2021 National Mature Media Awards Judges

We would like to thank our 2021 judges for their time and expertise in reviewing this year’s entries. Please note: Judges were not permitted to review any entries submitted by their organizations.

Interested in serving as a judge for the 2022 competition? Please complete our judging application form or contact Pat Henze, executive director, of the National Mature Media Awards program: phenze@seniorawards.com or 800-828-8225.

Laura Bennett opened her Florida-based PR and Marketing firm, Bennett & Company, in 1982 with dual offices in Miami and Orlando. Prior to opening her agency Bennett worked for A.T. & T, Hyatt Hotels and the National Restaurant Association among others. Her firm has represented marquee names and continues to believe that the mature audience should be a top priority and is too often overlooked.

Scott A. Davis, VP and Creative Director, AARP Media/Publications is currently the creative lead for publications, both print and digital, at AARP for the past ten years. He loves the work and the mission of the organization, which helps our 50+ members live their best life. Prior to that, Scott spent twenty years in NY at various magazine titles including People, Money, Time, Instyle, and Fortune Small Business magazines. He has over thirty years of experience in publishing and the magazine industry. Scott has four kids and lives in Gainesville, Virginia.  

Charlotte Doyle is a graduate of Trocaire College and Southern Illinois University Carbondale with degrees in Nursing and Healthcare Management respectively. She has completed post graduate work in workforce management at SIUC. As a Registered Nurse, Ms. Doyle focused on working with children and adults with special needs prior to relocating to the Chicago area.

Since 1992, her emphasis has been on long term care, serving as a Clinical Care Coordinator, Clinical Analyst, and most recently, Director of Clinical Operations for a nation-wide Continuing Care Retirement Community. Now retired, Ms. Doyle continues to focus on needs of seniors by serving on the Senior Council Board of Libertyville, Illinois.

Janis Ehlers heads The Ehlers Group, an award-winning marketing and communications company specializing in senior living communities. She holds an MBA in real estate marketing from Nova Southeastern University and a BS in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Florida. Her strength is spearheading innovative strategic marketing and communications efforts for the company’s clients and offering services ranging from community marketing assessments to social media, podcasting, mystery shopping, public relations, event planning, direct mail, branding and positioning.

The author of three books related to the industry, these include Marketing Senior Housing, which was first published by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the second edition by Author House. Her new book, Successful Senior Housing Marketing Events, is now available on Amazon.

Wendy Foster is Vice President of IVY Marketing Group. An award-winning company founded in 1990, IVY Marketing is a full service public relations, marketing, and advertising agency specializing in the senior housing industry. We have also developed and are marketing a crisis communications management system for senior housing. Wendy has been with IVY Marketing for 10 years, and is a PRSA certified content marketing manager.

Jonathan Lavin, Retired CEO, AgeOptions.

Paula Ledbetter, Assistant Vice President/Marketing, Mather.

Wes Meltzer, Director of Communications, Westminster Communities of Florida.

Lauren Messmer has 20 years of experience in strategic marketing management in the senior living industry. As the President of Solutions Advisors, she specializes in marketing planning and strategy for new developments, and repositioning and expansion of senior living communities. She conducts assessments of existing communities' marketing and sales efforts to provide recommendations regarding opportunities for improvement and increased return on investment. Lauren also oversees the creative and digital team at Solutions Advisors to ensure lead generation and advancement tactics are appealing, effective and on-brand.

Cindy Morris is Vice President of Development and Community Engagement at the American Society on Aging, which works to unite, empower and champion all those who work on behalf of older adults. Prior to this position, she was the President at The Benson Agency, a consulting agency focusing on sustainability and strategic growth for nonprofits on Long Island, NY, and the Chief Operating Officer of i-tri, an empowerment program for middle-school age girls. After a career in the travel and hospitality industries, Cindy has spent the past decade working with nonprofits in the Metro NYC area to build and implement growth plans with a focus on fundraising and marketing. Cindy holds Master's and Bachelor's degrees from the George Washington University.

Di Patterson, MSG, CPGis a Credentialed Professional Media Gerontologist, founder and author at her companies: Success in Aging Centers®, Inc. and Season of Life® Conferences, Inc. Since 1979, Di has co-produced several music albums and co-owns Matters of the Heart Music Publishing Company. Since 2008, Di has won 10 National Mature Media Awards for her online work at dipatterson.com and successinagingcenters.com and her app: SeasonofLifeConferences. Di has guest-judged for seniorawards.com for several years.

She was Orange County’s 2012 Senior Care Hero Awards Advocate, Gerontologist and Educator of the Year. In 2015, Di was guest Gerontologist on NBC’s The TODAY Show, speaking about caregiving and Senior Day Programs. Di worked as an Aging consultant on several movies; most notably for Jerry Lewison his last movie, Max Rose, released in 2016.Most days, Di works at her development company, Success in Aging Centers®, Inc. designing senior social/recreational day programs. Currently, Di is co-authoring Book #2 for her work in Family Aging Consulting.

Loren Roberts is an award-winning art director that has spent the past decade with Life Plan Communities across the US developing brands that speak in a clear, exciting, dignified voice to the senior sector. Roberts believes strongly in collaboration, empowering and amplifying marginalized voices, and beauty as a force for positive change the world. He is the art director of the award-winning quarterly "The Planetary Report" and since 1993 has won accolades for his virtual and in-person event production, documentary film producing and editing, and creative solutions to large-scale brand transitions. One of his specialties is exploring -- from a "big-picture" perspective -- how technology can enhance the marketing landscape for his clients.

Amy Selle is the Vice President of corecubed. She acts as a strategic marketing partner to corecubed clients, helping them achieve results in an increasingly dynamic marketplace. She believes that in a competitive market where all businesses have services to sell, it is a company's brand and the ways it communicates with its constituents that set it apart from the pack. Amy serves annually as a judge for the National Mature Media Awards.

Prior to joining corecubed, Amy was Director of Marketing for Cantata, a family of organizations focused on leading innovations that will enable Americans to live their best lives as they age. At Cantata, she was the recipient of a Public Relations Society of America Chicago Chapter Skyline Award for marketing healthcare services, and a Publicity Club of Chicago Silver Trumpet Award for consumer marketing campaigns. Prior to Cantata, Amy worked for various other senior care organizations and hospital systems in management, business development, sales, and marketing.

Amy earned a Master of Arts degree in Media and Organizational Communication Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, both from Northern Illinois University, where she was also a graduate teaching assistant for the department of Communication Studies. Amy resides in the Chicago area with her husband and children.

Debra Sheridan is founder and President of IVY Marketing Group since 1990. IVY's public relations and marketing specialties are dedicated to senior housing and services. Under Debra's leadership, IVY has undertaken assignments from some of the biggest, and many of the smallest senior service providers. Her firm has worked with for-profit, not-for-profit organizations, CCRC's, nursing homes, assisted living communities, home health agencies and with senior move manager companies. Debra has been a speaker at numerous national meetings and co-author of articles and books about marketing, public relations and advertising.

Rob Siedenburg has been a soldier, a park ranger, a dairy farmer, a welding instructor, a mechanic, and a world traveler. After retiring from both the Army and a career in publishing 11 years ago, he walked across the state of Illinois, and resumed a career as a college professor of advanced academic writing at the University of Illinois.

He is author of the Glossary of Publishing Terms. Rob is copyeditor for the Prime Life Times, a NAMPA newspaper published in Champaign, Illinois, by the Great News Media Group.