Marc Freedman - Yale’s Experienced Leaders Initiative (ELI)

Oct 23, 2025

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In Series 10 of 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with the leaders of a growing number of university faculties developing programmes for individuals looking to change direction in their 3rd Quarter of life. We explore the origins and motivations behind these programmes—and how they fit the evolving role of higher education in ageing societies.

In this episode she speaks with Marc Freedman — one of the world’s most influential thinkers on ageing, purpose, and intergenerational connection. As co-founder and co-CEO of CoGenerate, and founding faculty director of Yale’s Experienced Leaders Initiative, Marc has spent four decades at the forefront of reimagining how society supports connection, contribution and education across generations.

Marc reflects on his journey from creating Experience Corps — a pioneering national program linking older volunteers with schoolchildren — to leading Encore.org (which popularized the concept of the “encore career” — a second act for the greater good) and now CoGenerate, a leading organization bridging the generational divide through programs and partnerships that connect older and younger people to solve society’s biggest challenges.. Across these initiatives, his mission has remained consistent: to bridge generational divides and build a more cohesive, age-integrated society.

Avivah and Marc explore how higher education is beginning to adapt to longevity and the new life course. They discuss the evolution of midlife learning programs from Harvard’s ALI to Yale’s hybrid ELI model, and what universities must do to become truly multi-generational. Together, they consider the big questions: How do we scale these programs beyond elite institutions? How do we make midlife learning affordable, inclusive, and globally accessible?

Marc shares why transitions in midlife take longer than expected, why reflection is as vital as reinvention, and how the future of education will depend on bringing young and old together to co-create what comes next.

Marc Freedman is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of CoGenerate, as well as the Founding Faculty Director of Yale’s Experienced Leaders Initiative (ELI). He was previously the Founder and CEO of Encore.org. He also co-founded Experience Corps, one of the U.S.’s largest service programs for older adults, now part of AARP. Marc is the author of several books, including The Big Shift and How to Live Forever, and was named one of the world’s leading social entrepreneurs by the Schwab Foundation.