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. Today, over 2,500 senior living communities offer or accept the Elderlife program. Before entering the senior living industry, Elias was a CPA in the Banking and Real Estate Mid-Atlantic Division of Arthur Andersen.

Elias has been named a "Leader in Elder Care", has served on the Board of Directors of the Virginia Assisted Living Association, served 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. He has been quoted in numerous publications including The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, SmartMoney Magazine, Chicago Tribune, Kiplingers and Kiplingers Retirement Report, Senior Beacon, Elder Law Answers, Senior Living Business, and many other industry as well as consumer publications. 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.

Steve Szpytek, Director of Lending and Operations

Steve has been in the Consumer Finance and Mortgage Lending Industry for 23 years, supporting Consumer Lending activities in a variety of positions over his career. Steve oversees all lending activity of Elderlife, including underwriting, originations, servicing and related systems and staff.

Prior to joining Elderlife Financial Services, Steve served Chief Operating Officer and Chief Lending Officer for ECC Capital Corp. Steve joined ECC in 2002 as one of its founding members and was instrumental in the development of its sales, operations, credit policies and infrastructure. Between 2002 to 2006, ECC originated approximately $30 billion in loans, and at peak production Steve managed a staff over 1000 sales and operations associates.

Prior to joining ECC Capital Corp., he held several positions with New Century Mortgage Corporation, including serving as Senior Vice President-Chief Credit and Appraisal Officer from 1996 to 2002. Prior to New Century Steve held several positions with Household International including Compliance/Due Diligence Underwriting Manager as well as Branch Sales Manager from 1988 to 1996. Steve holds a BA in Business, Economics and Psychology from Cornell College located in Mount Vernon, Iowa.

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.

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.