), Premier Retail Networks, and RealNames (an Internet navigation company). She holds an M.B.A. in Corporate Strategy from the University of Michigan and a B.B.A. in Public Accounting from Hofstra University. She is a member emeritus of the New York State chapter of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and served on the audit staff at Arthur Andersen and Company.
Kris Schaeffer, CPLP — Learning & Performance Expert
Kris Schaeffer works with organizations to develop the people and systems needed to do masterful work. Her consulting firm, Kris Schaeffer & Associates, helps clients build their human resource talent, first by isolating the critical skills and best practices that distinguish excellent performance. Then, KS&A designs the training and learning experiences that develop and improve the human capacity to achieve and sustain these skills. KS&A has developed the curricula for clients such as the American Institute of CPAs, MasterCard, Pepsi-Cola, Pacific Bell, and Viacom. KS&A also works with start-ups to build their human capital and performance management practices at the same time as they grow their business. Kris Schaeffer is a Certified Professional in Workplace Learning && Performance, a designation that integrates nine specialties in talent management, human performance improvement, and instructional design. Ms. Schaeffer held internal positions in charge of Organization Development and Training and as the Vice President of Training for several firms before founding her company 26 years ago.
