Dr. Elna Tymes has a private practice in Alzheimer's and other dementias and works on senior health policy issues in Silicon Valley. She was a participant in creating the California Master Plan on Aging and has a special interest in technology and aging.

Richard Adler has spent more than three decades introducing older adults to new technologies. He is currently Chair of Age-Friendly Cupertino and has been helping to lead the Santa Clara County Digital Inclusion Workgroup. He is also a member of the Santa Clara County Senior Care Commission and the Advisory Council for Sourcewise, the county’s Area Agency on Aging. As an advocate and a researcher, Richard has written extensively on issues related to aging. He served as guest editor for an issue of Generations, the journal of the American Society on Aging, on “The Future of Aging.” 

Sean Thomas is the Manager of Executive Operations at the National Council on Aging. He is responsible for leading the support for the executive office of NCOA, specifically focused on supporting the integration of all departments and overall oversight for operational and administrative alignment, as well as management of NCOA’s national Board of Directors.

Prior to NCOA, Sean was the Special Assistant and Chief of Staff at the Fashion Institute of Technology Foundation, where he oversaw the advancement initiatives in sustainability, strategic philanthropy, and social impact investment to support the Fashion Institute of Technology’s unique and unconventional heritage.

From 2012 to 2017, Sean served as the Manager of Administration at Safe Kids Worldwide, where he helped develop the strategic direction of the organization by providing oversight of administration and operations and leading the advancement of priority programmatic objectives for child safety initiatives.

Sean has also held various leadership roles at Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, Malaria No More, and Tiffany & Co. He is an inspirational corporate social responsibility leader that has had success guiding and building nonprofit organizations specializing in administration, operations, and board governance and has worked extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Africa on several sustainable health and economic development programs. He is also a former Peace Corps volunteer serving in Kyrgyzstan from 2006-2007.

Sean holds a BA in International Studies from Hawaiʻi Pacific University and an MA in International Affairs from the New School University.

Dr. Emily Tarleton is a registered dietitian who has spent the majority of her career teaching, conducting, and facilitating high quality and innovative translational research. 

Emily has designed and implemented nutrition research in various healthcare settings, including cardiovascular research at the Henry M. Jackson Foundation and community-based obesity prevention programs funded by the CDC. For over 10 years, she worked as the Bionutrition Manager at The University of Vermont Clinical Research Center. Emily is currently an Assistant Professor of Health Sciences at Northern Vermont University-Johnson.

Emily’s main research interests include the role of nutrition in mental health and the role of nutrition in maintaining independence as we age. 

With over forty years as a community, corporate, and military trainer/educator, Erin has been active as a transgender and LGBTQ+ Senior community advocate, community educator for over two decades. She was instrumental in changing attitudes and policies regarding transgender and other queer people across southern Arizona in public and private businesses, local and state government, academia, social services agencies and medical and mental facilities including the Southern Arizona Veterans Administration Health Care System, where she provided training to primary care and mental health teams as well as VA Vocational Rehabilitation teams across Arizona. 

Erin served as an Army Infantry officer for 12 years, holding key staff positions at all levels, including the Division and Theater of Operations level. She was cited for developing model individual and collective training programs. She developed and implemented internal customer service processes and HR policies for several businesses and trained Human Resources and senior management staff on integrating transgender personnel. She was instrumental in training a major shelter provider in best practices for serving the transgender community. Erin currently assists LGBTQ+ people to complete their Advance Medical Planning documents and is developing resources to ensure “Solo Seniors” can find competent, supportive powers of attorney.

Jean Van Ryzin is Senior Director of Communications at NCOA, where she oversees all external messaging for the organization. Jean manages a team of marketing and communications specialists tasked with building the NCOA brand across multiple channels, including web, social, email, and public relations. Prior to working at NCOA, Jean had a freelance writing and editing business and worked for a variety of organizations in the aging field, including LeadingAge.

Camden serves as Project Manager for the Aging Services Coordination team at Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) in Austin, Texas. Prior to this role, she coordinated ASC's Civil Monetary Penalty Project funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The grant's scope was to improve quality of life for long-term care residents and staff through the development of new tools, provision of existing HHS resources/programs and outreach to participating nursing facility communities (residents, staff, volunteers, and community partners). Camden has served Texas Health and Human Services agencies since 2006 with the former Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS), Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) and the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). Her background combines skills across multiple areas including program development, program evaluation, policy analysis, volunteerism, community engagement, curriculum development and training, and stakeholder relations. Camden has a BS in Advertising Design from the University of Maryland and an MA in Human Services from St. Edward's University in Austin.

Kathleen Cameron, BSPharm, MPH, has more than 25 years of experience in the health care field as a pharmacist, researcher, and program director focusing on falls prevention, geriatric pharmacotherapy, mental health, long-term services and supports, and caregiving. Cameron is Senior Director of the NCOA Center for Healthy Aging, where she provides subject matter expertise on health care programmatic and policy related issues and oversees the Modernizing Senior Center Resource Center.

Donya Currie is a journalist, writer, editor, and content strategist who brings a passion for social justice and equity to her work at NCOA. She has decades of experience covering health and public health as well as expertise in helping other tell their powerful personal stories. She is a National Center to Reframe Aging facilitator and would love to talk to you about changing the way we think about aging.

 Sue oversees statewide implementation of evidence-based programs; assists in grant-writing, partnership/capacity building; provides leader trainings for various evidence-based wellness programs and implements evidence-based community workshops.  She collaborates with healthcare systems to embed and sustain evidence-based behavior change programs into care delivery. Sue was previously the Senior Director of the National Council on Aging Chronic Disease Self-Management Resource Center where she led a team of professionals in providing national technical assistance to 47 state agencies. Prior to that, Sue oversaw evidence-based program implementation across New Jersey for the Department of Health and Senior Services and was previously a lobbyist for the Alzheimer’s Association in New Jersey. 

Leigh Ann Eagle is the Chief Operating Officer of the Living Well Center of Excellence (LWCE) at MAC, Inc., an area agency on aging that oversees Maryland’s implementation of Healthy Aging Evidence Based Programs. Ms. Eagle is responsible for all aspects of program management for LWCE. She created the Mid Shore Coalition for Chronic Disease. Under Leigh Ann's leadership, Living Well is connecting healthcare organizations with aging and community resources to coordinate statewide program delivery. LWCE is a one of twelve National Network Lead Entities funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living.

Dr. Jennifer L. Tripken is an Associate Director, Center for Healthy Aging at the National Council on Aging. In this role, Jennifer supports the expansion and sustainability of evidence-based health promotion and disease prevention programs in the community and online through collaboration with national, state, and community partners. Prior to joining NCOA, Jennifer worked for eight years as a university professor in Health Education and Promotion. Before that, Jennifer spent six years as a middle and high school Health Education teacher in New York. 

Jennifer earned her Ed.D. in Health Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, her M.Ed. in Health Education at Boston University, and her B.S. in Athletic Training at Pennsylvania State University.

 Sue oversees statewide implementation of evidence-based programs; assists in grant-writing, partnership/capacity building; provides leader trainings for various evidence-based wellness programs and implements evidence-based community workshops.  She collaborates with healthcare systems to embed and sustain evidence-based behavior change programs into care delivery. Sue was previously the Senior Director of the National Council on Aging Chronic Disease Self-Management Resource Center where she led a team of professionals in providing national technical assistance to 47 state agencies. Prior to that, Sue oversaw evidence-based program implementation across New Jersey for the Department of Health and Senior Services and was previously a lobbyist for the Alzheimer’s Association in New Jersey. 

Ann is the Senior Program Manager, for Medicare at NCOA where she helps local, state and regional organizations develop and implement strategies to find, counsel and assist Medicare beneficiaries apply and enroll in benefits for which they may be eligible.

Over the past 25 years Ann has had the opportunity to work in many parts of the health care industry including managed care, patient assistance programs, and provider and sales force relations.  Prior to joining NCOA, Ann managed the operations for the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) in Montgomery County, Maryland helping the most vulnerable populations gain access to the health care benefits and services.  

Ann received her B.S. in Health Care Management from Kings College in Wilke-Barre, PA and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.

Leigh Ann Eagle is the Chief Operating Officer of the Living Well Center of Excellence (LWCE) at MAC, Inc., an area agency on aging that oversees Maryland’s implementation of Healthy Aging Evidence Based Programs. Ms. Eagle is responsible for all aspects of program management for LWCE. She created the Mid Shore Coalition for Chronic Disease. Under Leigh Ann's leadership, Living Well is connecting healthcare organizations with aging and community resources to coordinate statewide program delivery. LWCE is a one of twelve National Network Lead Entities funded by the U.S. Administration for Community Living.

Claire Irwin is the Age Well Live Well Program Coordinator with the Texas Health and Human Services Aging Services Coordination office. Claire oversees the statewide AWLW campaign which provides a positive, proactive healthy aging message to motivate individuals, organizations and community leadership to take action. The campaign utilizes three core elements - Be Healthy, Be Connected and Be Informed - to shape the messaging and deliver aging and living well resources. Claire works with community stakeholders to assess and develop local programs, partnerships and resources to grow their capacity to serve older adults and increase community awareness of aging issues and available services. Through her community work she identifies gaps in services and awareness, and she develops ad-hoc resources to help address the needs including: the AmeriCorps VISTA project, and the Texas Talks and Know your Neighbor campaigns. Claire’ subject matter expertise is social isolation and loneliness in older adults and methods for developing engagement options for older adults. She develops programs and resources that encourage older adults to stay engaged as they age.

Alexis Calleros was initially brought on board as a volunteer at the National Center on Elder Abuse (NCEA) after obtaining her Bachelor?s degree in Sociology with an emphasis on social inequality research at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a current NCEA Project Assistant, she provides logistical and administrative support for various projects. Alexis also works on the Elder Abuse Guide for Law Enforcement (EAGLE), producing training materials for law enforcement.?