WesleyLife has announced the launch of a foundation designed to meet “specialized and critical needs of an ever-growing population of older adults.”

Sophia S. Ahmad, vice president of philanthropy for WesleyLife, will lead the new WesleyLife Foundation.

Rob Kretzinger, president and CEO of WesleyLife, said creating the nonprofit has long been a goal of the business.

“With the Foundation’s inception, our goal will be to address challenges regarding the aging process and perceptions related to it, including nutritional insecurity, isolation, affordable housing, workforce shortages and other issues,” Kretzinger said in a press release.

WesleyLife, based in Johnston, is the region’s largest nonprofit provider of well-being services for older adults.

The foundation is a 501(c)(3) governed by a volunteer board of directors that provides strategic guidance for WesleyLife’s philanthropic endeavors and anticipates and supports critical needs in the organization’s communities and among its services.

“The inauguration of the foundation will create countless opportunities to connect generous donors with opportunities to support components of our mission that resonate deeply with them,” Ahmad said in a press release.

WesleyLife Foundation’s board of directors is chaired by Travis Simpson, regional president for Northwest Bank. Simpson is a longtime donor to and frequent volunteer for WesleyLife.

“It is an honor to chair this inaugural Foundation Board; we are grateful that many influential community leaders and philanthropists who care deeply about our mission have enthusiastically agreed to serve and lead this nonprofit organization,” Simpson said in a prepared statement.

The vice chair is Connie Isaacson, founding partner of Isaacson-Syverson Consulting.

Other board members are Christine Coons, director of the Coons Foundation; Nathaniel Doddridge, vice president of fuels for Casey’s General Stores; Scott Harrington, board chairman at Riley Resource Group; Kathryn Kunert, vice president of economic connections and integration for MidAmerican Energy; Christine Long, estate attorney with BrownWinick Law Firm; Chad Rasmussen, chair of the WesleyLife board of directors and vice president of development at Christensen Development; and Lois Vermeer, retired executive director of the Vermeer Charitable Foundation.

Kretzinger is serving on the board as well, as is Glen Lewis, executive director of Edgewater, a WesleyLife Community for Healthy Living.