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Ramsey Alwin joined NCOA as President & CEO in August 2020.

In her career, Alwin designed a new measure of economic security for older adults that better accounts for out-of-pocket health costs and busts myths surrounding senior poverty. She worked to introduce the Measuring American Poverty Act in Congress to redefine the federal poverty measure to better account for older adults’ costs of living.

Thanks to Alwin’s efforts, the U.S. Census Bureau formally implemented the Supplemental Poverty Measure nationwide, virtually doubling the elder poverty count and better demonstrating true needs among this population. Alwin also has led and organized efforts to enact state and local legislation and regulations using the new measure of economic security for income/asset eligibility for means tested programs.

Prior to returning to NCOA, Ramsey was the Director, Thought Leadership – Financial Resilience at AARP, where she worked to position AARP as the global leader in challenging outdated beliefs and sparking new solutions related to financial resilience and longevity, so people can choose how they age.

Prior to her role at AARP, Alwin served as Vice President of Economic Security at NCOA, Director of National Economic Security Programs at Wider Opportunities for Women, and Director of Program Services at the National Association of State and Community Services Programs.

Melissa Boteach, Vice President for Income Security and Child Care/Early Learning, oversees NWLC’s advocacy, policy, and public education strategies to ensure that all women and families have the income and supports they need to thrive. Prior to joining NWLC, Melissa spent nearly a decade at Center for American Progress (CAP), where she founded and led the Poverty to Prosperity Program, growing it from a team of 1 to 17, establishing projects to center the voices of low-income families; leading the team’s message and narrative change work, overseeing intersectional advocacy campaigns, and developing bold ideas to cut poverty & expand opportunity that resulted in new legislation, executive actions, and other progress. Melissa also served as policy editor on The Shriver Report, a book and multimedia platform by Maria Shriver and Center for American Progress on the 1 in 3 U.S. women on the financial brink, and solutions to help them push back. Previously, she worked at The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), where she led interfaith antipoverty campaigns. She has testified before Congress and frequently serves as a media spokesperson on issues relating to economic opportunity. A Harry Truman and George J. Mitchell Scholar, Melissa has a Master’s of Public Policy from The George Washington University, a master’s of Equality Studies from University College Dublin where she studied women in social movements, and bachelor’s degrees from University of Maryland in government and Spanish.

Andy Briggs, MBE, was appointed Group Chief Executive Officer (designate) of Phoenix Group on 1 January 2020. Mr Briggs has over 30 years of insurance industry leadership experience and is a qualified actuary. He was Group Chief Executive of Friends Life, the listed insurer, Managing Director of Scottish Widows, Chief Executive of the Retirement Income division at Prudential and Chairman of the ABI. Most recently he was CEO UK Insurance of Aviva plc until April 2019. He is a Trustee and Chair of the Income Generation Committee of the NSPCC and also serves as the Government’s Business Champion for Older Workers and the Age Grand Challenge.

Laura L. Carstensen is Professor of Psychology at Stanford University where she is the Fairleigh S. Dickinson Jr. Professor in Public Policy and founding director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. Her research program includes theoretical and empirical study of motivational and emotional changes that occur with age and the influence such changes have on cognitive processing. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and has served on the MacArthur Foundation’s Research Network on an Aging Society and the National Advisory Council on Aging to National Institute on Aging. Carstensen’s awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Kleemeier Award, The Richard Kalish Award for Innovative Research and distinguished mentor awards from both the Gerontological Society of America and the American Psychological Association. She is the author of A Long Bright Future: Happiness, Health, and Financial Security in an Age of Increased Longevity.  Carstensen received her B.S. from the University of Rochester and her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University. She holds an honorary doctorate from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

Ranjita Chakravarty is with Stanford University’s Internal Audit department, since April 1998. In her current role as Director, she plans, conducts and manages system audits, and provides consulting services to various Stanford University departments. Before joining Stanford, Ranjita was a Manager at Coopers & Lybrand L.L.P., where she conducted, and managed audits of a variety of firms in the retail, high-tech, manufacturing and banking industries. Prior to that she was with the Audit departments of two major Massachusetts banks-Bank of Boston and State Street Bank.

Ranjita received her MBA from Arizona State University, MA International Relations from Jawaharlal Nehru University, and B.A. Political Science from Delhi University in India. Ranjita is a Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA) and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA).

In her spare time Ranjita is active in the Bay area theater and film community, both acting and directing. Most recently she was thrilled to play the role of Nirmala/Granny in the Netflix show Never Have I Ever (Season 2). Her two grown children – Arjun and Alisha – are her biggest cheerleaders. She is grateful to Stanford University, where she works during the day so she can continue to be an aging thespian at night.

William Damon is a professor at Stanford University, Director of the Stanford Center on Adolescence, and Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. He is one of the world’s leading scholars of human development and author of The Path to Purpose. His most recent book, A Round of Golf with my Father, is an exploration of using life reviews to resolve past regrets, renew personal identity, and forge a purposeful life moving forward.

Marc Freedman is President and CEO of Encore.org. He is the author of five books, including most recently, How to Live Forever: The Enduring Power of Connecting the enerations—#1 on the Wall Street Journal’s list of best books on aging well for 2018. Freedman was named a Social Entrepreneur of the Year by the Schwab Foundation and the World Economic Forum. He co- founded Experience Corps to mobilize people over 50 to improve the prospects of low-income elementary school students, and the Purpose Prize, an annual award for social innovators in the second half of life. A former visiting fellow at Stanford University, King’s College, London, and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, he holds an MBA from Yale University. He lives with his wife and three children in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Twitter: @marc_freedman

Lawrence Kosick was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada where as a child, Lawrence’s father founded a non-profit assisted living facility for older adults. Lawrence grew up spending nights and weekends visiting the facility and was amazed by the wisdom of the residents who had so much more to give. Before co-founding GetSetup, Lawrence oversaw Business Development and Partnerships for IFTTT, an IoT Connectivity Platform. He also led Sight Machine’s Asian Pacific business operations and was the VP of Global Partnerships at Yahoo in the company’s formative years. Lawrence is an avid cyclist and trail runner, so it is no surprise that the two co-founders met in the Himalayas and continue to trade ideas that enhance the lives of those around them based on ideas hashed out while running the trails.

Born in 1922 in New Haven, Connecticut, Lear attended Emerson College before flying 52 combat missions over Europe during World War II. Upon his return, Lear began a successful career writing and producing programs like The Colgate Comedy Hour, and The Martha Raye Show - ultimately leading to Lear captivating 120 million viewers per week with his iconic shows of the 1970s and ‘80s.

His production banner, ACT III, has a first look deal with Sony Pictures Television. He served as executive producer to the critically acclaimed reimagining of One Day At A Time, which ran for four seasons and was the first Netflix series to be renewed for network television (PopTV and CBS). Lear executive produces and co-hosts LIVE In Front of a Studio Audience…, alongside Jimmy Kimmel. The series set record ratings for ABC and won the Emmy for Outstanding Variety Special for two consecutive years. In addition to the documentary Rita Moreno: Just A Girl Who Decided To Go For It, which just premiered at Sundance, Lear is an EP on the critically acclaimed feature film I Carry You With Me. He is also executive producing a reimagined and animated Good Times coming to Netflix.

Lauren Miller Rogen is a screenwriter, director, producer, and philanthropist, whose life has been touched many times over by Alzheimer’s. In 2012—when Lauren’s mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease at just 55 years old— Lauren, still in her twenties, co-founded HFC to activate the next generation of Alzheimer’s advocates.

Since then, Lauren and the HFC team have brought significant awareness to Alzheimer’s, raising millions of dollars to award free, quality in-home care to families in need of respite and support - all while using humor and hope to engage people. Her dedication to sharing her personal story and using humor as a form of advocacy has left an indelible impact on the Alzheimer’s space.

Since 2013, Lauren has served as the Alzheimer’s patient advocate on the board of California’s Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). She also sits on the California Alzheimer’s Task Force and the Steering Committee of the Milken Institute’s Alliance to Improve Dementia Care. In 2012, Lauren starred in, co-wrote, and produced the film For A Good Time Call, which premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. She made her feature-length directorial debut in 2018 with the “dramedy” Like Father, a film she wrote and which starred Kristen Bell and Kelsey Grammer.

If there is one thing Lauren wants people to remember, it’s that Alzheimer’s doesn’t have to be sad or scary when you’re fighting against it. You can come to an HFC event and have fun, but also do something for Alzheimer’s.

Ai-jen Poo is a next-generation labor leader, award-winning organizer, author, and a leading voice in the women’s movement. She is the Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Director of Caring Across Generations, Co-Founder of SuperMajority and Trustee of the Ford Foundation. Ai-jen is a nationally recognized expert on elder and family care, the future of work, gender equality,  immigration, narrative change, and grassroots organizing. She is the author of the celebrated book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America. Together with Alicia Garza, Ai-jen co-hosts the podcast, Sunstorm. Follow her at @aijenpoo.

She has been recognized among Fortune’s 50 World’s Greatest Leaders and Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World, and she has been the recipient of countless awards, including a 2014 MacArthur "Genius" Award.  Ai-jen has been a featured speaker at TEDWomen, Aspen Ideas Festival, Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Skoll World Forum, and the Obama Foundation Inaugural Summit. She has made TV appearances on Nightline, MSNBC, and Morning Joe, and her writing has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, Maire Claire, Glamour, Cosmopolitan and CNN.com among others. Ai-jen has been an influential voice in the #MeToo movement and attended the 2018 Golden Globe Awards with Meryl Streep as part of the launch of #TimesUp.

In 12 short years, with the help of more than 70 local affiliate organizations and chapters and over 200,000 members, the National Domestic Workers Alliance has passed Domestic Worker Bills of Rights in 10 states, the cities of Seattle and Philadelphia, and brought over 2 million home care workers under minimum wage protections. In 2011, Ai-jen launched Caring Across Generations to unite American families in a campaign to achieve bold solutions to the nation’s crumbling care infrastructure. The campaign has catalyzed groundbreaking policy change in states including the nation’s first family caregiver benefit in Hawai’i, and the first long-term care social insurance fund in Washington State.

Paula Span is a veteran journalist. Formerly a longtime Washington Post reporter, she has written the New Old Age column, about aging and caregiving, for the New York Times since 2009. In 2017, she added a second Times column, Generation Grandparent, and has adapted those essays for the audiobook “The Bubbe Diaries,” released by Audible in April.

An alumna of the alternative press and Boston University, she is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families with Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions,” published by Hachette in 2009. Her freelance articles have appeared in dozens of newspapers and magazines.

Since 1999, she has helped prepare the next generation of journalists at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Trent Stamp is one of America’s leading experts on healthy aging and the benefits of intergenerational programs. He has recently been published on intergenerational issues in Harvard Business Review, Forbes, The Stanford Social Innovation Review, and The Hill; and has presented at SXSW and the American Society on Aging’s annual conference, among many others. He serves as a board member for Grantmakers in Aging and is on the Milken Institute’s Center for the Future of Aging’s Board of Academic and Policy Advisors. In 2015, Trent oversaw The Eisner Foundation's shift to become the only U.S.-based foundation exclusively focused on intergenerational efforts.

Trent is also a leader in the non-profit world and an expert on charitable and philanthropic best practices. He serves as a member of the Board of Advisors for The Center on Philanthropy & Public Policy at USC, The Board of Directors at Eisner Health Foundation, and the international organization Portsmouth in the Community. He has taught Nonprofit Management and Leadership at the Price School of Public Policy at USC, consults for the Committee on the Arts at The Aspen Institute, and previously chaired the audit committee for the Board of Directors of Southern California Grantmakers.

Trent received his Master’s in Public Policy from Duke University and his B.A. in Law and Society from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Ken Stern is the chair of the Longevity Project. He also leads the creative and business teams at Palisades Media Ventures, focusing on creating new and innovative programming for digital platforms and television.

Stern is the author of “With Charities For All: Why Charities Are Failing and A Better Way to Give” (Doubleday 2013).  He is also a frequent contributor to publications such as The Atlantic, Slate, the Daily Beast, the Washington Post and the Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Prior to launching Palisades, Stern was the CEO of National Public Radio. During his tenure, NPR’s radio audience more than doubled, from under 13 million weekly listeners to more than 26 million weekly listeners. Revenues during his nine years at NPR grew from $75 million to $210 million. Stern also launched NPR’s world class digital efforts which included two satellite channels, its mobile and podcast services, NPR Music and oversaw the successful expansion of NPR.org. During a period of significant retrenchment and downsizing at major news outlet, Stern led the dramatic expansion of NPR News, both domestically and abroad, and its evolution as a key daily news source to tens of millions of people.

Prior to joining NPR, Stern was a senior executive in American International Broadcasting. Earlier in his career, he held positions in Democratic politics. He began his media career with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich. Stern, a lawyer by training, holds degrees from Haverford College and Yale Law School. He lives in Washington, DC with his wife Beth Cooper and their son Nate.

The Rev. Dr. Starsky Wilson is president & CEO of the Children’s Defense Fund (CDF), pursuing the vision of a nation where marginalized children flourish, leaders prioritize their well-being, and communities wield the power to ensure they thrive. Since 1973, CDF has been leading the movement to build power for child-centered public policy, informed by racial equity and the lived experience of children and youth.

Dr. Wilson is board chair for the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy (NCRP) and vice chair of the Forum for Theological Exploration (FTE). He also serves boards for CDF Action Council, Duke Divinity School, the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference and Sojourners.

From 2011 through 2020, Rev. Wilson was president & CEO of Deaconess Foundation, a faith-based philanthropy for child well-being and racial justice in St. Louis. Under his leadership, Deaconess constructed and established the Deaconess Center for Child Well-Being, a community action tank engaging more than 15,000 citizens annually. From 2008 through 2018, Dr. Wilson also pastored Saint John’s Church (The Beloved Community), an inter-racial, inner-city congregation related to the United Church of Christ.

After the police killing of Michael Brown, Jr., Wilson and the church hosted the #BlackLivesMatter Freedom Ride to Ferguson and served as the welcome center for #FergusonOctober. In service of community healing, Wilson co-chaired the Ferguson Commission. In 2015, they released the ‘Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity’ Report, calling for sweeping changes in policing, the courts, child well-being and economic mobility.

Dr. Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from Xavier University of Louisiana, Master of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary, and the Doctor of Ministry from Duke University. For his public theology, he was awarded Doctor of Public Service and Doctor of Divinity degrees honoris causa by Saint Louis University and Eden Theological Seminary, respectively. A member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. and Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity, Starsky is married to Dr. LaToya Smith Wilson, a dentist and child advocate. They are raising four children.

Follow Dr. Wilson’s activism, philanthropy, and ministry at @RevDrStarsky and @ChildDefender.