Covenant Village of Turlock Adds Assistant Executive Director and Sales Director

Adding two executives to its leadership team, Covenant Village of Turlock appointed Charles W. Johnson assistant executive director and Laura J. Bemis sales director.

In his new position, Johnson will work collaboratively with and report to Covenant Village Executive Director Bob Howell. Johnson will be responsible for managing residential and assisted living operations at the continuing care retirement community.

Bemis will develop and implement a sales program for Covenant Village’s 219 residential retirement apartments and patio homes. In addition to residential retirement, the community’s continuum of senior services includes 52 assisted living residences and a 50-bed skilled nursing center. Bemis will report to Executive Director Bob Howell.

Johnson has been with Covenant Retirement Communities, the parent of Covenant Village of Turlock, since 2004. Before his current assignment he spent four years leading the organization’s community in Florida. He started his CRC tenure as residential administrator at Covenant Village of Turlock. Before entering the senior service industry, Johnson was editorial director for Focus on the Family Periodicals, the publications department of the Christian ministry headed by Dr. James Dobson. Johnson also worked in education and was principal of Huntington School, San Marino, Calif.

Johnson has a bachelor’s degree in English and history from Westmont College, Santa Barbara, Calif., and a master’s degree in pupil personnel services from Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, Calif.  He is California licensed administrator of Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly. Johnson and his wife Gwen live in Turlock, Calif.

Bemis brings more than 18 years of experience in sales, property management, customer service and administration to her new position. She comes to Covenant Village from Garden Plaza Greenbriar Cove, a retirement community in Ooltewah, Tenn., where she directed sales and managed training.

Having served on the board for nine years, Bemis was president of board of the Plumas (Calif.) Association of Realtors. She has been active in the California Association of Realtors for almost 20 years, having directed its board for three years and served on a variety of special-interest initiatives. Bemis lives in Denair, Calif.

Nationally accredited Covenant Village of Turlock is one of 14 retirement communities nationwide that are administered by Skokie, Ill.-based Covenant Retirement Communities Inc. One of the nation’s largest not-for-profit senior services organizations, Covenant Retirement Communities operates communities in eight states and is a ministry of the Evangelical Covenant Church. For more information on Covenant Village of Turlock, call (209) 632-9976 or visit www.CovenantVillageofTurlock.org.

###