Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson joined the senior living team at Ziegler in 1999. His primary responsibility is to serve the investment banking needs of senior living organizations in Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Indiana. His areas of expertise include the financing of start-up projects, campus repositionings, major expansions, and the workout of troubled facilities.

Most recently his focus has included advising senior living systems on growth through divestitures, acquisitions and new projects. Over the last twelve years, Steve has senior managed or co-senior managed more than 45 public debt offerings – raising more than $2.5 billion through a variety of diverse capital structures. In all of these activities, he has become a leading authority on the metro-Chicago senior living marketplace.

Prior to joining Ziegler, Steve had served as executive director of one of the nation’s premiere senior living organizations, Willow Valley Retirement Communities. For more than five years, he served as an evaluator and team chair for the Continuing Care Accreditation Commission (CCARF-CCAC). Previously, he worked for a leading venture firm in the Silicon Valley of northern California. There, he participated in raising and managing more than $50 million of private equity in both the United States and Japan.

Steve received a M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Evanston, IL and a B.A. from Wheaton College, Wheaton, IL.