Shorewood-based care management and home care provider Stowell Associates LLC has been sold to a new majority ownership group.
Chip Measells and a group of 10 local investors, including Milwaukee entrepreneur George Mosher, purchased the majority of the company for an undisclosed price on Dec. 8. It was sold by founders Phyllis Brostoff and Valerie Stefanich, who established the company in 1983. The pair retained partial ownership of Stowell Associates in the transaction.
Measells will serve as president and chief executive officer of Stowell, which was the first private-pay professional geriatric care management and home care company in the state. He moved from Charlottesville, Virginia to acquire and manage Stowell because of its unique integration of home care and care management, he said. Measells previously worked for 15 years in health care investment banking, and before that grew and sold a diversified senior health care company.
“Chip is a dynamic leader. He believes in our model and has dedicated himself to improve what we started,” Stefanich said. “He brings 20 years of health care management experience to the table, so I’m excited to see his innovations unfold to enhance the company and build on our strong culture.”
“First from just the business sense, the demographics make sense, the business makes sense, but really if you look at all the home care companies that are out there, Stowell has a really different model,” Measells said. “The other thing is the culture is just right on target for home care, for this type of business.”
Measells plans to foster new growth at the company with the investors’ help, including expanding into the Waukesha, Kenosha and Racine markets this year and hiring new employees in those areas. He is also focused on bringing in technology for new programs such as dementia education, medication management and mental health.
Stowell currently has a facility in Milwaukee and a small drop-off facility in Waukesha. Measells plans to open a new, larger Waukesha facility by June. A Racine office is expected to be open by the end of the year. The company currently has 178 employees, and would add another 40 to 60 at each new location over time, he said.
Stowell has offices in Shorewood and in Waukesha. Its model uses a team of care managers who are registered nurses and social workers with master’s degrees to help clients navigate the aging process. Its in-home caregivers assist with personal care, homemaking and companionship.
“The home care industry is a key solution as the U.S. faces the ‘silver tsunami,’” Mosher said. “I am excited to be involved and support Stowell Associates as it meets the growing need for quality senior care in our community.”
