Headquarters: Minnetonka
Inception: 1998
Family name: Novaczyk
What the company does: Owns, develops and/or operates senior living communities
Type of ownership: Closely held private corporation
Principal owners: Todd, Sherry, and Ryan Novaczyk; Chris Hyatt
Number of employees: 3,200
Family members in the business: 5
Family members on the board: 3

Todd and Sherry Novaczyk welcomed Sherry’s mother, Betty, into their Chanhassen home in 1991 because Betty was showing early signs of dementia. The couple and their three children cared for Betty for seven years before she died at 82.

Betty, a Minnesota farm girl who served in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II, was physically strong. She had worked in the downtown Minneapolis post office after the war. While her memory was challenged by the time she was in her 70s, she enjoyed working in the Novaczyks’ garden and raking leaves, which strengthened her muscles and likely extended her life.

Sherry says she’ll never forget what her mother told her as Betty neared the end of her life: “I don’t know who you are, but I love you. And I know you love me.”

In 2025, the Novaczyk family speaks of Betty often. The loving care and individual attention they gave Betty is the ethos they instill in the 45 New Perspective senior living communities they own and/or operate.

Todd, 78, and Sherry, 75, are still involved in the senior living business, which Todd founded in 1998. Their son, Ryan, 49, is co-CEO of the company that serves about 5,000 residents in eight states. Nineteen of the senior living communities are in Minnesota. New Perspective offers independent living, assisted living, and memory care housing.

Ryan, who graduated from the University of St. Thomas with a finance degree, was working for a New York hedge fund in 2008 when he decided to come home and join the family business. “I was working with probably the top 1%, some of the smartest people in the world,” Ryan says. “But at the end of the day, we were making rich people richer. There just wasn’t a ton of purpose behind it.”

Now Ryan plans to work with seniors for the rest of his career. He’s also started his own family in Minnesota. He’s married to Fox 9 journalist Courtney Godfrey, and they have two young children.

“In seniors’ housing, you get to have such a tremendous impact on the lives not just of the residents, but also their families,” Ryan says. “Giving those residents an opportunity to live life on purpose [a New Perspective credo] is pretty special. It’s also a lot of fun growing a business.”

Todd and Sherry, who have been married 52 years, are the majority owners of New Perspective. Developing senior living communities has been an encore career for Todd. “I owned, managed, and developed 61 different restaurant and hotel properties over 20 years,” Todd says.

He built numerous Wendy’s in Minnesota, had a group of hotels and other restaurants, and he sold his last hospitality business in 1997. “I was 50 at the time, and no way was I going to retire,” Todd says. Sherry’s mother lived with the Novaczyk family for several years in the 1990s because, Sherry says, “we couldn’t find anywhere that we really wanted her to be at where she would thrive and grow.”

The experience with Betty got Todd thinking about providing high-quality housing and care for other seniors. “We knew that the demographics were going to demand more and more housing,” Todd says. The first senior housing he built was in 1998 in the central Minnesota city of Alexandria.

“I had to come along for the ride,” Sherry says. “Todd’s definitely got entrepreneurial blood in him.” While Todd focused on the business side of New Perspective, Sherry put her energy into interior design of the senior communities.

Sherry, who worked as a tutor for many years, says her mother was never lonely while living with Sherry’s family. Many people who come to a New Perspective community are lonely, she says, because they’ve lost a spouse or have become socially isolated because of a health problem. At New Perspective, she says, the senior communities are designed so residents have attractive gathering spaces to engage with other people, and they have an array of activities.

“We’ve got a culture built around servant-leadership and collaboration,” Ryan says. “We’re huge believers in empowering our team.” Ryan has a co-CEO, Chris Hyatt, who focuses on operations, while Ryan leads finance, accounting, and expansion efforts.

So far this year, New Perspective has added five senior living communities in Minnesota. New Perspective is now managing senior living communities in Golden Valley, Minnetonka, Oakdale, Roseville, and White Bear Lake. About 80% of the company’s revenue comes from private-pay residents, while the remaining 20% comes from Medicaid payments, Ryan says.

He’s introduced technology to quickly detect when it appears that a resident has fallen. He’s also deployed a tech tool that promotes social engagement. “We’re producing better health and wellness outcomes for our residents, and the families feel fantastic about it,” Ryan says.

“We’ve got a culture built around servant-leadership and collaboration.”

—Ryan Novaczyk, Co-CEO, New Perspective

Back to Main Page >>