SAN ANTONIO, TX, March 22, 2018 – The Army Residence Community, a San Antonio-based retirement community for military officers, has hired a new CEO, effective May 15.

Steven Fuller is the fourth CEO at the nonprofit organization since its inception three decades ago. Fuller was the longtime CEO of the The Village at Incarnate Word, a senior living facility on Broadway Street at the University of the Incarnate Word. He oversaw that senior care facility since 2000, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The Army Residence Community hired Witt/Kieffer, an Oak Brook, Illinois-based executive search firm that recruited Fuller. More than 600 résumés were reviewed.

“His experience and proven success in the field of elder care is exactly what we were looking for in a CEO,” said retired Army Col. Herb Coley, chairman of The Army Residence Community’s board of directors.

Fuller holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Texas at Dallas and a master’s degree in studies of aging from the University of North Texas.

There are roughly 750 retired military officers and their spouses living at the 150-acre master-planned development between Fort Sam Houston and Randolph Air Force Base. The organization has about 400 employees. Entrance fees are about $300,000 in addition to monthly service fees paid to the nonprofit for operational costs, records show.

The Army Residence Community initiated the executive search in September 2017. That was the same month in which a lawsuit regarding an insurance claim was dismissed by the plaintiffs lead by retired Air Force Col. Charles Cheever Jr. — former chairman at Broadway Bank — who initially filed a lawsuit against the local nonprofit. Cheever retained former San Antonio Mayor Phil Hardberger with law firm Dykema Cox Smith.

Cheever and his attorney alleged that The Army Residence Community — which is incorporated as two nonprofit organizations, The Army Retirement Residence Foundation San Antonio Inc. and Supporting Foundation, doing business as Army Residence Community — was being financially mismanaged and called to replace the CEO.

Hardberger told the Business Journal that Army Residence Community and Cheever were able to have outside mediation that included changes at the organization in exchange to drop the court proceedings. Army Residence Community representatives confirmed the sequence of events. In late April 2017, the chief financial officer Bruce Chittenden, left the nonprofit and filed his own lawsuit against the organization. That case has also been dismissed, records show.

Kevin Bergner, CEO of Goodwill Industries in San Antonio, was appointed the chairman of the board of directors at Army Residence Community — but resigned from the role due to a tight time commitment schedule. Retired Army Col. Herb Coley is the new chairman of the board.

Retired Army Col. Mary Garr was the CEO of Army Residence Community, appointed by the board of directors in 2014. Former CEO Bruce Furbish retired that year. At the time, he was paid a salary of $364,235, according to the nonprofit’s regulatory filings. During the transition, Garr was paid $38,300. During 2016, Garr earned $183,600, records show. Between 2011 and 2014 Furbish, the former CEO, was paid between $193,309 and $191,742, records show.

Bruce Chittenden, the organization’s chief financial officer, made $150,241 in 2016, records show.

The organization had $4.2 million in assets as of 2016, up from $3.7 million in 2015. Its net assets dropped from $1.6 million to $1.4 million.

About Witt/Kieffer

Witt/Kieffer is the nation’s preeminent executive search firm supporting organizations improving the quality of life, including those in education, healthcare, academic medicine, life sciences, sports, and the not-for-profit sector. It also serves clients through its Board Services, Information Technology, and Leadership Solutions practices, which offer services that further strengthen client enterprises. For more information, please visit WittKieffer.com.

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