Long Life Learning Jo Ann Jenkins on Social Change and Lifelong Mentorship at AARP
The final episode of season 1 features Jo Ann Jenkins, visionary CEO of AARP for the past 10 years. Jo Ann has revolutionized the mission of this “nonprofit, nonpartisan, social change organization” to help Americans embrace life after 50 as a vibrant time of transformation and connection. Jo Ann joins Kavitha to talk career pivots, lifelong mentorship, and legacy-making whose benefits extend to people of all ages. She invites us to consider the needs of an ever-evolving present day: one in which the fastest-growing age group in the U.S. is Americans 85 and up, and in which today’s 10-year-olds have a 50% chance of living to see their 100th birthday.
Kavitha and Jo Ann unpack how public discourse around aging and longevity has shifted toward inspiration and engagement. Though Jo Ann warns that we are still far from success, some of the issues at the forefront of AARP’s mission under her tenure have seen significant wins: combating hunger, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and protecting Social Security among them. This final episode of the season is a celebration of third act joy and purpose generated into impactful action!
Transcript
Episode 6—Jo Ann Jenkins Transcript
Links and Resources
Information on ELI and Yale SOM Executive Education:
Resources Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
- Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age by Jo Ann Jenkins and Boe Workman
- Drive to End Hunger: AARP’s collaboration with NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon and Hendrick Motorsports
- The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond by Deborah Whitman
- Pivot or Die: How Leaders Thrive When Everything Changes by Gary Shapiro
About Today’s Guest
Jo Ann Jenkins, Former CEO of AARP
As CEO of AARP, Jo Ann Jenkins leads the world’s largest non-profit, nonpartisan membership organization, harnessing the power and passion of almost 2,300 staff members, 60,000 volunteers and numerous strategic partners. Since 2014, Jo Ann has transformed AARP into a leader in social change empowering all people to choose how they live as they age. Under her leadership, AARP has been recognized as one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies, has been named to the Washington Post’s Top Workplaces and Fast Company’s Best Workplaces for Innovators.
Jo Ann began her career at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, moving on to progressively more responsible leadership positions in the Department of Transportation and Department of Agriculture before serving as Chief Operating Officer of the Library of Congress. She has served and continues to hold board and advisory positions at a number of corporate and civic organizations.
Her national best-selling book, Disrupt Aging: A Bold New Path to Living Your Best Life at Every Age, has become a signature rallying cry for revolutionizing society’s views on aging by driving a new social consciousness and sparking innovative solutions for all generations. It has also been released in Chinese and Korean.
She holds a BS degree from Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, is a graduate of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Executive Program, and recipient of Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from both Spring Hill College and Washington College. She is a Baldrige Fellow and received the Baldrige Leadership Award. In 2019 and 2021 Fortune named her “One of the World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.”