Myechia Minter-Jordan, AARP’s new CEO, started her career as a doctor in clinical practice. “I loved helping my patients, and I wanted to do more,” says Minter-Jordan, 52, who was named to AARP’s top job. “I realized I could have much broader impact by finding innovative ways to improve and transform health systems to deliver better care and reach more people.”
So, she left her job as attending physician and instructor at Johns Hopkins Medicine to lead the Dimock Community Health Center in Boston, which serves many of the city’s poorest and most vulnerable residents.
- Advertisement -
Now, as she begins leading the advocacy organization dedicated to empowering Americans 50 and older to choose how they live as they age, she says her years seeing patients still “inform the way I make decisions.”
“I feel like my career up to this point has prepared me for this opportunity. For as long as I can remember my parents have always instilled in me the importance of giving back through service to others, especially those less fortunate. That’s what led me to become a physician and then to leave academic clinical medicine to lead the Dimock Community Health Center and found CareQuest Institute.”
It was through that experience that she learned and exercised the power of advocacy and community engagement to transform health care and realized that health care must incorporate all aspects of physical and mental health as well as the social determinants of health including the environment around us, our access to nutrition and our financial wellness. “It’s a passion for improving the lives of others that translates from my being a physician working in community health to the work that I’ll be able to do on a much larger scale with AARP,” she says.
That includes making sure AARP continues to be “part of the solution” for protecting Social Security and Medicare and supporting family caregivers. “Our members’ top priorities consistently remain Social Security, Medicare and family caregiving,” she says. “And they expect their elected officials to carry through on their promises.”
Minter-Jordan steps into her new role a week after an election in which voters 50 and older constituted more than half the electorate. “For more than 65 years, AARP has worked with every president, Congress, governor and statehouse to advance the priorities of older Americans,” she says. “We’ll continue to do the same now.”
She also wants AARP to keep challenging the public image of aging. “There’s this antiquated notion that energy and innovative spirit is associated with youth,” she says. “And I think across our country, people disprove that every day. I’d love to include myself in that.”
“What we need to continue to do is dispel that notion through data, through storytelling, through models of leadership within AARP,” she says.
Data show that older adults are an economic juggernaut. In the United States, people age 50-plus spent $8.3 trillion in 2018, accounting for 56 cents of every dollar spent. That’s projected to grow to $26.8 trillion by 2050 — 61 cents of every dollar.
Forty-four percent of all jobs in the country, meanwhile, are held or created by people over age 50, representing almost 90 million jobs. As the nation ages, that number is expected to grow.
There are now more than 110 million Americans ages 50-plus. By 2030, one in five Americans will be over 65. Minter-Jordan says she’ll also double down on AARP’s efforts to attract younger members, which picked up steam as Gen Z and Millennials become caregivers and as they discover AARP’s benefits.
For now, Minter-Jordan is focused on listening and learning, like she did as a working doctor (she still has her medical license). She was most recently president and CEO of CareQuest Institute for Oral Health, a Boston-based nonprofit that addresses inequities in dental health.
“What I’d like to accomplish in the first 100 days is getting to know the organization, getting to know the leadership, getting to know the people, and really spending some time understanding all of the incredible work that AARP does,” she says.
“Secondly, I want to understand AARP’s metrics of success,” she says. “What are the drivers of that? And then, how do I build on the high level of success AARP has had under [previous CEO] Jo Ann Jenkins?”
But perhaps what she is most excited about in this new position is thinking about opportunities for the future and finding a strategy for AARP that “evolves over time,” she says.
And her family is ready to support her in her new adventure. “I’m a mother of two daughters. My husband is an incredible supporter and advocate of the work that I’ll be doing with AARP. We’re all excited about this new adventure in our lives as a family. And you know, I’m just excited about the work.”
