Editor’s note: McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News are profiling the McKnight’s 2024 Pinnacle Awards honorees daily in April and May. For additional McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards content, visit this page.

For Deke Cateau, community caring is part of his DNA.

He was born in Trinidad, which embraces the traditions of a “plural society” and boasts cultural diversity among its residents.

He was named CEO of A.G. Rhodes in February 2018 after starting with the company more than a decade prior as administrator of the company’s flagship location near Grant Park, GA. His commitment to community care and the company’s mission were rewarded with greater responsibility as he was promoted to chief of strategic iImplementation and chief operating officer before assuming the top job.

A.G. Rhodes is one of the oldest nonprofits in Atlanta, and it was among the first nursing organizations to be licensed in Georgia. As CEO, Cateau is charged with upholding the company’s long tradition of care while innovating to create homelike environments.

In 2014, he won the American College of Health Care Administrators Facility Leadership Award, and in 2015, he won the Georgia Health Care Association’s Leadership Excellence Award. 

He holds a bachelor’s degree in history and a post-graduate diploma in international relations from the University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus, as well as a certification in global leadership development from the University of the Virgin Islands. 

Last year, he was appointed by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to serve on the state’s Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias State Plan Advisory Council. This came after Cateau was recently invited to serve on the US Department of Health and Human Services’ National Alzheimer’s Project Act Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care and Services. 

  • In 2021, he published his first book, “Brush Fire: COVID-19 and Our Nursing Homes.” 
  • Received the 2023 Distinguished Service Award from the Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University. 
  • He is a licensed nursing home administrator and has a certificate from the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners as a certified dementia practitioner and a certified Alzheimer’s disease and care dementia trainer.

    The McKnight’s Pinnacle Awards program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Home Care, McKnight’s Senior Living and McKnight’s Long-Term Care News. Honorees were recognized March 21 at a dinner and awards ceremony in Chicago. Omnicare was the Silver sponsor for the 2024 Pinnacle Awards program. Parker Health Group and Sentrics were event sponsors.