Elara Caring Leadership

Tom Firmani

President
Personal Care Services

Tom Firmani serves as as President of Personal Care Services at Elara Caring, bringing over three decades of executive operations leadership to the organization.

In this role, he oversees a workforce of approximately 20,000 caregivers delivering non-clinical, in-home support across multiple states. His leadership is focused on enhancing workforce reliability, optimizing service delivery, and expanding access to high-quality, community-based care for high-need populations.

Prior to joining Elara Caring in 2022, Tom was Senior Vice President of Operations at TridentCare Health Systems. There, he directed four distinct business units across 22 states, delivering mobile healthcare services to skilled nursing facilities, home care providers, commercial partners, and assisted living communities.

Earlier in his career, he spent nearly 30 years at Comcast Cable Communications in leadership roles of increasing responsibility, with a concentration on high-volume service operations and organizational scalability.

Tom holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, with a concentration in Management and Operations, from Stockton University.

Kimberly Nystrom, RN, BSN, JD

President
Skilled Home Health, Behavioral Health & Hospice

Kimberly Nystrom, President of Skilled Home Health, Behavioral Health and Hospice at Elara Caring, has 25 plus years of experience in legal, contracting, post-acute and home-based care.

She leads multi-service line operations with approximately 4,000 caregivers providing skilled nursing, behavioral health and hospice services to more than 27,000 patients daily across 16 states.

Since Elara’s inception, Kim has been pivotal in integrating clinical excellence and operational efficiency while supporting industry leading strategic, growth initiatives. She has initiated multiple geographic and start-up operations, expanding the skilled division’s footprint year over year. Under Kim’s leadership, the division operates several innovative outcomes-based models for value-based payors and large health systems.

Kim is committed to building top tier leadership teams who prioritize patient–first, excellence in care culture – driving best-in-class customer experience and clinician engagement.

Kim is a registered nurse and licensed attorney. She holds a nursing degree from Vanderbilt University School of Nursing and a Juris Doctor from The University of Georgia School of Law

Kim Spano

Chief Growth Officer

Kim Spano serves as Chief Growth Officer at Elara Caring, bringing more than 20 years of healthcare sales and commercial leadership experience. She leads the company’s enterprise growth strategy,
aligning vision with execution to create value for Elara Caring’s people, patients and partners.

Kim oversees the teams responsible for national sales and growth across all service lines, enterprise strategy and business development, payor relations, sales learning and development, sales operations,
marketing, communications, and the Elara Caring Hospice Foundation.

Since joining Elara Caring in 2015, Kim has held several executive leadership roles across business development and field sales, helping drive the organization’s growth and commercial transformation. Prior to Elara Caring, she held leadership positions with Emeritus Senior Living and Gannett. She has also served as a consultant supporting
organizations in private duty home care, senior living development, and the nonprofit
healthcare and arts sectors.

Kim earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette