BOSTON — Hebrew SeniorLife, a Boston-based provider of senior healthcare and senior living communities in New England and an affiliate of Harvard Medical School, has named Richard J. Henken chair of its board of directors.
Henken has been a volunteer leader at Hebrew SeniorLife for 15 years. In addition to serving on the Hebrew SeniorLife Board of Directors, Henken has served as chair of the senior living committee, and also serves on the governance, real estate and Roslindale campus planning committees. (Roslindale is a neighborhood in Boston.)
Henken steps into the board chair role that was held by Melissa Bayer Tearney, who has been a volunteer leader at Hebrew SeniorLife for more than 25 years and served as its board chair for the last three years.
Henken officially joined the Schochet Cos. as its executive vice president in 1997, after having been affiliated with, and an advisor to, the company for more than a decade. In 2004, Henken became president of the Schochet Cos., including Schochet Development, Schochet Investments and Schochet Property Management. Since joining the company, Henken has been responsible for closing transactions with a total value approaching $1 billion, including the acquisition and preservation of over 3,500 affordable housing units in 16 developments.
Henken earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics from Tufts University and a master’s degree in management, with concentrations in marketing and finance, from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Prior to joining Schochet, Henken was a marketing and strategy consultant to Fortune 500 companies and held senior marketing positions in the financial services and consumer packaged goods industries.Henken is the recipient of the 2011 Outstanding Service Award of the Tufts University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences; the 2012 Retirement Housing Foundation Friend of the Elderly Award; the 2012 B’nai B’rith Housing Distinguished Achievement Award; the RHA’s 2017 Industry Excellence Award; the 2020 Lawyers Clearinghouse Stephen M. Nolan Leadership Award; and the 2024 Carolyn and Peter Lynch Award, for his service to the Catholic Schools Foundation.