A 2012 biography written about me (Robert Jafari).

1. 2012 Biography of
Robert Jafari
slideshow

2. Robert began his career in the senior housing indus-
try after realizing, during a high school demographics
class, the implications of an aging population of baby
boomers.
As an enterprising young boy in grade school,
Robert sold lemonade, washed cars, mowed lawns,
sold tickets door-to-door and worked for a while as
a clerk at his father’s office. While in high school,
Robert worked all types of jobs, such as telemarket-
ing, waiting tables, cooking at McDonald’s, wrapping
gifts, selling gourmet foods at Neiman Marcus, mow-
ing lawns, and selling fine china door-to-door. It was
during that time, too, that Robert began to pursue a
career in the senior housing business, making busi-
ness calls to banks and other professionals in prepa-
ration for his first venture.
While selling house wares door-to-door at age
16, he found his first business partner, a man in his seventies who had been in the senior
housing business for over 20 years and was looking to expand. Robert and his new partner
formed their company, the Butterfield Health Care Group, in 1987, while Robert was still in
High School. Robert became a young CEO at the age of 17 and would remain in this role
for the next 18 years. In 1987, with just one office and two assistants, they started a new
venture to build a 107,000 sq.ft. Nursing home. In order to train and prepare Robert for his
duties as CEO, his partner put him to work for over a two year period at each and every
department in his existing nursing home to get a first-hand “down in the trenches” knowl-
edge of the jobs. These departments included: dietary, housekeeping, laundry, activities,
maintenance, nursing, social services, physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech
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3. therapy. Robert also spent a considerable amount of time with the administrator to whom
all the managers reported.
Within two years, Robert’s company would expand from a staff of 2 to 30. This figure
rose to 90 employees the following year, and 250 the year after that followed by the next
year up to 250 employees. There are now over 700 employees under his management and
growing.
During the same time, Robert’s father, a physician, noticed his son’s drive and ambi-
tion, and started plans to build a 55,000 sq.ft. medical office building and surgical center.
With limited time and funds, he put Robert in charge of construction, financing, leasing,
zoning and obtaining permits.
In 1990, Robert also completed construction on Meadowbrook Manor of Bolingbrook, a
298-bed nursing and rehabilitation facility with over 290 employees. After the success of
this nursing home, Robert went on to construct a second facility in 1995, Meadowbrook
Manor of Naperville, which is a 245-bed nursing home staffed by 245 employees. In 1998,
Robert purchased an additional facility – Blossom Hill Health Center, a 200-bed facility 90
miles south of Chicago. In October 2005, Robert acquired a fourth facility, a 203-bed nurs-
ing home known as Meadowbrook Manor of LaGrange. What began as a joint partnership
of one nursing home has evolved into multiple facilities across the Chicago area.
Robert accepted numerous other co-founder roles with various companies, including
“Robert Arthur Land Company,” which is a land development company currently working
the entitlement process for several parcels of land totaling over 1,500 acres. Once com-
pleted, these properties will be zoned for over 2,500 residential home-sites and two com-
munity parks, as well as vacant parcels for office, retail and light industrial uses. Robert is
also the co-founder for Concert Health Plan, a Health Insurance Company that currently
insures over 10,000 people.
In January 2007, Robert founded BHC Construction Company, which specializes in
construction, design-build and commercial real estate development in the western sub-
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4. urbs of Chicago, Illinois. The company’s team of experts has specialized capabilities in
healthcare, office, interiors, residential, institutional and commercial projects such as dental
offices, out-patient clinics, nursing homes and general office construction. BHC has suc-
cessfully delivered significant time and financial savings on all projects with a design-build
construction approach that continuously cuts costs and reduces the delivery schedule.
This design-build method economizes and streamlines the project by overlapping the de-
sign and construction phases with continuous input, direction and involvement of the client
throughout the entire process. BHC Construction is currently utilizing this very method on
the construction of Riverwoods Office Campus in Naperville, Illinois, a $14,000,000 proj-
ect on a 7.85 acre site with six individual medical office buildings. BHC is also currently
working with a home health care company on construction of an additional building on this
site that was delivered in January 2011. In addition to the Riverwoods Office Campus,
BHC Construction has several ongoing projects with a healthcare industry leader including
renovation of 550 nursing home resident rooms in three separate Nursing Home Facilities,
Installation of Buffet Serving stations and the implementation of “Culture Change” design
philosophy throughout these facilities.
Currently Robert is working on the site development and construction for Meadowbrook
Manor of Geneva, a 150-bed nursing home to be built on 5.323 acres in Geneva, Illinois.
The three-story facility of 82 patient rooms will feature site improvements for parking, land-
scaping and infrastructure at a cost of $24,000,000. Additionally, Robert is working on the
rehabilitation of a 100-year-old nursing home, Meadowbrook Manor of LaGrange with a
project cost of $28,000,000. This project will involve both new construction and renovations
to the architecturally significant portion of the existing structure.
Other past projects have included the opening of a mortgage branch in Oak Brook Illi-
nois for Cherry Creek Mortgage Company, which caters to private individuals purchasing
homes, and Robert is co-founder of numerous businesses, including Millennium Limousine,
an upscale limousine transportation company; Gibson’s Steak House in Rosemont, IL; Van-
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5. gel Realty, a real-estate brokerage firm specializing in luxury real-estate; Composite Panel
Systems, a pioneering construction materials manufacturer that will be going global in
2012, Oak Brook Medical and Surgical Center, Ashton Surgical Centre, McDonough Road
Surgery Center, substantial holdings with over 4,000 acres in agriculture land and farm
management services. New organizations for Robert Jafari that are being launched in 2011
are the Jafari Medical Supply Company, Jafari Aviation, and The Jafari Family Charitable
Foundation.
Robert has served on the Board of Directors of the following companies: American Red
Cross Fox Valley Chapter, Northwood’s Children’s Museum, Concert Health Care, But-
terfield Health Care Group, Meadowbrook Manor, Illinois Council of Long Term Care, Oak
Brook Surgical Centre, McDonough Road Surgery Center, Ashton Surgical Center and BHC
Construction.
Robert has attended several universities including Northwestern University, Loyola Univer-
sity and University of Wisconsin Stout. He has accumulated well over the 128 credits he
needed to obtain his B.A. but has decided to enroll in a four-year undergraduate program at
Harvard Extension School. Robert plans to pursue his J.D. and MBA upon completing his
studies at the Extension School.
Robert has developed and continues to manage a portfolio of commercial, residential, agri-
cultural and vacant properties in Illinois, Wisconsin, and California.
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