2023 Fall Forum

Robert Harper is a seasoned healthcare operations professional who believes that community drives change in the world. He is currently a Division VP, Operations for Agiliti, a publicly traded company that is critical to healthcare tech, services, and solutions. Robert is a Board Advisor for Harvard Business Review, University of CA Hayward Data Analytics Program and a Board Trustee for Laguna Playhouse.

Robert is interested in age equity since, for the first time in history, we have multiple generations in the workforce. He believes that if properly leveraged, we can accelerate innovation, foster greater community involvement, and chart a path to greater human outcomes.

He is driven by his passion for equity in life and strives to ensure that representation is at the forefront in society.

Bradley Schurman is an expert on demographic change and how it disrupts social, cultural, political, and economic norms across the United States and worldwide. He’s the author of The Super Age: Decoding Our Demographic Destiny and the founder and CEO of the strategic foresight and inclusive design firm, The Super Age.

Bradley has spoken at OECD and the World Economic Forum and led thought leadership in Asia and Europe. He’s appeared on NBC’s TODAY Show, CBS News Primetime with John Dickerson, and regularly appears as a guest on podcasts, radio, and television shows worldwide.

Deb Gale, the gerontologist researcher and co-founder of the Purpose Xchange. My first career was in corporate treasury in Silicon Valley. Five international moves, motherhood with multiples were live pivots along the way. Turning 50 I recognised something big was happening.

Life expectancy was going up, 

People were more highly educated  – globally,

They were getting more financially astute 

With all this happening an enormous societal shift was next and that was where I wanted to concentrate.

So, I did a second masters in Ageing and Public Policy that lit a spark. I went down the social enterprise route. Some 10 years later and launching The Purpose Xchange in Oct 2021 we’ve developed and tested a process whereby we switch the lights on. We are helping people to activate their purpose – at every age and stage of their lives by giving them permission to explore future possibilities, at work in real life.

Mahir Nisar is the Principal at the Nisar Law Group, P.C., a boutique employment litigation firm dedicated to representing employees who have experienced discrimination within the workplace. Mahir has developed a stellar reputation for effectively advocating for his clients through his many years of practice as a civil litigator. Mahir’s passion in helping people overcome adversity in life and in their livelihood led him to train himself as a life coach with the Institute of Life Coach Training (ILCT). He routinely provides life coaching and executive coaching services to his existing clients as they collectively navigate the challenges of the legal process.

Mahir’s vision is to cater to a socially just society in which people are judged by their character and skills rather than the color of their skin, religious beliefs, gender, sexual orientation, age, or disability. As such, he is joining the AEA Board because he believes Age Equity Alliance’s mission seeks to ensure age diversity and inclusion within the workplace. As an Employment Discrimination attorney and Board Certified Coach, his legal and executive coaching skills can assist AEA to create awareness and education on how to address workplace inequities and inequality on the basis of age.

Kyrié Carpenter: trained as a therapist, is a teacher and public speaker, specializing in ageism and dementia. She co-founded the anti-ageism clearinghouse OldSchool.info with Ashton Applewhite and Ryn Backer, is an educator with The Eden Alternative, author of Healing Dementia, and adjunct faculty at USI and Pacifica Graduate Institute. She loves to travel, was a cast member on Dr. Bill Thomas’ nationwide ChangingAging Tour, and has been living part-time in a campervan with her family since 2015.

Hugo Alexandre Ferreira is a medical doctor with a Ph.D. in physics and a Master of Science in Engineering. As an associate professor at the University of Lisbon in Portugal, Ferreira is a longevity researcher who has spent a lot of time contemplating what it would take to eradicate age bias and stereotyping from the workplace.

Deborah L. Woolridge, a forward-thinking and results-driven professional, is known for her entrepreneurial spirit and expertise in the field of human resources. With an impressive background as a coach and trusted advisor to company leaders, she has earned the moniker “The HR Pro on The Go.” Deb specializes in crafting strategic HR infrastructures that ensure compliance while harnessing the strengths of employees for organizational growth.

In her role as a worklife coach, operating under the banner of “My Worklife Harmony Coach,” Deborah focuses on empowering clients to recognize and overcome internal obstacles hindering their career aspirations and personal goals.

Currently, Deb is the Director, Global People and Culture for HealthRight International, a non-profit organization founded in 1990 that focuses on providing healthcare services and addressing health disparities for marginalized and underserved populations around the world.

Michael O’Reilly enjoyed a long career in the corporate sector, ultimately ending up in Senior roles responsible for teams across all continents. During this period, he gained a good understanding of the different behaviours across regions and how it impacted individuals and the organisation negatively and began to question why. Having seen a shift in negative attitudes towards older workers, he created the Age Diversity Network because he had a genuine desire to change these attitudes and challenge the narrative around ageism at work. Having experienced ageism first hand in the later part of his career – he is now channelling his energy and experience to bring about a shift in behaviour and understanding through the Age Diversity Network.

Given what we know about the positive impact of greater diversity, inclusion and equity, he now works with organisations through education and training methods to help them better understand how ageism manifests and the steps they can take to address it, what it means to have a successful multi-generational workforce, and the real benefits this brings to those who embrace it. Michael is often called upon to cover this topic in response to market or government announcements with regular TV and Radio appearances.

Claire Farwell is a Global Sales Executive I AI Educator | Diversity Advocate

• Expertise in Sales, Business Strategy, and Marketing & AI Strategy
• Fluent in Spanish, French, and Italian
• 35+ years of International Sales Experience
• Former Leadership Roles in Various Industries
• Founder of Claire Farwell London
• Current AI Educator at Mia, Empowering Women in AI

As a movement coach and anti-ageism facilitator, David Wilson breaks down barriers to sustainable movement, especially as we age. He uses curiosity, playfulness and compassion to help people create movement practices that support their goals and uncover possibility. He also works to identify and disrupt ageism in both ourselves and the world around us, particularly in fitness and wellness contexts. He is the founder of the Move For Tomorrow campaign on Instagram.

Megan Dean is a dynamic and motivated Senior HR professional with more than 24 years of experience in HR, in a variety of settings including Higher Ed, Healthcare and Financial Services. Megan is focused on aligning business strategies with best in class human capital strategies, such as Employee Engagement, Employee Relations, Organization Development, Performance Management, Benefits/Compensation, and Leave of Absence Administration. She is a genuine influencer focused on building collaborative partnerships.

Megan joins the AEA Board because she believes that different experiences and backgrounds are what make each of us unique and special. She seeks to work with an organization that is proud to help others achieve their dreams and goals whatever course they choose. She joins the AEA Board because her experience has taught her the importance of critical conversations with leaders about why they are making the choices they are making–including decisions regarding an employee, or potential employee’s age, that may create inequities.

Marti Konstant is a workplace futurist and the best-selling author of Activate Your Agile Career. Marti has an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and is a former Silicon Valley technology executive. She has been featured in media outlets such as NBC Chicago, Forbes, and The Muse, and has worked in companies like Samsung, Dow Jones, and Apple. 

Marti believes that diversity and inclusivity of thought across all generations is an essential component of innovation in the workplace. She joins the AEA Board because, as a workplace futurist, she can see the deficits that will expand without age diversity. And, as an agility researcher and prolific writer on workplace topics, she can provide perspective that may be otherwise overlooked.

Sheila Callaham is the executive director of the Age Equity Alliance, an organization partnering with companies to create age equity in the workplace. As a longtime global inclusion and diversity subject matter expert, she believes employers who proactively build diverse, multigenerational teams are not only the most inclusive, but they are also best positioned to drive business success.

With more than 30 years of experience in communications and inclusive brand-building across private and public sectors in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East, Sheila’s expertise also includes coaching, training development and facilitation, and public speaking. Additionally, she is a contributor to Forbes.com, writing exclusively for the Diversity and Inclusion channel.

Ali Khan is passionate about employee productivity, not just because it contributes to organisational success, but because he knows what happy, healthy employees are in their flourishing zone–and that benefits everyone.

As Founder and CEO of SHAPE, Ali knows what it takes for employees to truly flourish, and he’s got the data to prove it. Everything SHAPE does is data-driven. No fluff, just facts.

Ali has 25+ years of global consulting experience in health, data, and technology, including more than 8 years of innovation leadership at AXA Wellbeing as CTO and Chief Science Innovation Officer. Combined with 15 years  of delivering transformative keynote experiences, workshops, and leading roundtables, he’s not just a science-driven strategist, he’s an expert story-teller.