The Governing Board of Ele’s Place announced today the appointment of Dan Layman as the community-based nonprofit’s new president and chief executive officer.
Layman, who had served as Ele’s Place Lansing’s managing director since July 2014, was unanimously approved for the promotion after the Ele’s Place Governing Board conducted a four-month national search.
Layman will oversee operations of the Ele’s Place healing center network, which serves grieving children and teens by providing support groups that help them cope with the death of a parent, sibling or other loved one. The network consists of branch locations in the Ann Arbor, Flint, Grand Rapids and Lansing regions.
Prior to starting at Ele’s Place, Layman held leadership positions at Arbor Hospice, Hospice of Lansing and Hospice of Michigan. He has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan and a master’s degree in business administration from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University.
“I am deeply honored by this opportunity and look forward to working with our excellent care provider staff,” Layman said. “Access to compassionate grief support is critical for the health and well-being of all children and teens in our communities. We will continue to strive toward our vision of ensuring no child in our great state of Michigan has to grieve alone.”
Ele’s Place was founded in 1991 in Lansing and is recognized nationally for its pioneering role as a children’s grief organization. It was named after Ele Stover, who died when she was 11 months old. Her mother, Betsy Stover, launched the program to help her surviving three children, and other children in the area, deal with the loss. The service Ele’s Place provides is free to families and paid for through community support.
