Meet the Team

Danica McGuire was named the executive director of Ventana by Buckner in May 2021, where she previously served as Ventana’s associate executive director.

The faith-based mission of Buckner and Ventana resonates with McGuire, who says she has always tried to incorporate faith into her career. Her goal at Ventana is to continually redefine and elevate hospitality through experiences, service and culture.

McGuire began her career in aging services as a social work intern and quickly realized working with the aging population was her passion. She then worked in various leadership roles including assisted living director, activity director, marketing director and assistant administrator. In 2010, McGuire took on the role of administrator with the Bivins Foundation in Amarillo, TX.

A Texas native, McGuire earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work/sociology from West Texas A&M University and a Master of Science degree in long-term care, senior housing and aging services from University of North Texas. She obtained her Nursing Facility Administrators license in 2011.

Bridgette Balderas has more than 20 years of experience in the human resources field, with nine of those in senior living. Bridgette began in the human resources field as coordinator and has built on her career experience to become a great HR practitioner and a great asset to the Ventana by Buckner team. She sees her role as “a strategic business partner” who capitalizes on her experience “as a business owner, assistant, specialist, generalist, manager and now director, to initiate and drive for resolutions.”

Her Ventana career is her second at Buckner Retirement Services: She was the Human Resources Generalist at Buckner’s San Angelo, Texas campus. Previously, she also served as a human resources manager for Morningside Ministries in San Antonio.

Bridgette earned a bachelor of business administration degree focused in marketing from Angelo State University. She is active in the Society for Human Resources Management and is a Member of LeadingAge. She also has been a Member of Delta Sigma Pi, a professional fraternity focused on bringing business to universities, serving as senior vice president and vice president of chapter operations.

As a compassionate caregiver and ordained minister, Chaplain David Mann, M.Div. BCC, brings extensive experience in hospice, bereavement and parish ministry to the Ventana community.

For more than 20 years, David taught and mentored the congregation in spiritual growth at Rangerville Baptist Church in San Benito, Texas. He has also offered spiritual and bereavement care to patients and families with several hospice agencies in the Rio Grande Valley and Valley Baptist Medical Center in Harlingen, Texas.

David has been honored as Texas and New Mexico Hospice Organization Chaplain of the Year and has an Ecclesiastical Endorsement with the Baptist General Convention of Texas.

David earned a bachelor’s degree in religion from Samford University and completed a Master of Divinity degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, with an emphasis in pastoral care. He also completed a two-year residency in Clinical Pastoral Education at Baptist Health System in Birmingham, Alabama with a specialization in hospice.