Brightview Senior Living CEO Marilynn Duker has been named Loyola University Maryland's Sellinger School of Business and Management's 2019 Business Leader of the Year.
Duker will be honored on Nov. 21 at the annual Business Leader of the Year dinner at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore. As CEO of the Baltimore-based senior living company, Duker has overseen its growth up and down the East Coast as it looks to add two to five new communities a year. Brightview currently has 39 communities in eight states, including Severna Park and Annapolis, with plans to open its new Crofton community in December. A community in Columbia is also in the works.
“Selecting our Business Leader of the Year offers us an opportunity to recognize a member of the business community who has a distinctive approach to leadership—and whose organization is making a difference in our community,” said Kathleen A. Getz, dean of the Sellinger School in a statement. “Marilynn Duker is a leader with strong vision and a deep commitment both to creating high-quality housing and to instilling a wonderful sense of community among the residents who choose Brightview Senior Living.”
Duker has been with Brightview since 1982, when it was known as the Shelter Group. She started her career as a developer and has been heavily involved in the company's growth and operations over the decades.
Past Sellinger School honorees included Michael D. Hankin, CEO of Brown Advisory; Eddie C. Brown, CEO of Brown Capital Management, Joseph Sullivan, CEO of Legg Mason Inc. and Thomas S. Bozzuto, chairman and co-founder of the Bozzuto Group.