Debra A. Cafaro: Top Honors

Congratulations to Ventas Chairman and CEO Debra A. Cafaro for being ranked No. 39 in the Financial Times Top 50 Women in World Business. We are tremendously proud of her and this outstanding achievement! Following is some background on her many accomplishments. Her energy, vision and leadership are an inspiration to all.

Debra A. Cafaro (Debbie) has served as Ventas Chief Executive officer since 1999 and as Chairman of the Board of Directors since 2003. In 2011, She was named one of the Top 25 Women in Healthcare by Modern Healthcare and one of the Women to Watch by Crain's Chicago Business. She was also voted to Institutional Investor's "2011 All-American Executive Team." In 2010, Forbes named her one of the ten "Best CEOs." She was also a recipient of the Aiming High Award from Legal Momentum, which recognizes remarkable women whose personal leadership has broken new ground for women in business (2009). Debbie has been named an Outstanding Woman by National Real Estate Investor Magazine (2008); a Woman of Influence by Real Estate Forum (2008); Female Leader of the Year by Commercial Property News (2007); one of "50 Women to Watch" by the Wall Street Journal (2004); and one of the "Best of the Best" REIT CEOs (2003).

Debbie Cafaro is the immediate past Chair of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT), the worldwide representative voice for REITs. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Weyerhaeuser Company (NYSE: WY), where she chairs its Finance Committee and is a member of its Compensation Committee; World Business Chicago, Chicago's not-for-profit economic development corporation chaired by Mayor Richard M. Daley; and the Real Estate Roundtable.

Following her 1982-83 service as a judicial clerk to the Hon. J. Dickson Phillips, United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Debbie practiced real estate, corporate and finance law. She also taught real estate transactions and finance from 1988 to 1992 as an Adjunct Professor at Northwestern University Law School. Prior to joining Ventas, Debbie was President and a Director of Ambassador Apartments, Inc. (NYSE: AAH), a multifamily REIT.

Debbie received her J.D. cum laude in 1982 from the University of Chicago Law School, where she was named its Distinguished Alumna in 2011 and currently serves on its Business Advisory Council, and her B.A. magna cum laude from the University of Notre Dame in 1979.