January 23, 2025 Washington, DC — LeadingAge, the association of nonprofit providers of aging services, starts 2025 focused on engagement with and elevating to the Trump administration key aging services issues while continuing to execute on the second year of its three-year (2024-2026) strategic plan.

“The aging of America is unprecedented. The age distribution of our population is flipping upside down and landing on its head: older people outnumbering younger folks by a huge margin, not for a day, but for years to come. Our country is unprepared—and policymakers have made excuses for decades to not address aging services issues. Providers are left to patch together insufficient systems, and somehow manage when breakdowns occur, which they invariably do,” said Katie Smith Sloan, president and CEO, LeadingAge. “This approach cannot—it must not—continue. Our members, the nonprofit providers of services and communities, know, first-hand, the impact of policymakers’ actions, or inaction, on older adults and families. What’s more, we’ve got insight into and knowledge of many solutions—some of which are in place and need more support, while others are nearly in hand or nascent.”

Advocacy, she noted, is critical: “Effective advocacy is not ‘one and done,’ nor can one person or team accomplish it alone. Our members and our board are critical partners in helping LeadingAge advance our advocacy agenda by bringing their wisdom and experience to the fore.” Working closely with them in the new year, said Sloan, LeadingAge will build on recent successes in several critical areas, including workforce, and continue to support members across the continuum with tools and resources while continuing advocacy on key issues, including funding.

Roberto Muñiz, president and CEO of Parker Health Group, Inc., continues to chair the Board of Directors of LeadingAge.

“Adapting to a changing administration and a new Congress requires determination, and is crucial to our mission of serving older Americans. We remain steadfast in our commitment to advocate on their behalf,” said Muñiz. “As we welcome a new director to the board and two current directors expand their roles to the executive committee, we look forward to leveraging their expertise during this period of transition. With the board’s commitment to innovation and the strong support of our member community, I am confident that we will navigate these challenges and meet the evolving needs of our aging population.”

LeadingAge welcomes David Lindeman, Ph.D., Executive Director of the CITRIS Health, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS), UC Berkeley, and Director of Center for Technology and Aging (CTA). Dr. Lindeman’s work stretches across the entire age tech continuum, collaborating with researchers, entrepreneurs and investors on the incubation, start-up, and scaling of technology-enabled healthcare solutions, including initiatives that address critical health care challenges through machine intelligence (Generative AI and Large Language Models), telehealth, mobile/cloud, sensors/IoT, robotics, VR/AR, and assistive technologies. In addition to his role as director, Dr. Lindeman, who has worked with LeadingAge’s Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST) and numerous LeadingAge member organizations on various projects, will now serve as board liaison to CAST.

Current board members Laurence Gumina, CEO of Ohio Living and Justine Vogel, president and CEO the RiverWoods Group, will be adding Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, to their responsibilities.

Members of the 2025 LeadingAge Board of Directors: