Susan Langston - Vice President of Advocacy

Susan C. Langston has served as Vice President of Advocacy for LeadingAge Florida for over five years and oversees all public policy activities, and legislative and regulatory advocacy efforts. Her responsibilities at LeadingAge Florida include policy development, strategic planning, research, and legislative oversight. In this position, she develops and manages political advocacy strategies and oversees legislative lobbying activities.

Prior to coming to LeadingAge Florida, Ms. Langston served for five years as the Director of Government Affairs, and concurrently served as the Chief Operating Officer for a year and a half, at the Florida Assisted Living Association. Ms. Langston previously served as Executive Director of the Florida Telecommunications Industry Association for eighteen years.

Ms. Langston has broad governmental and legislative experience having worked for the Florida Legislature for 13 years before moving into the not for profit trade association segment. As a legislative analyst, Susan was responsible for public policy analysis of a wide range of issues including aging and adult services, professional regulation, and utility regulation.

Rhanda Mckown - Director of Affordable Housing

Rhanda Mckown has served as the Director of Affordable Housing for LeadingAge Florida since January of 2022. Her primary focus in this role is developing a robust housing education agenda, providing assistance and insight to members on housing issues, and contributing directly to the development and achievement of a housing advocacy agenda.

Rhanda previously served as the Local Contract Specialist for the North Tampa Housing Development Corporation. She has nearly 20 years of experience in various aspects of the housing industry and spent the last 15 years conducting Management and Occupancy Reviews (MOR) under the Performance Based Contract Administration (PBCA) contract in Florida.

Rhanda's prior housing industry experience includes having served as Director of the Affordable Housing Study Commission (AHSC), a group appointed by Florida’s Governor to research a variety of timely housing topics and propose recommendations for implementation each year in a comprehensive annual report, as well as previously working at LeadingAge Florida which is where she originally began her housing career.

Rhanda graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Florida State University and lives in Ocala with her 10-year-old daughter.

Lisa Smith - Director of Nursing Home Public Policy

Lisa Smith has served as Director of Nursing Home Public Policy for LeadingAge Florida since August 2021. Her primary focus in this role is managing legislative activities, regulatory advocacy efforts, and policy interests and actions on behalf of nursing home association members.

Prior to joining LeadingAge, Ms. Smith was employed by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration for over fourteen years and is grateful for the opportunity to have been a public servant in improving health care for Florida’s most vulnerable populations. As Bureau Chief of Medicaid Program Finance from July 2018 to August 2021, she was responsible for the fiscal planning of Florida’s Medicaid services budget and Medicaid rate setting for institutional providers including nursing homes. She ensured that the appropriate federal authorities for payments were granted via approvals for state reimbursement plans and waivers as well as provided public policy and legislative feedback to lawmakers and interested stakeholders. Additionally, Ms. Smith served as an Agency member of the Governor’s Panel on Excellence in Long-Term Care. Ms. Smith was the Nursing Home Supervisor in Medicaid Program Finance from March 2016 to July 2018, also overseeing Nursing Home Audit Services. Under her leadership, the Agency developed and transitioned nursing homes reimbursement from a cost-based methodology to a prospective payment model.

Ms. Smith grew up in Lakeland and Tallahassee, Florida and has a B.S. in Economics from Florida State University. When she's not working, she enjoys yard work, hiking with her dog, and going to dive bars with her best friends.

Mary Ellen Early - Public Policy Liaison

Mary Ellen Early has been working with LeadingAge Florida in a part-time consulting position since 2011. Prior to transitioning to part-time, she held the position of Senior Vice President of Public Policy for the Association for nearly three decades. She is the Association’s technical expert on continuing care/life plan community regulation as well as tax issues that affect members. Prior to joining LeadingAge Florida, Mary Ellen worked as a legislative analyst for the Florida House of Representatives where she was responsible for drafting long term care and senior housing legislation; Winter Park Towers as an assistant administrator; and as a consulting for a regional accounting firm that conducted financial feasibility studies for CCRCs and similar communities. In addition, she served on the board of a single site affordable senior housing community for many years. Because of her varied experience, she is uniquely qualified to understand the effects of proposed legislative and regulatory changes on providers and developers of senior housing communities. As such, she has played a significant role for many years in crafting balanced changes to Ch. 651, Florida Statutes, and helpful modifications to the sales tax and ad valorem property tax exemptions that benefit members.

In her leisure time, Mary Ellen enjoys fly fishing with her husband, FSU football games, Stetson University baseball, and daily walks with her husband Chuck and two dogs. She is a member of St. Peter Catholic Conference of Women, the Krewe of Amalee (a women’s Mardi Gras Krewe and service organization), and volunteer fundraiser for Family Renew Community, an organization that serves homeless families with children.