Province names new seniors advocate
Dan Levitt has tirelessly championed the rights of seniors for 30 years at the local, national and international levels.
Since 2021, he has been the chief executive officer at KinVillage in Delta, helping shape a dementia-friendly future for seniors and their loved ones. From 2010-21, Levitt was executive director of Tabor Village, a seniors’ living community based in Abbotsford. Before taking on that role, Levitt worked in leadership positions in several B.C.- and Ontario-based senior-living and elder-care facilities.
Levitt is an adjunct professor in gerontology at Simon Fraser University, an adjunct professor in the school of nursing at the University of British Columbia and a sessional instructor at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. He is also a surveyor with Accreditation Canada, reviewing quality improvement and person-centred care at long-term care homes and community-based service providers across the country.
He is a certified health executive with the Canadian College of Health Leaders and a candidate for fellowship with the college. In 2005, he received the Young Executive Award presented by the BC Lower Mainland Chapter Executive of the Canadian College of Health Leaders. On the global stage, Levitt recently served as a member of the board of directors of CommonAge and the International Federation on Ageing.
As an elder-care leader, Levitt has written extensively about the challenges and opportunities that face an aging society in academic and trade journals. He regularly contributes to media coverage. Levitt has also spoken about complex and contentious ideas with various audiences, such as senior government officials. He is accustomed to bringing together diverse groups to work toward a common goal, and he will draw on his exemplary interpersonal, collaborative and communication skills as seniors advocate.
In 1992, Levitt earned a bachelor of arts from the University of British Columbia with a major in psychology. He graduated from the University of North Texas, Center for Studies in Aging, with a master of science in 1994. He was awarded an associate certificate in fundraising management from the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 2006.
Levitt has a strong background in community leadership and philanthropy, and has served on the board of directors for the Denominational Health Association, the Global Aging Network and the Alzheimer Society of British Columbia. He is inspired by the aging journeys of his grandparents and great-grandparents, and is now supporting his parents, who are living life to the fullest in their mid-80s.