55places.com Team and Authors

Bill Ness

Chief Executive Officer, Founder, & Illinois Managing Broker

Bill Ness is the head of the company and oversees everything, from the largest projects to the minutest details. His real estate career began in sales for Del Webb before becoming a sales manager for Sun City Huntley. Bill then helped to organize the grand opening of the popular Edgewater community in 2005, gaining firsthand experience of the intricacies of active adult communities.

After noticing that the industry lacked a central, reliable, and unbiased resource for active adult communities, Bill left Del Webb in 2007 to start 55places.com. Starting the company with a laptop held together by duct tape, Bill meticulously built 55places.com into the nation’s leading resource for active adult communities. Having traveled to countless 55+ communities and having interviewed residents, builders, and agents around the country, Bill is considered a leading expert on the active adult lifestyle. Bill resides in Chicago with his wife, Gina, and their three children.

Ted Ellis

Chief Strategy Officer

Ted joins the team with over 20 years of experience leading engineering, product, and revenue-generating initiatives. He has a successful track record of engineering platforms, product roadmap development, and delivery. He previously led the effort to fulfill more than 10 million orders a year as the past owner of Drugstore.com, Beauty.com, Visiondirect.com & Walgreens.com Omni channel order management platforms. Ted specializes in resource recruitment, mentorship, and inspiration in the workplace. These have enabled a deep talent network to partner with on new challenges. Ted currently resides in Austin, TX with his family and enjoys gardening and photography.

Chad Walker

Vice President of Sales and Real Estate Operations

Chad Walker joined 55places in 2022 as the VP of Sales and Real Estate Operations. He comes with 14+ years of experience in the Real Estate industry, ten of which have been dedicated to leading operational excellence. Chad started off in the industry as a top-producing Real Estate Agent in Seattle, WA before taking on positions to lead high-performing teams of real estate professionals to advocate for customers along their journey of home ownership. Chad specializes in the real estate tech sector and focuses on the strategy of growing sales, revenue, and teams by collaborating with other leaders on the company’s goals and initiatives. Chad has a customer-first mentality and builds his organization around that passion. Chad currently resides in Seattle with his family and enjoys traveling when not thinking about real estate.

Vikram Bakshi

Vice President of Finance

Vikram Bakshi is an analytical and approachable professional whose logical nature is well-suited to financial planning and analysis. With a focus on finance and growth, Vikram’s journey has led him to excel in various roles. As the VP of Finance at Neighborhoods.com, his strategic mindset and attention to detail contribute to the company’s success. Prior roles as Head of Growth at Boatsetter, Manager of FP&A at Blue Nile, and Financial Planning and Analysis Manager at A Place for Mom showcase his diverse expertise in financial planning, budgeting, and analysis. Vikram’s dedication to data-driven insights and collaborative spirit shine through his career and work at Neighborhoods.com. Outside of work, Vikram enjoys spending time with his family and woodworking.

Khadeejah Johnson

Senior Director of Brokerage & Partnerships

Khadeejah oversees operational efficiency and strategic initiatives for the brokerage, audit, and partnership divisions. With extensive experience in real estate management and brokerage operations, she ensures compliance with state and local regulations, while guiding referral agents in adherence to contract law. Khadeejah also fosters collaborative partnerships within the referral program, all while leading a high-performing team. She is known for her strong leadership, attention to detail, and dedication to fostering growth in the brokerage community.

Sammy Dahlstrom

Director of Operations

A proud Chicago-based Midwesterner, Sammy has been with Neighborhoods.com since 2013 – basically her whole career. She keeps things running smoothly behind the scenes as Director of Operations and considers herself the Swiss Army Knife of the team. When she’s not working on contracts, audits, or special projects, you can find her at her sewing machine making quilts and watching bad movies.

Nina Jones

Director of Call Center Operations

Nina joined Neighborhoods in 2020 and has been dedicated to the customer’s voice for over twenty years. She specializes in a holistic business approach and is skilled at building and growing omnichannel customer support teams. She believes that happy, healthy customer support teams perform better and continues to prove this hypothesis. Nina lives in Kansas with her family and can be found after work in a cozy corner with a good book.

Alex Berryman

Director of Engineering

Alex Berryman is a passionate digital nomad who has been part of the 55places.com team since 2017. With a love for adventure both on the road and online, Alex enjoys driving sports cars in his downtime. Professionally, he’s deeply committed to enhancing the user experience through his work on maps for the website, constantly seeking innovative ways to optimize and improve this feature.

Britney Gaustad

Director of Product

Britney Gaustad joined 55places.com & Neighborhoods.com in 2016 with a background in administration, customer service, recruiting, and marketing. In 2022 she made the move from Sales Operations to Product Management. As Director of Product, she now drives the strategy of our engineering, marketing, and content teams. Britney has lived all over California, including Orange County, San Diego, and San Jose. She now splits time between Chicago and New Orleans.

Melissa Bajorek

Melissa supplements her career in mortuary sciences with freelance writing. But she wasn’t always a mortician. Melissa has a degree in Business Management with a Marketing focus and fifteen years of experience in advertising. Before becoming self-employed, she spent five years as the Kern County Sales Manager for Adelman Broadcasting, a network of five radio stations and one TV channel. Before that, she was the Special Projects Manager at a daily newspaper for five years. Melissa was born and raised in New York, where she worked in internet advertising and SEO. With thousands of published works in print and on air, she continues to write thoughtful insurance, health care, hazmat, environmental, legal, and business management articles.

Deana Becker

Deana Becker is the Senior Content Strategist at 55places.com. With an extensive editorial background, she has been writing, editing, and researching real estate topics since 2018. Her work has brought her in contact with many subject matter experts in the real estate industry, and she enjoys continually improving her SEO and content marketing skills. As a Chicago native, she’s also well-versed in the Midwestern housing market (as well as the best places for deep-dish pizza).

Erin Breggeman

Erin has been a freelance writer since early 2020. She is a registered dietitian by trade, but freelance writing has been her full-time gig for over a year now. She thoroughly enjoys conducting rigorous research, and writing for a living has helped her learn so many things that she otherwise wouldn’t have! She has completed the HubSpot Inbound Marketing and Email Marketing certifications.

Christine Crandall

Christine lives in rural Oregon and has a master’s degree in healthcare administration as well as a bachelor’s degree in writing with an emphasis in journalism. Content writing has provided her the opportunity to work from home, and she has covered a variety of topics. Her typical subjects include healthcare, marketing, political commentary, insurance, gardening, cooking/food, and lifestyle writing.

Maddy Crozier

Maddy Crozier (she/her) is an experienced freelance writer and editor who has worked with 55places since 2018. Now a fifth-year PhD Candidate in English at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, she has a BA and MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse from DePaul University. She specializes in researching real estate trends across the country with a focus on the Midwest and Southeast regions, including the housing markets of Chicago, Indianapolis, and East Tennessee. Dedicated to helping homebuyers make evidence-based decisions, she brings six years of experience in real estate writing and research.

John Garrison

John Garrison is a freelance writer and software developer. With several HubSpot certifications in SEO and inbound marketing and a deep learning certification from DeepLearning.AI, John has the skills and expertise to write technical content that is both informative and engaging. His development experience ranges from compiler design in C++ to backend web development in Python, giving him a unique perspective on the intersection of writing and technology. Whether he’s writing about technical topics or crafting a compelling blog post for a small business, John brings a creative and analytical approach to every project. In his free time, he is developing an app to help people more easily learn a foreign language.

Mike Gerrard

Mike Gerrard has been writing about Arizona property for 55places since 2019. Born in England, he and his American wife bought their home in Green Valley, south of Tucson, in 2004. As travel writers, they love exploring and writing about the USA, and Arizona in particular, which they write about on their website: Arizona-Travel-Guide.com. Mike also writes about drinks, and is the author of Cask Strength, a history of the barrel, and Behind Bars, about the connections between drink and crime.

Michelle Halsey

Michelle Halsey has been a freelance writer since early 2017, and before that, a news reporter, editor, public relations professional, and social media director for a specialty retailer. She specializes in long-form content and well-researched articles. She has extensive experience creating blog content, web copy, glossary entries, and writer guides. Her favorite topics include marketing/SEO, outdoor adventure, horticulture/agriculture, interpersonal relationships, culture (not the Kardashian kind, either), event planning, mental health advocacy, and anything involving flamethrowers.

Savannah Keaton

Savannah is a teacher assistant who works with preschool children. She has an associate degree in Medical Assisting and experience in retail and restaurant work. Savannah enjoys martial arts when she isn’t writing articles in her free time. She has a 1st-degree black belt in Shito-Ryu Karate and a 2nd-degree black belt in Tomiki Aikido.

Ellen Kershner

Ellen Kershner is our creative content writer from New Jersey. She has 20+ years of experience writing for local publications, websites, and real estate marketing companies. She has a knack for crafting reader-friendly, original content that educates our readers with clear information. Ellen has lived in Central NJ, Southern NJ, Washington, DC, and Owings Mills, Maryland.

Kasey Logan

Kasey boasts a decade-long writing career, covering a diverse array of topics. Writing serves as a therapeutic outlet for her, allowing her to articulate thoughts and ideas to portray her best self. Driven by an innate curiosity, she delves into topics of personal interest. Her choice of undergraduate degree in history was motivated by the extensive research it entails. As a higher education professional in her local community, she has amassed considerable expertise, particularly in real estate, both locally and in burgeoning areas. Passionate about all things DIY, spanning home improvement, gardening, and health, she delights in imparting knowledge and guidance to her audience.

Kira Martin

Kira is a freelance writer living in the beautiful state of Colorado. She is passionate about words and science and loves how writing requires her to learn something new every day.

Anthony Melville

Anthony Melville is a professional writer based in Chicago, Illinois. Since 2020 Anthony has been working with the Neighborhoods.com and 55places.com team—first as an intern and then as a freelance editor and writer. Although he grew up in Michigan and has lived in the Midwest his whole life, Anthony has road-tripped extensively across the U.S. These invaluable travel experiences, exploring the nooks and crannies of unfamiliar cities, have informed his research and writing for the 55places blog.

Cari Oleskewicz

Cari Oleskewicz is a writer based in Gainesville, Florida. She has been writing about real estate, property management, travel, and active adult lifestyles for 10 years. She has delivered lectures on the importance of high-value website copy for small businesses, and has ghostwritten books for real estate investors. Before settling in Gainesville, she lived in Tampa, Florida; Baltimore, Maryland; Los Angeles, California; and Florence, Italy.

Carrie Pallardy

Carrie Pallardy is a freelance writer and editor with more than 10 years of experience. She is a lifelong Chicagoan and avid traveler. Carrie has written extensively about real estate for Neighborhoods.com.

Jennifer Povey

Jennifer R. Povey, an experienced freelancer residing in northern Virginia just outside Washington, D.C., is a first-generation immigrant with both British and American citizenship. Well-traveled and versatile, she writes and edits across a wide spectrum of topics. Beyond assisting clients in achieving their content marketing objectives, she also excels as a tabletop RPG writer, designer, and editor, alongside being a published author of science fiction and fantasy.

Judy Roberts

In her younger days, Judy Roberts worked in the retail and shipping industries. She has dabbled in children’s fiction, published short stories, and written guest posts for blogs. With an unusual affection for learning new things, research comes naturally to her. Judy’s writing style is often formal, though she enjoys drifting into lighter subjects for a change of pace. She has written articles in the medical, home repair, fitness, beauty, education, and financial categories.

Audrey Sellers

Audrey Sellers is a Southern California-based contributor to 55places, offering insights into the vibrant communities that cater to active adults. With a diverse background including writing for Coldwell Banker and residing in dynamic cities like Houston and Dallas, Audrey brings over 20 years of expertise in publishing, journalism, and marketing to her work. Her passion for storytelling and keen understanding of real estate trends make her a trusted voice in the industry, providing readers with valuable information to make informed decisions about their next chapter in life.

Simon Stuchlik

Beyond being a bilingual brand management executive who lives and works in Western Pennsylvania, Simon also has a passion for writing digital marketing content. That might be because of his bachelor’s degree in communication, his MBA, or his career in higher ed marketing that has kept his love of learning alive. After growing up in Germany, Simon first visited the United States as a foreign exchange student, met a girl, and decided to emigrate for love and education. Three beautiful little German-Americans later, he still loves to travel, read, and write for fun.

Kary Vanarsdale

Kary is a psychologist and the Director of International Operations for DRE Medical. Fluent in Spanish and certified by the Kentucky World Trade Center as an International Commerce Specialist, Kary is also a skilled writer. Prior to 2002, Kary served as Regional Preventive Health Manager for Magellan Behavioral Health, then the largest provider of mental health services in the U.S. She earned national accolades for her efforts in the identification and prevention of post-partum depression and was published in AAACN Viewpoint’s 2002 edition. In her spare time, Kary enjoys running and watching sports. Kary holds a bachelor’s degree from The University of Kentucky and a master’s and doctoral degree from The University of Louisville.

Alexis Wainwright

Alexis is your friendly, neighborhood freelancer and Oxford coma advocate. She holds a Master’s in English and Creative Writing and has an extensive social media and digital content marketing background. She loves blogging about anything unusual, niche, or out of the ordinary. Travel, pets, hospitality, health and beauty, fitness, food and nutrition, and tech are just some of her favorite topics!

Bradi Yetzer

Brandi has a BA in English Literature, a minor in Consumer Marketing, and a certification in Content Marketing. She has also taken a training course at HubSpot Academy: SEO Training. She continues to learn new things every day and enjoys every minute of it.