Meet Kimberly Whiter, Ed.D. | Owner & CEO of Elder Care Solutions

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kimberly Whiter, Ed.D. and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kimberly, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
Well, I actually didn’t start it! I met the two original CoFounders in early 2019 when I was presenting at a conference on some data I had collected in research I was doing on interprofessional / interdisciplinary teams. At the time, I was cultivating a career in higher education and had no plans to leave.

After my presentation, one of Elder Care Solutions’ cofounders asked if he and his business partner could call me for some consultation. This began a year-long consultative relationship with the two gentlemen. They shared the heartbreaking realities that families where experiencing when they were caring for elder members of their families, and I saw clearly how they had an interprofessional problem on their hands.

At the end of 2019, they extended an invite to join the team and run the company as its CEO. I asked to think about it, prepared to respectfully decline. Within 5 days I landed in a caregiving situation and witnessed first hand the overwhelm and stress of caring for someone. In Jan 2020, I transitioned from higher ed to business.

In 2021, I believed in what we were doing so much, I became full owner of Elder Care Solutions and have changed the way we do our work substantially.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I approach my work as an educator. I can’t help but do this. I have always loved teaching. I have 15+ years of teaching experience. I have two advanced degrees in education. And, I LOVE creating lessons and delivering them.

I find this gives me a unique perspective in business. Not only is educating families a pillar of the work I do, but I approach running my business like an academic. It’s important to me that it fits within a larger conversation. I should be contributing to the solutions for solving tough care challenges for families.

Transitioning from higher ed to business was terrifying. Higher Ed can be a really secure place to build a career. Business is not secure. So, I’ve built a huge network for support. Not just because I needed it, but I saw there wasn’t an organized ecosystem for care economy leaders, and I felt developing that was they only way we would gain ground in solving care issues.

Elder Care Solutions is one of the only businesses helping families face the financial challenges of elder care head on. We are NOT selling financial products. We are giving families their 10,000-ft view of all their options. We guide them and connect the dots for them, so they can see what directions they can actually take. We empower them with this education and send them out with security that they have real answers. And to do this, we’ve had to build the only multi-disciplinary solution on the market. We don’t position ourselves as THE answer, we position ourselves as the surveyor of all the possible answers.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Where I live, we have a mountain in the middle of the city with a giant star on top. The Star is lit from dusk to 11pm and shines on the city. There’s an overlook so you can see the entire city. it is magical at night when the star is lit and you can look on the lights of our city buildings and see the shadows of all the mountains that sit around our beautiful valley. So that’s is always a place to take visitors.

Next, our city has incredible food! We have the best Indian and Sushi restaurants! We have excellent Mexican as well. So we’d have to visit some yummy grub. I typically take newcomers to our Indian restaurant downtown because it WOWs.

Then, hiking is a must. We have excellent hiking trails all throughout the city and you feel as though you’ve escaped to a mountain retreat when you’re really just in the city limits!

We also have a great art museum, some fun breweries, a wonderful wine tasting room, and if they’re an adventure person, the climbing wall with tap room next door is lots of fun.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I wouldn’t be in business at all if it weren’t for the original CoFounders of Elder Care Solutions seeing something in me that they felt the business would succeed with. So I owe everything to them.

I also have found tremendous support within the network I’ve built in the care economy among other founders and C-suite leaders also trying to make care better across the U.S.

Website: https://www.eldercaresolutionsinc.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eldercaresolutions

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimberlywhiter

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/ElderSolutions

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElderCareSolutionsInc