Spencer Blalock was born and raised in Mississippi. He was educated at Delta State, Jackson State, USM, and just completed his doctorate in Health Administration at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He has worked in hospice care, child protection and foster care, the Youth Court, mental health (youth, adult, acute, long-term, community), nursing home care, and home health care. He has served on The Mississippi Board of Examiners for Social Workers and Marriage & Family Therapists since 2011, appointed by Governor Haley Barbour and reappointed by Governor Phil Bryant. In 2014, Governor Bryant appointed Spencer as chair of the Mississippi Caregivers Task Force.

The Mississippi Caregivers Task Force was responsible for studying the issue of caregiving in Mississippi and completed a report and blueprint for the governor and legislature in late 2014. In 2015, efforts of the Task Force were successful as the Caregiver Act was passed in Mississippi. Another important milestone in 2015 was the creation of the Mississippi Family Caregiver Coalition, a grassroots group whose aim is to engage providers and caregivers in advocacy efforts and pooling of caregiver resources. In 2016, members of the Task Force and Mississippi Family Caregiver Coalition came together to support the creation of the Caregiver Resolution, as promoted by the Family Caregiver Platform Project. It passed unanimously in 2016.

As Political Director for Maine People’s Alliance (MPA) since 2011, Ben Chin has led legislative campaigns around the state budget, taxes, worker rights, health care, family care, and voting rights. He also leads MPA’s electoral work. These efforts resulted in major wins in the legislature and the ballot box, notably over-riding the veto of America’s most conservative Governor to pass a budget that raised taxes to protect key investments in health care and education. Ben co-founded the independent expenditure table in Maine that flipped both chambers of the state house in the 2012 elections. He lives in Lewiston, Maine with his wife, Nicola, and his adorable one year old daughter, Anjali.

Jennifer Dexter has been working in the public policy field for 18 years. In her current role, Jennifer leads Easterseals’ efforts with Congress annually to assure funding for all federal programs serving people with disabilities and older adults, including Easterseals’ federal programs including the National Center on Senior Transportation, and Project ACTION. She also works with Congress to create and strengthen public policy affecting older adults, particularly in long-term care. Jennifer is a leader in the aging field who was one of a core group of advocates who helped to shape the Community Living Assistance Services (CLASS) Act which was included in the final healthcare reform law.

Jennifer serves as the chair of the Community Services Committee of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) and of the Fiscal Policy and Transportation Task Forces of the Consortium or Citizens with Disabilities (CCD). In addition, she chairs the Senior Transportation Task Force and the Generations United Policy Committee.

In 2005, Jennifer was awarded the Bradford Leadership Award for an Easterseals headquarters staff member a national staff member who is leading Easterseals to higher standards of excellence.

Prior to joining Easterseals in 1996, Jennifer was a research/legislative specialist for the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Judy Feder is a professor of public policy and, from 1999 to 2008, served as dean of what is now the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University. A nationally-recognized leader in health policy, Dr. Feder has made her mark on the nation’s health insurance system, through both scholarship and public service. A widely published scholar, her health policy research began at the Brookings Institution, continued at the Urban Institute, and, since 1984, flourished at Georgetown University. In the late 1980s, she moved from policy research to policy leadership, actively promoting effective health reform as staff director of the congressional Pepper Commission (chaired by Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV) in 1989-90; principal deputy assistant secretary for planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services in former President Bill Clinton’s first term; a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress (2008-2011) and, today, as an Institute Fellow at the Urban Institute.

Dr. Feder matches her own contributions to policy with her contributions to nurturing emerging policy leaders. As dean from 1999 to 2008, she built Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute into one of the nation’s leading public policy schools, whose graduates participate in policymaking, policy research, and policy politics, not only throughout Washington but throughout the nation and the world.

Dr. Feder is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the National Academy of Public Administration, and the National Academy of Social Insurance; a former chair and board member of AcademyHealth; a member of the Center for American Progress Action Fund Board, the Board of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and the Hamilton Project’s Advisory Council; and a senior advisor to the Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. In 2006 and 2008, Judy was the Democratic nominee for Congress in Virginia’s 10th congressional district. Judy is a political scientist, with a B.A. from Brandeis University, and a master's and Ph.D. from Harvard University.

Sarita Gupta is the executive director of Jobs With Justice and the co-director of Caring Across Generations. She is a nationally recognized expert on the economic, labor and political issues affecting working people across all industries, particularly women and those employed in low-wage sectors, as well as the changing nature of work in America. Sarita has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and Politico, as well as on MSNBC, Al Jazeera English, PBS, CNBC and Fox, and writes regularly for The Huffington Post, The Hill and BillMoyers.com. As a key leader and strategist in the progressive, labor, economic justice, women’s and caregiving movements, she speaks regularly at conferences, panels and events. Recent appearances include the White House Conference on Aging and the Department of Labor Fair Labor Standards Act Anniversary.

In her role with Caring Across Generations, Sarita is spearheading a national movement to transform the way we care in this country. By harnessing the power of social action, social media and storytelling, the campaign seeks to spark connections across generations and to strengthen family and caregiving relationships. As a member of the “sandwich generation,” Sarita is grappling with and can speak to the care issues facing more and more Americans, balancing caring for young children with caring for aging parents.

Sarita began her career in the student movement while she was studying at Mount Holyoke College. After graduation, she was elected president of the United States Student Association. She deepened her role as a community activist and grassroots organizer while holding several leadership positions at Chicago Jobs With Justice and then with the national Jobs With Justice organization, where she became executive director in 2007.

Sarita serves on the boards of directors for several organizations, including the International Labor Rights Forum, the Institute for Policy Studies, the General Service Foundation and the Labor Network for Sustainability. She is a Hunt Alternatives Fund Prime Movers Fellow as well as a graduate of the Rockwood Leadership Training Program. Among the awards Sarita has received are the National Women’s Law Center Annual Leadership Award and Corporate Ethics International’s BENNY Award. Born in the United Kingdom and raised in Rochester, N.Y., Sarita currently lives in Silver Spring, Md., with her husband and daughter.

Gail Hunt is President and Chief Executive Office of the National Alliance for Caregiving, a non-profit coalition dedicated to conducting research and developing national programs for family caregivers and the professionals who serve them. Prior to heading the Alliance, Ms. Hunt was President of her own aging services consulting firm for 14 years. She conducted corporate eldercare research for the National Institute on Aging and the Social Security Administration, developed training for caregivers with AARP and the American Occupational Therapy Association, and designed a corporate eldercare program for EAPs with the Employee Assistance Professional Association.

Prior to having her own firm, she was Senior Manager in charge of human services for the Washington, DC, office of KPMG Peat Marwick. Ms. Hunt attended Vassar College and graduated from Columbia University.

As a national expert on family caregiving and long-term care, Ms. Hunt served on the Policy Committee for the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, as well as on the CMS Advisory Panel on Medicare Education. She was the chair of the National Center on Senior Transportation. Ms. Hunt is also a commissioner for the Center for Aging Services Technology (CAST) and on the Board of the Long-Term Quality Alliance and the National Center for Creative Aging. Ms. Hunt is a member of the Multiple Chronic Conditions Workforce Technical Expert Workgroup. She co-chairs the NQF MAP Person and Family-Centered Care task force. Additionally, Ms. Hunt is on the Governing Board of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

Celinda Lake is one of the Democratic Party's leading political strategists, serving as tactician and senior advisor to the national party committees, dozens of Democratic incumbents, and challengers at all levels of the electoral process. Celinda and her firm are known for cutting-edge research on issues including the economy, health care, the environment and education, and have worked for a number of institutions including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Governor's Association (DGA), AFL-CIO, SEIU, CWA, IAFF, Sierra Club, NARAL, Human Rights Campaign, Planned Parenthood, The Next Generation, EMILY's List, VoteVets Action Fund, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Her international work has included work in Liberia, Haiti, Ukraine, South Africa, and Central America. In 2008, Celinda worked as pollster for Vice President Biden.

Prior to forming Lake Research Partners, Celinda was partner and vice president at Greenberg-Lake. Her earlier experience includes serving as Political Director of the Women's Campaign Fund, as the Research Director at the Institute for Social Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and as a Policy Analyst for the Subcommittee on Select Education.

Celinda, a native of Montana—born and raised on a ranch—and one of the political world's most avid whitewater rafters, holds a master’s degree in political science and survey research from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and a certificate in political science from the University of Geneva, in Switzerland. Celinda received her undergraduate degree from Smith College in Massachusetts, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude and was recently awarded the Distinguished Alumna Medal by the College.

Jim Lee has been with Altarum Institute for more than 20 years. Before his current position, he served as Director of Altarum’s Medical Care Systems Group, where he led public health informatics and health quality research programs.

Jim’s most recent work focuses on health technology assessments drawing on administrative, financial accounting, and clinical data to support clinical trials, practice guideline development, and program evaluations.

His recent studies include evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of alternative diagnostics in lung, breast, and cervical cancer; rapid identification and intervention in severe sepsis; and HIV viral load surveillance protocols.

Jim earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and applied mathematics from Northwestern University and the University of Michigan, respectively.

Joanne Lynn, MD, MA (philosophy and public policy), MS (evaluative clinical sciences), is a geriatrician, hospice physician, health services researcher, quality improvement advisor, and policy advocate who has focused upon shaping American health care so that every person can count on living comfortably and meaningfully through the period of serious illness and disability in the last years of life, at a sustainable cost to the community. She now leads the Center on Elder Care and Advanced Illness for Altarum Institute.

Dr. Lynn lately has been a consultant to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a faculty member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and a clinical expert in improvement for the Care Transitions Project at the Colorado Foundation for Medical Care. She has also been a senior researcher at RAND and a professor of medicine and community health at Dartmouth Medical School and The George Washington University.

Dr. Lynn has published more than 250 professional articles, and her dozen books include The Handbook for Mortals, a guide for the public; The Common Sense Guide to Improving Palliative Care, an instruction manual for clinicians and managers seeking to improve quality; and Sick to Death and Not Going to Take it Any More!, an action guide for policymakers and advocates. She has also authored amicus briefs for key appellate court cases and has been often interviewed by reporters.

Dr. Lynn is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance, a fellow of the American Geriatrics Society and The Hastings Center, and a master of the American College of Physicians. Her areas of expertise include chronic disease management, community health, managed care, and the continuum of care.

Anne Montgomery is the Deputy Director for Altarum Institute’s Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness and a visiting scholar at the National Academy of Social Insurance.

From 2007 to 2013, Ms. Montgomery served as senior policy advisor for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, where she was responsible for developing hearings and legislation to improve nursing homes and home and community-based services in Medicaid, dually eligible beneficiaries, health care workforce issues, elder abuse, dementia care, and community and social support services for older adults. She has also served as a senior health policy associate with the Alliance for Health Reform in Washington, DC; a senior analyst in public health at the U.S. Government Accountability Office; and a legislative aide for the Ways & Means Health Subcommittee.

Based in London as an Atlantic fellow in public policy in 2001–2002, Ms. Montgomery undertook comparative policy analysis of the role of family caregivers in the development of long-term care in the United Kingdom and the United States. During the 1990s, she worked as a health and science journalist covering the National Institutes of Health and Congress.

A member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and Academy Health, Ms. Montgomery has an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University and a B.A. in English literature from the University of Virginia and has taken gerontology coursework at The Johns Hopkins University.

Brian Nienaber is a Vice President at The Tarrance Group, one of the most respected and successful Republican research and strategy firms in American politics today.

Brian has taken the lead in the development, fielding, and analysis of research projects for political campaigns at all levels as well as for ballot initiatives, lobbying campaigns, and corporate reputation management efforts.

In addition, he is the project director and co-author of the Republican analysis on The POLITICO/George Washington University Battleground Poll, one of the most respected bipartisan national polls in the country.

Some of the notable political campaigns on which he has worked as part of the research team include the Presidential campaigns of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney as well as the gubernatorial campaigns of Haley Barbour, Mary Fallin, and John Kasich. He has also worked on a number of independent expenditure efforts in support of political candidates.

On the corporate and trade association side, Brian has provided guidance to a diverse group of organizations, including Churchill Downs, the National Association of Realtors, PhRMA, and the American Institute of Architects.

Prior to joining The Tarrance Group, Brian worked for over five years for United States Senator Mike DeWine, beginning as a staff assistant and rising to the position of Legislative Assistant.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts from Purdue University and a Master of Arts in Political Management from The Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University. He graduated with honors from both institutions.

Carol Regan is Senior Advisor at Community Catalyst, a Boston-based consumer health advocacy organization. With more than 30 years of experience with national and state-based public policy and advocacy organizations, her work has included policy research, analysis, and legislative advocacy, primarily on health insurance coverage, programs and services for low-income children and families, long-term care, and workforce development.

Before joining Community Catalyst, Carol was Director of Government Affairs for the Paraprofessional Healthcare Institute (PHI), leading its federal policy work to improve the quality of care in the elder care and disability services sector by improving the quality of jobs.

She led PHI’s Health Care for Health Care Workers campaign, advocating affordable health coverage for direct care workers. Previously, she held policy positions at the Children’s Defense Fund and several leading labor unions.

Carol is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and was an Adjunct Professor at the National Labor College. She received her master’s in public health from the University of Michigan.

Rhonda Richards is currently a Senior Legislative Representative responsible for family caregiving, helping people live independently, and other issues at the federal level in Government Affairs at AARP. In this position, Rhonda advocates for individuals and their families on these and other issues in Congress and the Administration.She focuses on a wide range of issues including supporting family caregivers, helping people live independently in their homes and communities, home health, residential care, and post-acute care.She successfully advocated for a number of provisions in federal law and regulations, and received the 2010 AARP Lyn Bodiford Award for Excellence in Advocacy.

Before joining AARP in 2005, Rhonda served as both the Minority and Majority Staff Director and as a Professional Staff Member in the Subcommittee on Aging of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. She worked on a variety of health and aging issues and a number of bills enacted into law.Prior to that she worked in the office of a U.S. Senator. Rhonda is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College.

Known nationally as an innovative labor leader, David Rolf is the President of SEIU 775, the fastest growing union in the Northwest representing home care and nursing home workers in Washington state and Montana.

He has led some of the largest organizing efforts since the 1930s. From 1995-1999 he led the successful organization of 75,000 home care aides in Los Angeles, the largest union organizing campaign since the 1940’s. He led the historic campaigns to win a $15 living wage ordinance in Seatac in 2013 and for a citywide $15 minimum wage in Seattle in 2014.

Since founding SEIU 775 in 2002, he has led its growth from 1600 to 44,000 members through new organizing, helped double the pay of its low-wage members, and bargained contracts that have created health, dental, vision, mileage, PTO, and other benefits for a previously minimum-wage, invisible workforce excluded from most labor and employment law protections.

He is the founder and Chair of the SEIU Healthcare Training Partnership, a 501 (c) (3) school that enrolls 40,000 students a year in basic and continuing education programs leading to the Certified Home Care Aide credential as well as advanced apprenticeship programs; it is the largest long-term care sector workforce development institution in the country. He was also founder and Chair of the SEIU 775 Health Benefits Trust, which provides health benefits to tens of thousands of home care aides in Washington State and Montana.

Rolf also serves as an International Vice President of the Service Employees International Union, the international union which represents more than 2.1 million workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. He serves on the SEIU Executive Committee, Finance Committee, Organizing Committee, and Health Care Board. He is chair of the SEIU Home Care Council, representing half a million home care workers throughout the U.S. and Canada, and led the International union’s efforts to include state incentives for expanded home and community based services in the Affordable Care Act.

John Schall has more than 25 years of bipartisan experience in senior positions with the Executive and Legislative branches of government. He is a public policy and communications professional with noted expertise in a wide range of policy fields, including health care, labor, education, economic development, taxation, and budget policy. He has managed large staff organizations.

John Schall became Chief Executive Officer of Caregiver Action Network (formerly National Family Caregivers Association) in June 2012. Prior to joining CAN, he was Deputy CEO of the Parkinson's Action Network. As Vice President of Jefferson Government Relations from 2005 to 2009, he represented a number of health care companies and patient advocacy associations. Mr. Schall also served as the President and CEO of the National Congress for Community Economic Development (NCCED), a national trade association representing 3,600 anti-poverty organizations across the country.

Mr. Schall previously served as Executive Director of the National Business Coalition on E-Commerce and Privacy, comprised of 15 of America’s largest corporations. He also managed former Senator Robert Dole’s consulting business at the law firm of Alston & Bird, LLP, overseeing contracts with many of America’s top corporations and several foreign countries.

Previous experience includes serving as Executive Director of the Project on the Advocacy of U.S. Interests Abroad from 1997 to 1999 – a bipartisan blue-ribbon commission of 14 former Cabinet-level officials to examine the conduct of U.S. foreign affairs in the 21st Century. Mr. Schall served as Senator Bob Dole’s Chief Budget Advisor in the Senate Majority Leader’s Office. He was also Guest Scholar at The Brookings Institution, and a Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 1994, he narrowly lost his bid for election to Congress from Michigan’s 13th District.

Mr. Schall served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1991 to 1993 and was a White House Domestic Policy Adviser to President George H.W. Bush and Deputy of the White House Domestic Policy Council from 1989 to 1991. He served as Legislative Director for then Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL). He also held positions in the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1984 to 1987.

Mr. Schall is a regular lecturer on “How the Senate Works” for the Brookings Institution and for Georgetown University’s Government Affairs Institute. He has provided expert testimony before Congress; been interviewed by numerous media outlets; and has authored articles in Roll Call, the Detroit News, RenalLIFE Magazine, Electronic Commerce and Business Law Report, and several other publications. He earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a BA with distinction and honors in political science from the University of Michigan.

Kevin Simowitz, Political Director, joined the Caring Across Generations team in March 2015. Prior to joining the campaign, Kevin worked as the Organizing Director at Maine People's Alliance, where he coordinated federal issue campaigns for the organization. Kevin also helped lead the Rebuild Maine field campaign, a coalition supporting progressive candidates for state legislative offices and a gubernatorial candidate in 2014. While at Maine People's Alliance, Kevin directed the Maine Small Business Coalition, a group of more than 3000 progressive small business owners in Maine. Kevin started organizing as a student fighting for a living wage for dining hall employees at the University of Virginia, and then worked as community organizer with Virginia Organizing in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he coordinated statewide civic engagement programs in support of the Affordable Care Act. Kevin grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and now lives in Portland, Maine, where the temperature is probably even colder today than you think it is.

Edwin Walker currently serves as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Aging and Acting Administrator of ACL, assuming both roles in July 2016. The Administration for Community Living was created in 2012, bringing together the federal government's work on behalf of older adults and people with disabilities. From the beginning, ACL was based on a commitment to one fundamental principle – that people with disabilities and older adults should be able to live independently and participate fully in their communities. ACL works with states, tribes, community providers, researchers, universities, nonprofit organizations, businesses and families to achieve that vision.

ACL's programs work collaboratively to enhance access to health care and long-term services and supports, while also promoting inclusive community living policies, such as livable communities and competitive integrated employment for people with disabilities.

In addition, Edwin continues to directly lead the Administration on Aging within ACL. In that capacity, he guides and promotes the development of home and community-based long-term care programs, policies and services designed to afford older people and their caregivers the ability to age with dignity and independence and to have a broad array of options available for an enhanced quality of life. This includes the promotion and implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions proven effective in avoiding or delaying the onset of chronic disease and illness.

Prior to federal service, Mr. Walker served as the director of the Missouri Division of Aging, responsible for administering a comprehensive set of human service programs for older persons and adults with disabilities. He earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass media arts from Hampton University.

Daniel Rutherford Wilson is PHI's Director of Federal Affairs. In this role, he leads PHI's federal policy agenda in support of the direct-care workforce and its "quality care through quality jobs" agenda.

Daniel has more than a decade of experience leading efforts to advance federal policy that betters the lives of disenfranchised older Americans. Most recently he served as the national and federal programs director at Compassion & Choices, a national organization that protects and expands end-of-life options. For 10 years, Daniel was the executive director of policy and program development at the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, where he worked on federal issues related to housing, employment, and health care for low-income, black older adults. Daniel has also held positions as a public affairs officer with the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton and staff assistant for Sen. Charles Schumer. A respected national advocate on aging and long-term care issues, Daniel is also a co-chair of the 2016 Aging in America Conference, the premier annual gathering for aging professionals, sponsored by the American Society on Aging. Daniel holds a bachelor's degree in English from Hampton University.