Meet The Team

Get to Know the Caring Senior Service Team

Ian Klaes : Vice President
Ian is responsible for overseeing the Franchise department. Ian has worked in a diverse range of settings providing physical therapy; including hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and sports medicine clinics. Ian opened the Caring Senior Service franchise in El Paso in 2005 with his wife Lisa. Ian was recruited to work with the senior management team at Caring Senior Service in early 2007, where his work has focused on business development and special projects before taking on leadership of the franchise division. He is a native Texan, born and raised in El Paso, TX. He earned his bachelors' degree at UTEP and UTMB at Galveston. He earned a Masters in Physical Therapy from UTMB in 1998. His experiences as franchise owner, corporate manager, and franchisor provide a wealth of knowledge.

Vanessa Wagster : Director of Support Services
Vanessa is responsible for overseeing the Support Services department. In this role, Vanessa is responsible for managing and overseeing the full scope of human resources, regulation compliance, employee services and relations, and operational procedures.  Before joining Caring Senior Service, Vanessa was able to gain skills and knowledge through a variety of management and operational roles in working in Assisted Living and Hospice settings.  Vanessa has had over 10 experience in working with the elderly and their family in finding the right solutions for their needs. Vanessa holds a bachelors degree in Psychology form the University of West Georgia and a Masters Degree in Social Work from Texas  State.

Michael Watson : Referral Services Director
Michael is responsible for the design, development and implementation of a comprehensive sales and marketing program engineered to sustain continued company growth while providing initial and ongoing training, coaching and support for all employees and franchisee owners. Before joining Caring Senior Service, Michael worked as a commercial real estate consultant and is a military veteran. Michael has over 18 years of direct patient care experience, 9 of which are in home health care. Michael holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in management from The University of Texas San Antonio.

Saundra Hwozdek : Franchise Sales Director 
Saundra is an expert in educating prospective franchise owners on the Caring franchise opportunity; guiding potential franchisees through all aspects of the discovery process, from their first phone call, up to the final step of awarding a franchise.  In her professional life, she has always enjoyed working in sales roles, and discovered a perfect fit when the Senior Care Industry found her in 2010.  She has worked in business development roles in both non-medical, and medical home health care, prior to entering into Franchise Development at Caring Senior Service in 2016.  Facilitating the purchase of senior home care franchises combines two of Saundra's favorite things:  1) Promoting the use of in-home care as the most effective way to help seniors stay healthy, happy and home   2) Helping people discover franchise ownership as a path to independence.