A One-Year Hired-Successor CEO Handoff Checklist

For a founder-led company, the hard part of succession is deciding which authority moves first. The search is easier than the transfer. A planned CEO transition works when the founder treats it as a staged transfer of authority, with the resignation date as the final step rather than the plan. The hired successor needs time to learn the business while the founder still has credibility to lend. A founder-led company has a central asset: the founder's judgment. It also has a central risk: the same judgment can make every other leader look junior. The handoff must place that judgment into roles, not into a single person.

Dwayne J. Clark will step down as Aegis Living's chief executive officer on July 27, 2027, the 30th anniversary of the company's founding. Dwayne Clark has led Aegis Living through the management of more than 60 properties since founding the company in 1997. The company operates 37 communities in Washington, California, and Nevada, and has served more than 60,000 residents and families since its founding. That scale makes the transition visible. Customers, lenders, and employees will watch whether the company can keep running while the founder's role changes from chief executive to chairman.

Announce the exit before the search is finished

The opening step is public. A founder-led company cannot install a hired successor quietly and expect customers, lenders, and employees to accept the change. The announcement must name the successor, the founder's remaining role, and the date when authority changes. Vague language invites speculation. Speculation is expensive in a mature company.

Dirk Burghartz, who took the Aegis Living presidency in 2025, will add the CEO title to his presidency. Derek Doke will move from Aegis Living's chief financial officer role into a combined chief financial officer and chief investment officer position. Dwayne J. Clark will keep the CEO title while handing routine executive duties to Dirk Burghartz and Derek Doke through the second quarter of 2027.

The message must be plain: who will run the company, who will keep a board role, when the title changes, and what the founder will not do. A clear boundary between chairman and CEO prevents the market from treating the founder as a hidden veto.

Overlap authority in the order the business needs it

Operations come before capital. A successor who has not run the operating plan should not be asked to decide where the next dollar goes. Culture can still be the founder's final voice, but execution must be the successor's final voice. The overlap period is where the company learns whether the successor can run the business without the founder's title.

The checklist below follows that sequence. Each item is a control point the board can verify without a long meeting. They exist because a founder's authority is the company's most public asset, and it must be transferred in a way the market can see.

• The board has approved a written transition calendar with named dates and authority transfers.
• The public announcement names the successor, the founder's executive chairman role, and the date when the founder leaves the chief executive title.
• The successor has signed the operating plan, and the signature page does not include the founder.
• The board has a decision matrix that lists which calls need both signatures.
• The finance chief has a written capital-allocation mandate covering budgets, acquisitions, and debt.
• Board minutes show the successor made a major decision that the founder did not reverse.
• The company has a communication log showing key customers, lenders, and employees were told who makes which decisions.
• The company has a written exit from the executive chairman role after the closing phase.
• The successor has met the top customers, and the board has recorded those meetings.
• The finance chief has a written process for large expenses that does not require the founder's approval.

The board's rule is the sequence: announcement first, operating control next, capital authority last.

Keep the founder visible until the capital decisions are safe

Capital authority is the last transfer because it is the hardest to undo. A founder who has spent years building the company will naturally want to influence every acquisition, every debt call, and every large expense. The mandate belongs to the finance chief, while the founder keeps a defined executive chairman role. That role includes board meetings, key customer relationships, and a limited set of strategic questions. Daily operations, hiring, and the power to block a finance decision stay outside it.

Founder influence is strongest when it is public. The closing phase needs a clear limit. The outgoing leader can still represent the company's history, but the successor must be the one who answers for the current period. The board can hold the successor accountable without the founder in the room.