As Chairman, CEO, and Owner of Autumn Leaves®, Mitchell W. Warren provides overall vision, drive, and leadership. He also focuses on long term strategy, leadership development, and business development and diversification.
Mitch prioritizes building relationships with residents, residents’ families, and team members at Autumn Leaves’ communities. With 20 years of experience in the real estate and healthcare sectors, and through the strong relationships he has built within the senior living industry, Mitch has been instrumental in Autumn Leaves' success and growth.
Always having a passion to help others and explore new opportunities, Mitch joined Autumn Leaves on a part-time basis in 2000 as a Project Manager. He helped oversee several of the initial Autumn Leaves senior living projects. In 2003, he started full time as Vice President of Development, where he helped found Autumn Leaves’ design, development, and construction divisions, which created and drove the business model for expanding the Autumn Leaves brand. Since then, Autumn Leaves has set itself apart as a leader in memory care, dedicated to providing the highest-quality care, engagement, and home-like atmosphere to seniors with all types of dementia.
In 2008, Mitch became Chief Executive Officer and Co-Owner of Autumn Leaves. While managing Autumn Leaves’ smart growth, Mitch continues to follow the founding principles of always putting the resident first, along with a strongly built foundation of hiring excellent people and implementing successful systems and processes. He was named Autumn Leaves’ Chairman in 2016.
Throughout his career, Mitch has created and worked in nearly all of the positions at the Home Office and in the field/communities of the business. Under Mitch’s leadership, his companies have developed and managed over $1 billion worth of real estate in the senior living, apartment, and hospitality sectors, and employed thousands.
Mitch earned a bachelor of arts degree at the University of Michigan. He is very involved as a business, church, and community leader. Mitch currently serves or has served as a Board member at the Las Colinas Country Club, a member of the CEO Advisory Board at Argentum, a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and a deacon at his church.
Mitch and his family reside in North Texas.
Mitch can be reached at 214-845-4550 or at Mitch@AutumnLeaves.com.
As Co-Owner and Chief Operating Officer, Jessica Akaah oversees the day-to-day operations of Autumn Leaves’ communities, including the organization’s healthcare, life engagement, and sales programs. In addition, Jessica also serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team, providing organizational guidance and critical input on the strategic direction of the business.
Jessica joined Autumn Leaves in 2007, opening the first Autumn Leaves community in the Chicagoland area and serving as Executive Director at the community level for two years. With the company’s tremendous growth, she was promoted to Regional Director of Operations for the Midwest. She then progressed through several executive leadership roles before her promotion to COO in December 2018.
Prior to joining Autumn Leaves, Jessica was a social worker for Thresholds in Chicago, a non-profit organization providing healthcare and housing to the mentally ill. She also supervised two safe haven programs at the organization. She began her career as an outreach worker serving Chicago-area homeless and mentally ill clients.
Jessica is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and an active member of the Life Services Network of Illinois. She earned her bachelor of arts degree in social work from Michigan State University and her master of arts degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago.
Tracy serves as Chief Financial Officer of the company overseeing the Financial and Shared Services operations which include the Accounting, IT, Legal, and Human Resources departments. Over the last two decades, he has held key strategic roles, including Chief Information Officer for a national medical products company and as Director for a leading digital transformation consulting firm serving Global 2000 and enterprise customers.
Tracy earned his master of business administration degree from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin with a focus on information management. He received his bachelor of business administration degree from Eastern New Mexico University.
As Executive Vice President of Hospitality, Bobby Jeffrey oversees all aspects of culinary and hospitality services for Autumn Leaves. This includes innovative menu planning to meet/exceed dietary and nutritional standards; budget development; and selection and management of food and equipment suppliers across the country. He is also responsible for training in-market culinary teams, as well as providing operational oversight for our regional maintenance teams.
As a chef, he is equally accomplished and creative, with a special flair for the art of presentation. Bobby is known to dine with residents and families, listen to their requests and suggestions, and introduce special dishes and new takes on regional cuisines.
Bobby’s lifelong love of the culinary arts began in his family’s kitchen, where he observed and helped his chef-mother from a very young age. As a teen, his first job was a cook at Luby’s, during which time he earned his degree in hotel and restaurant management. He subsequently studied at the Culinary Institute of America. His nearly four-decade career includes an apprenticeship at Sodexho Marriott, as well as many culinary positions throughout the hotel and senior living industries.
Bobby joined Autumn Leaves in 2004. He is a member of the American Culinary Federation, Texas Chefs Association, Argentum’s Chef Roundtable, and Intalere.
As Vice President of Healthcare, Sharon Shields-Rios, BSN, RN, is responsible for the development and management of community healthcare teams, providing clinical support, and guiding wellness policies. She also oversees Autumn Leaves’ award-winning Life Engagement programming, a biography-based activities and engagement component designed to complement our person-centered approach to nursing and caregiving.
Sharon brings exceptional tenure to this role, having most recently served as Director of Clinical Compliance and Risk Management for American House Senior Living. Prior to that, she held Regional level positions at several highly respected senior living companies. Sharon brings a genuine enthusiasm for senior care as well decades of clinical expertise and a heartfelt passion for helping nurses and caregivers continue to learn and succeed in their positions.
