Executive director at Longview to retire

After 30 years of service, Longview Executive Director Mark Macera is retiring, and Longview staff is celebrating his long history of dedication and passion for his work.

The Longview Board of Directors announced the retirement Aug. 13 and said Macera will continue to serve as Longview’s head administrator while a national search is conducted and a new CEO is in place.

Macera started at Longview in August of 1990. While he currently lives in Cazenovia, the Longview position was a chance for Macera to reconnect with his hometown in Ithaca.

“I went to the Ithaca City School District. I got my undergraduate degree from Ithaca College, and I always felt that Ithaca, my hometown, was very near and dear to me,” Macera said. “Returning to take the position as executive director of Ithacare Center Service Company, also known as Longview, was something that I didn’t want to miss.”

Macera brought with him skills from his undergraduate degree in health services administration and subsequent work in the healthcare field.

“My experiences following my graduation in the healthcare field prepared me for, I think, the long-term care that Longview was providing to members of the community,” he said. “So, it was a labor of love in many respects, not only from my formal training in college, but also my applied experiences and my previous professional positions.”

And it wasn’t just his education that made him a good fit for Longview; Macera also had a long history of living with seniors in his family.

“Growing up in Ithaca, I lived in a household with three generations, and I was accustomed to working with and living with 60-, 70- and 80-year-old, older adults,” he said. “So, long-term care was something that was very attractive to me. And when I came to Longview, looking in the eyes of the older adults, it was very much like coming home. I saw my own family members in them.”

As Macera alluded to, he began at Longview back when it was called Ithacare Center Service Company and when it was located in the old Ithaca City Hospital, which had also been used as a dormitory by Ithaca College. As Macera described, he had quite the job ahead of him.

“The issues that the Board of Directors, the staff and I needed to work with was what we’re going to do to rebuild, expand and provide new housing and service opportunities for a growing number of older adults not only in this community but in surrounding communities that were looking for long-term care living options,” he said.

Thanks to Macera’s leadership and the work of the Board of Directors and others at Longview, Longview soon began construction of its new community on South Hill, where it still is today. Macera said that a partnership with Ithaca College was also key to that project and the intergenerational programming that Longview created.

While the process of expanding Longview’s reach and programming wasn’t an easy feat, Macera said it was well worth the effort.

“The issue of not only building a new physical plant, if you will, and new residences and replacing the old facility, [but also] expanding the number of programs, serving a larger number of older members of the community was something that was quite challenging and quite rewarding at the same time,” he said.

That hard work helped to turn Longview into what it is today, which Macera described as a “critical, important resource for the local community.”

“Longview is a living option for individuals who are really no longer able or might be argued appropriate to live in an isolated and lonely fashion in their own private home,” he said. “The community offers older adults not only options with regards to living spaces, but most importantly, a healthy variety of programs that keep them engaged and stimulated and learning and contributing, in every respect.”

Maintaining that mission was complicated by COVID-19. When Tompkins Weekly last covered Longview, it was at the very beginning of the coronavirus back in March. Back then, Longview and other residential facilities suspended visitation for its residences to protect the vulnerable population from the pandemic, and adjustments didn’t stop there.
John Krout, president of the Longview Board of Directors, explained the impact COVID-19 had on Longview.

“This is their home. The assisted living folks have — by law and by how we run Longview — a lot of freedom and independent living folks, complete [freedom],” he said. “Well, suddenly, COVID comes and you’re told, ‘your family members, unless you’re a caregiver, can’t come. Your friends can’t come. You shouldn’t be leaving the grounds.’”

Despite the challenge, Macera and other leadership rose to the occasion, maintaining most programming but changing it to have smaller groups or be individualized so older adults living there could still get the exercise and socialization they needed.

“From the beginning, it was challenging, and you can imagine it took quite a while for people to understand and for the staff to figure out the best ways to do this in a manner that allowed maximum independence to all the residents but to continue our activities,” Krout said. “Mark had been amazing in keeping as much going as had been going before.”

Krout said that Macera’s dedication to Longview and its mission never wavered, no matter the challenge thrown his way. Krout met Macera in 1993, when Krout started at Longview, and Krout said he’s enjoyed working with Macera all these years.

“He’s really a down-to-earth, mission-driven kind of person,” Krout said. “He stayed at Longview for 30 years. He could have left. … So, I think that sheds a lot about the dedication that he has towards the organization. It’s like a second home.”

For Macera, the feeling is mutual. He said he values the connections he’s made with Longview staff and residents over the years and will continue to cherish them in retirement.

“We as staff work in our residents’ and tenants’ home,” Macera said. “We actually spend more time together, both residents and the staff with one another, than we do with our own family members. And you can imagine the important relationships that are developed as a result of the time that we spend working with and living with one another.”

And Macera said he’s grown a lot as a person thanks to Longview residents.

“I’ve learned a great deal from them over the years and discussing their life’s experiences with them and being available to assist and to aid them in their time of need,” he said.

Macera said that while he’s thoroughly enjoyed working at Longview, at 65, it was the right time for him to move on.

“After 30 years, I think it’s time for Longview to bring on new executive leadership and bring to fruition the many strategic plans that Longview has and is working on,” he said. “The continuity that a new executive director will bring to move the organization forward in the many years to come is very, very important.”

In retirement, Macera said he plans to pursue other interests and enjoy time with those he loves.

“I’ve turned my attention to all those recreational and other professional opportunities that are waiting for me out there,” he said. “I’ll be able to get back to my hobbies, spend more time with my family, hopefully do a little bit of traveling and enjoy my later years.”

Krout said he and others will miss Macera, but they’re happy for what lies ahead for the longtime leader of Longview.

“I just wish him all the best moving forward,” Krout said. “He’s left, no pun intended, a mark on the organization. … It’s hard to imagine Longview without him running it. It’s one of the things that for years afterwards, people are going to say, well, Mark was here.”

The national search to identify Macera’s successor is being conducted by the Deffet Group, Inc. Inquiries regarding this opportunity should be directed to info@deffetgroup.com.