Dallas-based Sonida Senior Living, one of the nation’s largest owner-operators and investors in senior living communities, has appointed Anton Nikodemus to the newly created role of chief operating officer, effective June 15, 2026.

Nikodemus brings 30 years of executive-level hospitality and operations leadership to Sonida, where he will guide end-to-end operational performance throughout the portfolio. As COO, he will lead Sonida’s goal of continuous improvement in resident experience, growing the company’s operating platform, and advancing ongoing margin expansion. A key component in that work is SPIN (Sonida Performance Insight Navigator), the company’s proprietary operating platform that brings together resident care, workforce, and operational data into a single real-time framework, which allows for decentralized decision-making at the community level.

“Anton’s appointment reflects Sonida’s conviction that operational excellence and exceptional resident care are the core pillars of operational success,” Sonida President and CEO Brandon Ribar said in a statement. “We are an operator-led company, and our competitive advantage centers on the quality of our local leadership and the infrastructure we build behind them. Anton has spent his career doing precisely this, driving margin expansion, and operational efficiency inside dynamic organizations, driving results through disciplined, decentralized execution. His arrival as COO marks a meaningful step forward in our ability to grow earnings, scale our platform, and deliver for our residents and shareholders.”

Sonida ‘at an exciting inflection point’

Previously, Nikodemus served as president, CEO, and chairman of the board at Seaport Entertainment Group where he built a team of hospitality professionals, led the company’s spin-off from Howard Hughes Holdings Inc., and directed its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. He oversaw a diverse portfolio of entertainment, hospitality, and real estate assets in New York and Las Vegas, including the Seaport in Lower Manhattan, the Las Vegas Aviators Triple-A Minor League baseball team, the Las Vegas Ballpark, a minority interest in Jean-Georges Restaurants, and interests in air rights above Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas.

Prior to Seaport Entertainment Group, Nikodemus spent 18 years at MGM Resorts International, where he held senior roles of increasing responsibility, culminating in his position as President and COO of CityCenter, overseeing the AAA Five Diamond ARIA Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel & Spa, and The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, guiding its integration and improving its financial performance following its acquisition, Sonida said. Earlier in his MGM tenure, he served as President of MGM Resorts’ Las Vegas portfolio, leading more than 30,000 employees across properties including the Bellagio, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, and The Mirage, with combined revenues exceeding $6.8 billion annually.

He previously served on the board of directors for the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority.

“I have spent my career inside organizations where the distance between strategy and execution is where value is won or lost,” said Nikodemus. “What drew me to Sonida is that the foundation is already in place — the culture, the systems, the local leadership model. The Company is at an exciting inflection point where all of that starts to compound, and I could not be more energized to help further scale this best-in-class platform.”

Late last year, Sonida merged with CNL Healthcare Properties, creating the eighth-largest owner of U.S. senior living assets, with around 14,700 owned units nationwide.

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