Lisa Marsh Ryerson Biography

Lisa Marsh Ryerson is the president of the AARP Foundation, the organization's charity arm. She sets the Foundation's strategic direction and leads its efforts to accomplish an audacious vision: a country free of poverty, where no older person feels endangered. AARP Foundation has launched groundbreaking projects, explored new channels for cooperation, and obtained unprecedented financing to support programs and services that genuinely improve lives since she joined the helm. Ms. Ryerson has led innovative collaborations with other groups to provide successful solutions that assist disadvantaged older persons in increasing their economic and social opportunities. The Fundamental Cause Coalition, co-founded by AARP Foundation and ProMedica, focuses on hunger and other socioeconomic determinants of health to bring the full force of health care to bear in the collective battle to address the root causes of health inequalities. Connect2Affect, one of the Foundation's most recent joint projects, brings together aging, volunteer, and health-care groups to assist older individuals to break the cycle of isolation and develop the social connections they need to flourish. Age Strong, Work for Yourself@50+, new programs to encourage saving and home upkeep, and evidence-based grantmaking have all been established during her tenure at the Foundation. The Foundation also became the largest national supporter of the Senior Community Service Employment Program after bringing Experience Corps under its wing (SCSEP). Ms. Ryerson's experience in higher education, which began in the classroom and culminated in her 18 years as president and CEO of Wells College in Aurora, N.Y., has enabled her to forge new connections between the AARP Foundation and community colleges in order to expand employment opportunities for older adults. She helped secure a $3 million government grant from the Social Innovation Fund to extend the BACK TO WORK 50+ retraining program for the long-term jobless during her first year at the Foundation. Other accomplishments include the publication of a ground-breaking report on the state of housing for America's senior citizens, a comprehensive study of the effects of loneliness and social isolation, and the establishment of an "innovation pipeline" to generate, test, and analyze new ideas to assist low-income seniors. Among her numerous achievements at Wells College, she increased enrollment by 45 percent, reviving the local community's economy, and establishing an endowed Center for Business and Enrichment. She has also served on the boards of the Council of Independent Colleges, Southern New Hampshire University, the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, the Congressional Hunger Center, and L.A. Kitchen, of which the AARP Foundation is a founding partner. Ms. Ryerson graduated from Wells College with a bachelor's degree in arts and a master's degree in science from the State University of New York College at Cortland. She has won several accolades and distinctions for her leadership. Ms. Ryerson received an honorary doctor of humane letters from the State University of New York at Albany in 2015 for having "met and surpassed each of John Quincy Adams' requirements for leadership," as well as an honorary doctor of social services from Dickinson College in 2017.

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