In the Know: the Brookdale Webcast Series

Nick Buettner

Nick Buettner is the Vice President of Product and Community Integration at Blue Zones, LLC. He is responsible for leading the development and implementation of the Blue Zones Project in all of the Blue Zones Communities and corporate sites across the U.S. In his previous role as executive producer on the Blue Zones team, Nick coordinated all field production operations and collaborated with Good Morning America, CNN, AOL, WCCO and the National Geographic Channel to produce live events from remote locations throughout the world. In the last 20 years, Nick has led 17 expeditions over 6 continents around the world, three of which to the Blue Zones sites.

In 2004, Nick Buettner & Dan Buettner teamed up with National Geographic and the world’s best longevity researchers to identify Blue Zones — places that have the greatest life expectancy and where more people reach age 100 than anywhere else in the world. After identifying 5 of the world’s Blue Zones, they took teams of scientists to each location to identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain longevity, and found nine specific shared characteristics—the Power 9®. Nick has received his BA in International Business with a minor in Economics from Augsburg College.

Vern Yip

One room at a time, Vern Yip is designing his way across America, having knocked down walls and made over countless homes and restaurants during his four seasons on the original run of TLC's Trading Spaces and during his over ten years as one of HGTV’s most recognizable designers. Yip has spread the word on digital home makeovers through AOL and worked hand-in-hand with companies such as Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, Newell Rubbermaid, Delta, Baccarat, and Porsche.

Yip's past HGTV projects include four seasons of his own show titled Deserving Design with Vern Yip and two seasons as host and designer of HGTV Urban Oasis. His HGTV work also includes nine seasons of HGTV’s top-rated prime-time series HGTV Design Star and several seasons of Bang for Your Buck, where he served as the show’s host and design expert. Yip’s most recent HGTV project, Live in Vern’s House, chronicled the building of his dream beach home. In 2018, Yip returned to the show that launched his television career with the reboot of TLC’s Trading Spaces which debuted a second season in spring 2019. He was also a part of the 2019 reboot of While You Were Out which premiered on both TLC and HGTV. All of Yip’s shows are available to stream via Discovery+.

Yip runs his own design company in Atlanta, Vern Yip Designs. With an undergraduate education from The University of Virginia, a M.B.A. and Master of Architecture from The Georgia Institute of Technology, and a honorary Doctorate from the Savannah College of Art and Design, Yip has used his varied educational background to build a distinguished business.