Elias Papasavvas, Founder and CEO

Elias has dedicated his career to enhancing access to senior living. He spent over a decade studying the impact of consumer financing in higher education and numerous other service- and product-oriented industries prior to creating Elderlife and its financial solutions for seniors and their families who seek access to quality retirement and senior living.

Elias launched Elderlife Financial Services to provide convenient financing options for senior living to families in the 48 contiguous states. Elderlife's uniqueness lies in its understanding of the various, and at times competing, needs of the senior housing provider, the senior and if involved, their family, as well as the needs of the institutions providing the credit. Before entering the senior living industry, Elias was a CPA in the Banking and Real Estate Mid-Atlantic Division of Arthur Andersen.

Elias holds a B.S. degree from George Mason University and a Master's of Science in Accounting from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia. He has been named a "Leader in Elder Care", has served on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Assisted Living Association, is on the Advisory Board of the George Mason University Assisted Living program, has spoken at numerous senior housing and care conferences, and is viewed as an authority on tailoring and delivering consumer banking programs in order to serve the unique needs of seniors across the nation who want to enjoy a quality life in retirement and senior living communities. Today, over 2,700 senior living communities offer or accept the Elderlife program.

Karen Nelson Crolius, Senior Vice President, Community Relations

Karen has been in the Senior Housing Industry for 20 years, serving the Senior Population in a variety of roles and responsibilities. Her positions have been on an executive leadership level in all venues of Senior Housing from Retirement Living to Assisted Living and Memory Care, as well as Skilled Nursing. She brings well-rounded expertise both in the field of operations and sales and marketing.

Karen's driving passion for joining the Elderlife Financial Services leadership team stems from a 10-year relationship with the organization and founder Elias Papasavvas. She has personally supported and implemented the program with three different Senior Housing companies during her tenure with those companies and helped create the second loan opportunity for a family in the history of Elderlife.

Karen holds an MBA from the College of William and Mary.

Bridgette Duber, Vice President, Education and Outreach

Bridgette Duber has been serving seniors and their families for over 19 years. Her passion for seniors led her to complete a nursing degree early in her career and eventually led her to completing a Ph.D. in health care administration. Professionally her credentials include being a SC Licensed Nursing Home Administrator, a SC Community Residential Care Facility Administrator, an IN Licensed Practical Nurse and a TN Assisted Care Living Facility Administrator.

Prior to joining Elderlife Financial Services, Bridgette served in both Regional and Divisional Sales & Marketing and Operational roles with industry leaders including Brookdale Senior Living, Assisted Living Concepts & Extendicare Health Services. Bridgette is an active volunteer with Greyhound Rescue Foundation of TN and an active member of ElderCare Matters Alliance.

Farrell Didio, Family Service Center Manager

Farrell is the Director for the Elderlife Financial Family Service Center and Family Relations. She has been involved for more than twenty years in the aging and volunteer administration field working with organizations such as the American Cancer Society, United Seniors Health Cooperative, The Corporation for National and Community Service and Experience Works. She was a consultant for National Council on the Aging in program development. An active volunteer herself, recent activities include participation on the Advisory Board of the RSVP program for Northern Virginia, and an appointment to the Arlington Elder Readiness Taskforce, where she chaired the Supportive Services and Health Committee. Farrell also chairs the Arlington Steering Committee for Services to Older Persons, an advocacy and education group serving Arlington and Northern Virginia.

She understands the emotional and financial strains that many of the families calling Elderlife are experiencing, having tackled many of those same issues several years ago with her own parents. Her goal is for families to be able to move their loved one into Assisted Living and concentrate on the emotional issues of the move and leave the financial ones to Elderlife. Farrell is a graduate of the University of Florida.

Greg Lahens, Chief Technology Officer

Greg provides streamlined technology solutions to help Elderlife meet the needs of its customers. Greg has developed Internet solutions for several highly successful health care companies and brings to Elderlife the expertise to support its growing business. Prior to working with Elderlife, he worked for CertiClear, LLC to lead the creation of a proprietary Internet platform for SeniorChecked. Greg served as the manager of software applications for TheraCom, Inc., a division of CVS/Caremark and led the creation of software applications supporting $500 million per year pharmacy transactions. Greg also oversaw the conversion to HIPAA compliance, the creation of the Medicare Part D enrollment program and supported the sales team as the technical lead with manufacturer clients. Greg is a graduate of the State University of New York at Albany with a degree in computer science.

Bill Lambros, Vice President, Finance and Operations

Bill brings over fifteen years of finance, accounting, human resources and business operations experience to Elderlife. Bill understands the needs of the Elderlife customer and is tasked with creating an operations process that fulfills the needs of the customer, endures the scrutiny of partner communities and evolves with the growth of new products and new markets. Prior to Elderlife, Bill worked on the launch of the SeniorChecked product, managing finance and operations for CertiClear, LLC. Bill served as Vice President of Operations for TheraCom, Inc. where he led the company through pharmaceutical services program launches and corporate integrations following the 2001 acquisition by AdvancePCS, the 2004 acquisition by Caremark, Inc. and the 2007 acquisition by CVS. Bill has worked in nonprofit for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation where he assumed increasing management responsibilities and was named Director of Operations for its subsidiary. Bill began his career in public accounting spending six years with a national firm performing financial audits of various companies in the telecommunications, government contracting, real estate and non-profit industries. Bill is a Certified Public Accountant and a graduate of the University of Maryland.

Elizabeth Dresing, Vice President, Marketing

Beth has joined Elderlife to continue providing innovative and simple solutions for the growing numbers of senior citizens. Prior to Elderlife, Beth co-founded Silver Nation, the company that originally developed and launched SeniorChecked, a verification and vetting service provided to businesses serving senior citizens. Prior to CertiClear, Beth worked with Bethesda Partners as a consultant to health care service companies. Beth served as the Director of Marketing at TheraCom, Inc. where she was responsible for creating successful marketing and educational programs for specialty drug products. Beth developed educational materials for patients, medical professionals and sales support and marketing initiatives for such rare diseases as Gaucher's disease, pulmonary hypertension, Fabry's disease, thyroid cancer, hepatitis C and multiple sclerosis. Beth began her career in health care as a writer/producer of health care training and marketing videos, first for Cinecraft Health and Safety Systems in Cleveland and then as a freelancer in Chicago. Beth has a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing from Lake Forest College in Lake Forest, IL and a Master of Fine Arts in Performing Arts Management from Ohio University in Athens, OH where she received a full scholarship.

Greg Carlin, Family Service Center Counselor

Greg Carlin has been a part of the Elderlife team since November of 2008. He attended the University of Virginia, where he competed on the Men's Golf team, serving as team captain his senior year and earning a B.A. in History. Greg spent 5 months competing in professional golf tournaments before joining Elderlife. Greg was born and raised in the Washington, DC area. At Elderlife, he spends time counseling families who are making the transition to assisted living for their loved ones.