After more than 12 years at Sunshine Communities, nine of which serving as President & CEO, I have made the deeply difficult decision to step away from my role and begin the next chapter of my professional and personal life. This decision has not come quickly, lightly, or emotionally detached. In many ways, Sunshine has become part of who I am.
While I am excited about the future and the opportunity to continue pursuing work centered around leadership, organizational transformation, and innovation, this decision is not about running from something difficult. It is about recognizing the right moment in time - both personally and professionally. I truly believe Sunshine is ready for its next chapter.
I want to first acknowledge that I inherited an organization built by generations of mission-driven people who carried this work forward long before I arrived. Their sacrifices, leadership, compassion, and perseverance created the foundation upon which we were able to continue building.
Over the last 12+ years, our team has worked tirelessly to transform Sunshine in extraordinary ways. Like many organizations throughout the human services sector, Sunshine faced significant operational and financial challenges during earlier chapters of its history. Yet from the very beginning, I believed something strongly: “If we truly invested in our employees - if we created a culture of support, dignity, growth, accountability, and belonging - the mission would follow.”
Over the last decade plus, I believe our team proved that philosophy together. We transformed not only the organization itself, but the experience of working here. We improved wages dramatically. We expanded benefits, mentorship programs, leadership development, and support systems that reached far beyond a paycheck. We helped create stability and opportunity for countless employees and families. We built a culture centered on people, because I have always believed that when you take care of the people providing the mission, the mission itself becomes stronger. That may ultimately become one of the things I am most proud of.
At the same time, Sunshine grew in extraordinary ways. Over the course of our tenure, the organization more than doubled in size, our Foundation grew several-fold, and we completed multiple capital campaigns while transitioning from years of operational instability to sustainable financial strength and organizational momentum. But numbers alone never tell the real story. The real story is the people. It is the direct support professionals, nurses, clinicians, managers, maintenance teams, dietary staff, volunteers, and hundreds more who showed up every single day - especially during the hardest moments.
Together, we endured and rebuilt through devastating floods that damaged homes and large portions of our campus. Together, we led through a global pandemic unlike anything our field had ever experienced. During one of the most uncertain periods in modern healthcare history, this organization did more than survive - it became an example for others across Ohio of how culture, preparation, leadership, and mission can carry people through impossible circumstances. I will never forget that.
Over these years, we also physically transformed our campus into something that reflects the dignity of the people who live, work, and gather here. We invested millions of dollars back into our homes, infrastructure, and environment. Nearly every inch of our campus was renovated or reimagined - flooring, ceilings, walls, kitchens, bathrooms, HVAC systems, gathering spaces, landscaping, fencing, and more.
What I love most is that we created spaces designed not simply for care, but for connection. Together with volunteers, donors, and an incredible team, we revitalized and transformed the grounds behind campus into spaces where community could gather and truly experience Sunshine. A boardwalk now winds through the trees for more than a quarter mile. A stage hosts summer concerts open to the entire community. Families gather in spaces designed for celebration, reflection, peace, and joy. Our courtyard overlooking the lawn and amphitheater has become a place of connection and togetherness, complete with an accessible playground and gathering areas for families and residents alike. And our memorial garden honors every individual who has called Sunshine home - a permanent reminder that every life here matters and always will.
Sunshine has not only shaped my professional life. It has shaped my personal life as well. When I began this journey, my children were so young. Over the course of these years, my family and I experienced many of life’s highest highs and deepest hardships together. We survived a devastating house fire in the middle of the night. We endured flooding that displaced our family for months. We navigated rebuilding, loss, growth, and the evolution of our family over time. Through all of it, Sunshine wasn’t just part of my life - it was my lifeline.
This organization grounded me during difficult seasons. It gave me purpose, stability, support, and community while raising my children and building a blended family that now includes seven incredible kids. In many ways, they grew up alongside this organization with me.
Some of the most meaningful moments of my life happened here. When my father passed away from cancer a few years back, we held his memorial service on these very special grounds - the same grounds so many people helped reshape into places of peace, beauty, and connection. That is why this decision is so emotional for me. This is not simply a place where I work. It never was. This became part of my life. Part of my family. Part of me.
I am also deeply grateful for the relationships this journey created far beyond Sunshine itself. Serving alongside local, state, and national leaders throughout our industry changed me profoundly. I learned from extraordinary people and had the privilege of helping advocate for individuals with developmental disabilities and the organizations that support them - including participating in efforts that contributed to historic Medicaid investments in Ohio. Those experiences strengthened my belief that this work matters deeply and that the people who dedicate their lives to it are truly extraordinary.
One of the convictions I have carried throughout my leadership journey is the importance of succession planning. Leadership is not about creating dependence on one person. It is about building systems, culture, and future leaders strong enough to continue forward without you. From my earliest days at Sunshine, I believed every leader should actively cultivate the next generation behind them. Today, I genuinely believe Sunshine is prepared for its next chapter. We have strong leadership. We have extraordinary employees. We have momentum. We have stability. We have culture. We have mission alignment. And perhaps most importantly, we have people who are ready.
The next generation is ready to lead us. That gives me tremendous peace.
Over the coming months, I will remain fully committed to supporting a thoughtful and stable leadership transition process alongside the Board of Directors. While the Board will ultimately discern the organization’s next leader, I have great confidence in the leadership team, systems, culture, and succession planning that have been intentionally built over many years. I want to leave in a way that allows this organization not simply to survive, but to continue thriving without interruption. I am not stepping away because Sunshine is struggling. I am stepping away because Sunshine is strong. Strong financially. Strong culturally. Strong operationally. Strong clinically. Strong in leadership. Strong in mission.
I believe leadership is stewardship. Every generation carries the responsibility of preparing the next. It is indeed their time.
To every employee who gave your heart to this mission… To every family who trusted us… To every donor, volunteer, board member, advocate, and community partner… To every individual we have had the privilege of supporting… Thank you. Thank you for allowing me to be part of this remarkable chapter in Sunshine’s 77-year history. I will always carry this place with me. And while all chapters eventually come to an end, I leave with immense gratitude, deep pride, lasting friendships, profound memories, and tremendous hope for the future of this organization and the people who will continue leading it forward.
The best days for Sunshine are still ahead...
— Jason D. Abodeely, President & CEO, Sunshine Communities