We Need to Change How We Think About Aging, Says AARP’s CEO

“Pop culture today is thinking about living longer and what we want our lives to look like,” Minter-Jordan says. “We’re able to really home in on that as a means of engaging younger demographics, but also bringing visibility to the growing ‘50-plus’ in our country.” 

That includes reminding people age 65 and older that Social Security and Medicare are instrumental for health and financial resiliency later in life. In 2025, the 90th anniversary of the Social Security Act, Minter-Jordan traveled the country highlighting the importance of both programs and telling the stories of members who depend on them. More than 3 million AARP activists contacted their Congressional leaders to remind them that Social Security and Medicare aren’t handouts, she says, but benefits that people have earned. 

As a physician, Minter-Jordan knows that living longer isn’t always as good as it sounds. The gap between people’s “health span”—how long they’re healthy—and lifespan is about 12.5 years, she says. (It’s typically worse for women.) But AARP wants to help to close that gap. AgeTech Collaborative, AARP’s startup accelerator, connects hundreds of companies that are designing products to help people age better with investors and entrepreneurs who can help bring their products to market. Its Community Challenge grants invest in small local projects nationwide that make age-oriented design changes to public places. Under Minter-Jordan, AARP has doubled the amount of money it grants to fund practical improvements that benefit older Americans, like more benches in community parks. 

Minter-Jordan, who is in her 50s, says that people are sometimes surprised to see someone relatively young as the face of an organization representing an aging America. But that’s kind of the point, she says. Beyond middle age, people are still contributing a great deal to American society and the economy. There are now 57 million Americans over age 50 in the workforce, and Minter-Jordan wants the rest of the country to realize that their experience makes them valuable. 

“This is a longevity revolution,” she says. “The businesses, employers, and policymakers who take older Americans seriously and design for their actual lives are the ones that are going to be positioned to grow and lead.”