by Andrew Alonzo | aalonzo@claremont-courier.com

Pilgrim Place’s new chief executive officer Leif Cameron hopes to deliver a breath of fresh air to residents of the Claremont retirement community.

Cameron, 37, took over December 3 following the retirement of Ron Bolding, who had held the job since October 2019.

Cameron became interested in the job after researching Pilgrim Place’s mission and values.

“The whole peace, justice and care of Earth really kind of spoke to me,” he said. “They truly mean what they’re putting up. I think sometimes it gets watered down, values and mission statements, at other organizations, and this one is not that way at all.”

Cameron attended the Pilgrim Place Festival in November to get a sense of the community. “That’s when I really knew that this was the right place for me, in terms of culture,” he said.

The Sierra Madre resident said he will spend his first 90 days familiarizing himself with Pilgrim Place and acclimating to his new environment.

“After I really get my hands around that, then we start looking at and adjusting opportunities in the near term, in the midterm, and the future,” Cameron said.

Pilgrim Place CEO Leif Cameron. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Decisions will be based a blend of data and resident input.

“I come from a background where we focused on design thinking, and so we focused on really getting to know the end user and leading with empathy in terms of solving problems,” he said. “The best solutions always come from the people that are directly involved with the opportunities.”

Cameron is a New England native. He attended Brewster Academy in New Hampshire and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science with a minor in sociology from University of New Hampshire. He credits his parents, who were both in the healthcare field, with sparking his interest in senior care management.

He moved to West Hollywood in 2010 and took a job with HumanGood, the seventh largest nonprofit senior living provider in the country. He served as director of innovation from January 2023 to April 2024, in executive director positions with Redwood Terrace in Escondido from October 2019 to June 2023, and Windsor in Glendale from March 2017 to September 2019, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earned various licenses along the way, and a master’s degree in long-term care management from the University of Southern California in 2022.

Cameron acknowledged some may be skeptical about his age.

“I am relatively young in a role like this,” he said. “But I would say that I’ve probably had more experience than many of my predecessors, directly in senior living, and I think that’s an important thing to highlight.”

He and Bolding shared stories of navigating their facilities through COVID-19.

“This is a new chapter,” Cameron said. “And this is sort of moving away from those pandemic days and starting to pick up the blocks and starting to establish a strategic plan for the near term and the long term. I’m looking forward — once understanding all of the different dynamics and understanding the market — to start building on to the strategic plan and then start focusing on and implementing that.”

Cameron said he plans on keeping the unique traits that make Pilgrim Place what it is.

“My gut tells me that we want to make sure that the ethos of this community stays intact,” he said. “To me, that is what really stands out compared to our competitors in our industry. It’s very unique and I think that can be positioned in a very compelling way to attract the next resident in the future.”

Cameron is still getting to know Claremont, and invites folks to email him at lcameron@pilgrimplace.org.

“If there’s any opportunities or anyone who wants to reach out, I am certainly available and open,” he said.