About Us
The Claiborne Creates Boutique-Style Senior Living Communities
Claiborne Senior Living is a family-owned company offering an elevated retirement lifestyle in breathtaking communities you or your loved one will be happy to call home. The Claiborne is committed to driving stakeholder success through enhancing the lives of our employees, our residents, and the families we serve by crafting meaningful relationships within our communities and delivering excellence.
— Rob Tatum, Founder of Claiborne Senior Living
Our Story
Claiborne Senior Living was founded by the Tatum family after Rob discovered a need for his grandmother, “Bobo” who was showing signs of dementia and memory loss. He wanted her to enjoy the sense of community that is found in a senior living community setting. With no great options in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, Rob determined to develop a senior living community to meet the need.
Bobo moved into the flagship property in Hattiesburg, originally called “Whispering Pines” which opened in 2015. Though she progressed from Independent Living to Assisted Living, the Tatum family watched Bobo make a turnaround and live again. She got dressed, she went to meals, she participated in community activities.
“Watching the smile on her face at a Mardi Gras party made it worth it; that memory still sticks with me,” remembers Rob.
Rob has continued developing senior living projects to provide other families the chance to watch their loved ones enjoy these years. Not nursing homes, these communities are designed to be places where people enjoy life and the sense of community, where residents can make new friends and stay connected with old, overall, where life is fun!
Building a Legacy: The History of The Claiborne
Claiborne Senior Living continues to grow through the development of new properties and the management of existing properties or properties under development.
Through the expansion and evolution of the company, the family remains committed to the core values of Claiborne Senior Living. The result is a positive experience for the team members which ultimately results in great experiences for our residents and their loved ones.
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2014Our flagship community opened in Hattiesburg, MS.
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2016Our first Senior Living properties opened in McComb, MS and Thibodaux, LA.
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2018The Claiborne at West Lake and first in the Peach State, was opened in Martinez, GA.
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2019Claiborne Senior Living was created as a management company under the leadership of Tim Dunne. This company took on the management of all of Tatum’s senior living properties, creating The Claiborne family of communities.
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2020The Claiborne at Shoe Creek opened in Central, LA.
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2021
Properties were developed and opened in Gulfport, MS and Newnan, GA. The Claiborne at Baton Rouge was also acquired.
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2022The Claiborne at Brickyard Crossing was developed and opened in Summerville, SC. Plans to expand to Simpsonville, SC, Fairfax, VA and Baltimore, MD are in the development as of December 2022.
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2023Exciting things coming soon.
Meet Our Team
Tim Dunne is the Chief Executive Officer of Claiborne Senior Living, LLC., where he provides leadership, strategic guidance, and management direction for all aspects of operations. He also serves as Chief Executive Officer of affiliated company, VH Development.
Tim was inspired to serve seniors while working nights during college. Through a family connection, Tim was introduced to caring for seniors in a group home and he has been serving seniors ever since. His professional career post college started as a glorified floor tech in a nursing home. He soon worked through every functional department of senior living and rose through the executive ranks of several large national providers demonstrating a commitment to caring and an unquenchable work ethic. Prior organizations served include Northpoint Development, Stonecrest Senior Living, EmpRes Management, Holiday Retirement, Assisted Living Concepts, Healthcare Services Group and ResCare.
Tim believes that our team is our most important asset and with the right focus, competency and attitude, success is achievable anywhere. Through a collaborative approach, this team has enabled more efficient developments, successful lease-ups, and transitioned distressed acquisitions to cash flowing entities.
Tim is a graduate of the University of Nebraska where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Tim and his wife Jenny have been married for several years and have four children.
Brooke was born into senior living as her family owned and operated a community founded by her grandfather located in the Chicago suburbs. After graduating from Wheaton College (Illinois) where she obtained a degree in Photography, Graphic Design and Creative Writing, she joined her father and brother in the family business as the community’s Marketing Director. She continued to grow into an executive leadership role as a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator. Through Medicare certification, JCAHO accreditation, and a multi-million-dollar therapy gym addition, she transformed the family business from a traditional “nursing home” to the top-performing and revenue-generating post-acute rehab center in the state of Illinois. Though her family sold the business in 2015, Brooke continues to be faithfully committed to dynamic growth and surpassing service standards in the senior living industry.
In addition to her skilled nursing experience, she has served as the National Director of Admissions and Customer Experience for Covenant Living, one of the nation’s largest non-profit providers, as well as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing for both Radiant Senior Living and Oakmont Senior Living. Brooke is also the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Belong Magazine, a publication for female creatives and entrepreneurs.
Brooke has been married to her college sweetheart Caleb for 23 years and they attend Life Bible Fellowship Church. They have three children, Sophia, Auden, and Hadley.
As an experienced vice president of sales with a demonstrated history of working in the hospital, healthcare and technology industry, Joe has strong skills in leadership, sales, operations, healthcare management, and software. He has demonstrated expertise in sales activities including the leadership, team building, site level sales team management, development and implementation of sales strategies and tactics, training and development of team members, marketing strategy and planning, and consistent tracking and performance of all sales results. Joe is committed to a steadfast focus on daily sales and marketing management to drive occupancy and revenue growth. In his extensive career, Joe has always been in sales, marketing, and operation roles. He has worked for senior living industry leaders such as Envliant, Brookdale and Bickford Senior Living on community, regional, divisional, and corporate teams.
Joe has a passion to help people as a solution provider and is committed to enhancing the lives of those he serves by crafting meaningful relationships and delivering excellence in everything we he does. He values his role working with our team members as a servant leader. He strives to identify, develop, and grow leaders in senior living.
Outside of work, Joe is most proud of being the father of four boys and one princess and husband to Colleen. He loves the outdoors and sports and is involved with his kids’ sports including football, baseball, basketball, wrestling, and cheerleading. If he is not at a practice or game, he is often out hiking with his two German shepherds, camping or fishing. At the end of the day, he can be found by his bonfire pit with family and friends enjoying their company, many laughs, and great music.
Karen Doering is the COO of Claiborne Senior Living. She has over 25 years’ experience executing operational strategies across various industries including senior housing, retail, call center, and healthcare.
Ms. Doering is an accomplished senior housing executive. She served for over 3 years as COO for Senior Star and over 10 years with Brookdale Senior Living; 2007 to 2018. In 2014 Brookdale merged with Emeritus Senior Living and became the only full spectrum senior living company, the largest senior living provider with over 1100 communities in 46 states. Karen was promoted four times during her tenure at Brookdale and gained valuable experience with every promotion. In her last years with Brookdale Karen was serving as Senior Regional Vice President of Operations overseeing over 80 communities, 6000 units, and 3000 associates.
Karen is a passionate culture-driven leader with experience collaborating with high performing, cross functional teams to outperform goals. She has led diverse groups across multiple functions, managed resources and projects, developed and maintained relationships with external partners and internal team members while improving organizational outcomes.
Karen is a graduate of Southern Nazarene University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership. She was also awarded the University of Southern California, Davis School of Gerontology & Marshall School of Business, Certificate for participation in the Lead and Transform Senior Living Program.
Our Mission Statement
We are committed to enhancing the lives of our employees, our residents, and the families we serve by crafting meaningful relationships within our communities and pursuing excellence.