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Founder & Chief Innovation Officer
For more than 35 years, James Firman, Ed.D., has been a leading force for innovation in services, programs, and public policies for older adults. As president and CEO of the National Council on Aging for 25 years and CEO of the United Seniors Health Cooperative for 10 years, Firman has been a national leader in consumer education, benefits access, economic security, evidence-based healthy aging programs, and public policy for older adults. Firman envisioned and led the creation of NCOA’s BenefitsCheckUp, the nation’s first consumer-facing expert system for older adults. He also co-created NCOA’s Aging Mastery Program®, a ground-breaking effort to develop new expectations, norms, and pathways for people to maximize their gift of longevity.
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Joseph Schneier is a successful entrepreneur and the founder of Trusty.care, a firm centered on healthcare navigation and price transparency. His previous ventures include co-founding Cognotion, a company solving the talent shortage of healthcare workers. Schneier is a sought-after speaker, sharing his ideas with audiences at TedMed, Lake Nona, and JP Morgan Healthcare. He is a mentor at New York University, Wharton, Cornell, CUNY, and Columbia. Schneier sits on the board of directors for Superbia Credit Union, an LGBTQ credit union, and the advisory board of Stonewall Community Development Corporation, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ senior housing.
Chief Product Officer
Tony Ma is a social entrepreneur, recovering management consultant, and researcher with over 20 years of experience in mobile and telecommunication. As a veteran of the first dot com era, he has held management positions at high-profile companies. His prior success and accomplishments include helping create, scale, and grow products and organizations through various stages of growth from early idea, startup, and scaling with growth and maturity. His engineering experience includes 12 years in the healthcare industry. Tony received his Bachelor of Science in Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia and his Master of Science in Telecommunications and Computer Networks at George Washington University.
Chief Technology Officer
With 25 years in digital product technology and analytics, Stephen Engels strategically guides software engineers and programmers to build cutting edge solutions through website software development and system planning. He stays on top of the latest development languages and product platforms to identify the best options for meeting specific business needs. Engels’ professional portfolio includes serving as president of Leviathan Group, Inc., which pioneered decision support apps for the web, and leading the backend creation of BenefitsCheckUp.org as a senior consultant.
Chief Information Officer
Katie Chang is a social entrepreneur, recovering management consultant, and solutions architect with over 25 years of experience in mobile and telecommunication. She is also a veteran of the first dot com era and has the battle scars as proof. Her successful career includes over 10 years in research and development providing innovative healthcare solutions; many of which were funded projects for FIC, NIDA, NIMH, NIMHD, NIA and NICHD. Katie received her Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics at Tamkang University and her Master of Science in Computer Communication at George Washington University.
Chief Gerontology Officer
Claire is a gerontologist, researcher, and subject matter expert in aging with over 10 years of diverse experience working with startups, research institutions, community-based organizations, non-profits, government organizations/municipalities, private companies, and franchises. Her areas of expertise include aging innovation, medical and health technology, home and community-based programs and services, age and dementia-friendly initiatives, lifelong learning, aging in place/community, and care coordination. Claire received her Ph.D. in gerontology from the University of Massachusetts Boston. Prior to her doctorate, Claire completed an MS in gerontology at UMass Boston, an MGS from Miami University, and a BS in Speech and Hearing Science from SUNY Cortland.
Chief Psychology Officer
Dr. Ron Kaiser is a positive health psychologist, coach, keynote and TEDx speaker, and author of the award winning, REJUVENAGING®: The Art and Science of Growing Older with Enthusiasm. His more than a half-century of clinical service has included 25 years as Director of Psychology at the world-renowned Jefferson Headache Center at Thomas Jefferson University, where he is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Sidney Kimmel Medical College. Kaiser has served as president of three professional organizations, and he has been an innovator in the psychology field – developing such concepts as REJUVENAGING®, Goal-Achieving Psychology (GAP), and the Type P Personality
Program Associate
Nicole Leon, MSG is a gerontologist with a strong desire to help people of all ages access the resources they need to live the life and age the way they want. A recent graduate of USC’s Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, she hopes to influence programs and policies that contribute to livability in communities.
Chief Medical & Scientific Advisor
Prabhjot Singh, MD, Ph.D., is an associate professor of medicine, health system design and global health at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine. He also serves as special advisor for strategy and design at the Peterson Center on Healthcare. Singh is the author of “Dying and Living in the Neighborhood” (John Hopkins University Press, 2016) and is
passionate about a future defined by home and community care that is advanced, affordable, and available to all in the shared aging journey.
Product and Business Develop
Rachel Owens is an experienced executive with an extensive track record as a product management leader bringing new products to market. Rachel’s leadership experiences span business focused on sw/hw solutions, software applications (mobile and responsive web applications), and a consumer IoT device & app. Rachel has a combined 18+ years of experience with much of it working in health tech, IoT, and big data to drive chatbots and recommendation engines. Rachel has a proven track record of establishing and building strong profitable relationships with strategic business partners
Social Impact and Business Strategy
Over the last five decades Dr. Greenberg played leadership roles in university, not-for-profit, for-profit start-ups, and publicly traded company settings. Until his retirement in 2019, Jay Greenberg, ScD was CEO of NCOA Services a single member LLC of the National Council on Aging. Using a social enterprise model NCOA Services partners with for profit and non-profit organizations to create and diffuse sustainable, scalable solutions to key issues facing an aging society. Prior to joining NCOA, he was the President of LivHOME, Inc., at the time the largest At-home assisted-living company in California.
While he was Director of Long-Term Care at Brandeis University’s Health Policy Institute, he He received an Sc.D. in Health Services Administration and an MS in Biostatistics from Harvard University’s School of Public Health and a BA in economics from the University of California At Los Angeles (UCLA).