The technology designed by Zeng has been key in improving senior living and care operations, helping staff members effectively monitor residents through motion detection, enabling them to respond quickly to acute health risks without compromising resident privacy.
Forster Stubbs, McKnight Senior Living
The work of Jiani Zeng, a Chinese designer, researcher, and co-founder and chief product officer of Butlr Technologies, often takes place in the background, but the results always end up at the forefront.
Thanks in part to her efforts, Butlr is the first company to fuse artificial intelligence and body heat sensing technology to provide insights into how humans use indoor space for living and working while ensuring anonymity. This technology has significant applications in the senior living and care sector and helped earn Zeng a 2025 McKnight’s Women of Distinction award in the Commercial Excellence category.
Zeng and Butlr co-founder and CEO Honghao Deng were featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 (North America) List for 2022, and Butlr was recognized as one of the “Technology Pioneers” by the World Economic Forum in 2022. It also was named one of the “Most Innovative Companies” by Fast Company in 2023. In addition, the company was named a Gold winner in the Falls Prevention, Management or Detection category of the 2024 McKnight’s Excellence in Technology Awards.
The technology designed by Zeng has been key in improving senior living and care operations, helping staff members effectively monitor residents through motion detection, enabling them to respond quickly to acute health risks without compromising resident privacy. Her nomination pointed out that Butlr has been instrumental in improving the resident and patient experience and provides a roadmap for the future of remote monitoring.
“Before Butlr sensors, capturing mission-critical and life-saving building data meant compromising privacy by using cameras or not having data due to building regulations,” a colleague said. “Yet insight on how buildings are used is critical to ensuring a more comfortable resident experience and more sustainable buildings. Butlr solves these issues while protecting individual privacy and providing never before available insight on the built environment.”
The McKnight’s Women of Distinction program is jointly administered by McKnight’s Senior Living, McKnight’s Long-Term Care News and McKnight’s Home Care. Healthcare Services Group was the Platinum sponsor of this year’s festivities, and PharMerica was the Silver sponsor. Additional sponsors included Affinity Health Services, Curana Health, DirecTV for Business, EasyShifts, Guardian Pharmacy Services, Marquis Health Consulting Services, Priority Life Care, Reliant Rehabilitation, Reside Admissions and Sentrics.