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 James
J. Soper
Chief Executive Officer
James Soper has over 20 years of experience in providing
residential care for seniors. He began working in the
industry at his family-owned and -operated nursing facility
in Canada in 1979. Working his way up to administrator,
he was able to gain a comprehensive understanding for
the special needs of seniors. With this experience and
an idea to revolutionize the way seniors were cared
for, Mr. Soper sold his family-owned business and moved
to Florida to pursue new opportunities in the assisted
living field.
Mr. Soper designed an assisted living model specifically
for seniors that were unable to live independently,
but did not need the care of a 24-hour nursing facility.
In 1992, the first assisted living community based on
this model, The Carriage Inn in St. Petersburg, Florida,
was established. The community reached full capacity
within 6 months of each phase being built. Mr. Soper
used The Carriage Inn to better define his model and
his dream of building Heron House, regionally-based
assisted living communities that offered seniors upscale
yet affordable living arrangements and healthcare services.
The Carriage Inn was sold in 1995 to allow the Heron
House vision to be realized.
Mr. Soper established Horizon Senior Lifestyles, Ltd.,
a company that overseas the planning and development
of regionally-based Heron House communities. The first
Heron House was established in September of 1998 in
Sarasota, Florida. The facility achieved stabilized
occupancy in August of 1999. The second Heron House
in East Sarasota was established in 1999 and is also
at full occupancy. Heron House Ft. Myers is scheduled
to open its doors in 2001 and is already accepting reservations
and a land contract has been secured on Heron House
Naples scheduled for a 2002 opening.
Mr. Soper received his certification in Long Term Care
with a focus on Organization and Management from the
Canadian Hospital Association and is a Graduate in Health
Care Administration from the Canadian School of Management.
 Joseph
P. Grace
President, Real Estate
Joseph Grace is a licensed real estate professional
with over 25 years of experience in Florida. His knowledge
and experience span from handling multi-million dollar
acquisitions of commercial real estate to developing
and marketing condominiums and timeshare resorts. During
the past 25 years, he has developed a reputation for
the ability to search out and identify unique real estate
opportunities.
In the 1970’s Mr. Grace pioneered the concept
of condominium conversions with the gulf front Pointe
Pass-A-Grille development, the first of its kind in
Pinellas County, Florida. In the 1980’s Mr. Grace
spearheaded the redevelopment of the Camelot By The
Sea Time Share Resort – a time share resort that
continues to be in demand to this day. In the late 1980’s
and early 1990’s Mr. Grace marketed commercial
properties and site selection for one of the premier
self-storage developers in Florida.
In 1995 Mr. Grace joined forces with James Soper in
the packaging and sale of Mr. Soper’s first assisted
living facility – The Carriage Inn in St. Petersburg,
Florida. Mr. Grace was instrumental in the successful
transaction that sold the facility at a record price
($83,000 per unit; 81 units) at the time of sale.
Since 1995, Mr. Grace has been responsible for strategic
planning and growth for Heron House communities, the
regionally-based, branded assisted living communities
being developed by Mr. Soper. Mr. Grace handles development
and permanent financing for each community established.
He has created a network of contacts throughout the
Senior Housing Industry exploring the benefits and timing
for mergers and acquisitions, sale/manage back relationships,
mezzanine financing and establishing long-term relationships
with nonprofit corporations with a national presence
in assisted living. He has also established and worked
with expanding the limited partner investors that have
helped spur the growth of these Heron House communities.
Mr. Grace has assumed the role of President for Autumn
Care Management, Inc. In this role he is responsible
for community site selection, permitting and permanent
financing. Two recent acquisitions include Ft. Myers
and Naples with expected completion dates of 2001 and
2002, respectively. Additional sites under consideration
include strategic locations in the Orange, Hillsborough
and Pinellas markets.
Mr. Grace attended the University of South Florida
from 1972 to 1974. He is the past owner of a real estate
company which he CO-owned and operated since the early
1970’s.
 Robin
Jones
Vice President
Robin Jones is a self-made entrepreneur and investor
with over 20 years of experience in several diverse
industries. Mr. Jones came to St. Petersburg, Florida
in 1992 and established Pratas, Inc., a holding company
for his various capital ventures. In 1993 he opened
Robin’s Seafood House, a family-style restaurant
and gift shop. The restaurant seats over 100 customers,
yields over $600,000 per year in gross revenue and currently
employs 15 people. Mr. Jones directs every aspect of
his businesses’ startup obligations including building
construction and purchasing requirements. He continues
to oversee the every day operations of his restaurant.
Mr. Jones also has experience in the printing, production
and artistic industries.
In 1997, as one of the first Heron House investors,
Mr. Jones became familiar with the financial and physical
requirements of each facility. Due to his vast experience
as an entrepreneur and his direct interest in Heron
House, in 2000 Mr. Jones was asked to join the company’s
executive team as an operational buyer for existing
and future communities. His responsibilities included
budgeting and managing the operational budget as well
as overseeing the actual purchasing requirements. In
June, 2001, Mr. Jones was offered and accepted the position
of vice president, overseeing the facilities’ day-to-day
operations.
 Edwin
D. Taylor
Public Relations Officer
Edwin D. Taylor plays a leading role in the present
Senior Health Care market. He is actively involved in
both his community and the Senior Health Care industry
and is presently helping to restructure the industry's
policy, procedure and law. His area of expertise consists
of business management, marketing, resident quality
assurance and efficient assisted living facility operations.
Since the company’s inception in 1998 Mr. Taylor
has been working with Heron House as Public Relations
Officer. His responsibilities include industry and corporate
marketing including budgeting and implementation, all
public relations and community outreach efforts, industry
and community relations, supervising the marketing departments
of all the Heron House facilities and resident leasing
agreements.
Prior to becoming a principal with Heron House, Mr.
Taylor served as Director of Business Development and
Marketing Director for a Michigan-based Assisted Living
Facility management company where he oversaw the renovation
of the company’s St. Petersburg facility and was
responsible for all hiring, vendor agreements and industry
and community relations.
Over the years, Mr. Taylor’s philanthropic nature
has involved him in almost every aspect of his community
including serving as a board member on The Community
Foundation of Sarasota County, Sertoma Club of Venice,
Leadership Sarasota Alumni Association, Sarasota’s
Family Counseling Center and Southwest Florida’s
American Red Cross Building Committee. Presently he
is involved as Treasurer for SCAN (Sarasota County Aging
Network) as well as Treasurer for FALA (Florida Assisted
Living Association). He is also actively involved in
Sarasota’s Chamber of Commerce.
Mr. Taylor holds the Certification of Long Term Assisted
Living Administrator from the American College of Health
Care Administrators. He has successfully completed the
following assisted living courses: The ALF (Assisted
Living Facility) Administrator’s CORE program and
ECC (Extended Congregate Care) training; both provided
by Florida’s Department of Aging and Adult Services;
Behaviors and Environmental Management of the Alzheimer’s
Resident; Developing Dementia (Alzheimer) Capable Assisted
Living, Marketing and the Managed Care intensive courses
offered by ALFA (Assisted Living Federation of America);
Validation Therapy Training by Naomi Feil, M.S.W.; and
the Corporate Compliance Training Program – Florida
Health Care Association.
A lifelong resident of Sarasota County, Mr. Taylor
graduated in 1976 from Gupton-Jones College in Atlanta
with a degree in Liberal Arts.
 Jo
A. Taylor, R.N.
Chief Operational Officer
Ms. Taylor has been a Registered Nurse for over 40
years. As Chief Operational Officer for Heron House,
she is responsible for all aspects of licensing, hiring
and initial resident assessments for both Heron House,
Sarasota and Heron House, East Sarasota. She is also
responsible for the day to day administrative needs
of each facility and oversees all in-house service departments.
As new communities are developed, Ms. Taylor will hire
and oversee Heron House Administrators and staff managers.
Ms. Taylor has an extensive background in long-term
care for seniors. She has served as Regional Director
of nursing for Medical Services of America in Newton,
Massachusetts and Administrator/Director of Nursing
and Human Resources Director for a 100-bed Sarasota-based
assisted living facility. In this capacity her areas
of responsibility included staff hiring and training,
writing and implementing policies & procedures,
HIV instruction, executing ALF nursing care plans, medication
management and charting, and patient/resident care.
In addition, she has served as a Nursing Coordinator
and human resources consultant for Sarasota based Gulf
Wave Management and was the director of property management
for a Florida real estate investment group.
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