In this week’s 4-Quarter Lives, Avivah Wittenberg-Cox talks with Michael and Nancy Hodin. Michael is Chief Executive of the Global Coalition on Aging (GCOA), while Nancy produces events for the Silver Economy Forum as part of the GCOA, while also running her own business as President of H&H Media.
Together they discuss the significance of aging, longevity and the silver economy. Michael founded the GCOA 14 years ago, after a 30 year career at Pfizer, He explains its origins, arising from research showing how health and pension systems as well as society generally are increasingly struggling with longevity trends. He outlines its aim, to bring together diverse business sectors to address aging opportunities as a budines development strategy, , and through that focusing on the intersection of public policy, market innovation and healthy aging for GCOA Companies. Nancy, after a similarly long career in media and non-fiction programming, became interested in celebrating the accomplishments of people in their "third quarter" of life. She now leads the Silver Economy Forum as part of GCOA, to bring in cultural/media perspectives to their work.
In conversation, Michael, Nancy and Avivah explore the significant disconnect between the economic power of older populations and how businesses/marketers do not target them. For example, 70% of US disposable income is held by those 60+, but only 2% of advertising dollars target the 55+ demographic. Many business are still not strategically planning for this reality and sectors from finance and tech to transportation, housing and travel are as yet failing to tap into the huge market potential of the older age demographic. The aim of the Silver Economy Forum is to raise awareness and drive action on aging-related opportunities across sectors and focus government and global institutional decision makesrs on aligned policy changes By combining policy/data insights with storytelling and popular cultural references, the objective is to shift perceptions on aging even as the market opportunity for businesses is addressed Together Michael and Nancy organise an annual gathering to discuss aging economy opportunities, bringing together policymakers, businesses and cultural figures. They see growing interest from countries like Saudi Arabia and Uruguay adding to the OECD countries from Japan, Italy and Finaland to the U.S. and UK while the UN Decade of Healthy Aging provides a valuable global framework through to 2030.
Michael Hodin, Ph.D. is CEO of the Global Coalition on Aging, Managing Partner at High Lantern Group, and a Fellow at Oxford University’s Harris Manchester College. He has spoken internationally on the topic of aging, including at G20, APEC, Davos, and the World Knowledge Forum (WKF). He is also a blogger on Medium. In previous careers Mike was Legislative Assistant to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan and a Visiting Scholar at Brookings Institution, on U.S. Foreign Economic Policy. He was a senior executive at Pfizer for 30 years, where he created and then led its International Public Affairs and Public Policy operations and served on Management Boards for a number of its businesses. Mike is a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and from 2010-2013 was Adjunct Senior Fellow with a focus on population aging. In 2013, he was invited to lead a Members’ Roundtable with the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. He was a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Ageing, and he sits on the Advisory Board for the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging, as well as many other Boards. Mike holds a BA, cum laude, Cornell University, M.Sc.in International Relations from The London School of Economics and Political Science, and M.Phil and Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University.
Nancy Jackson Hodin is a strategic content producer, designing specifically for selected distribution platforms and clients. Her work in broadcast, cable, experiential media, the web, live events, and digital signage strives to go beyond the conventional. Since 1986, Hodin has owned and operated her own production services company, H&H Media, Inc. Currently H&H Media is working with the Global Coalition on Aging, producing live and virtual global events on the Silver Economy. Other recent projects have included a ground-breaking video website, First Comes Fashion, a digital platform that was first to live stream fashion runway shows from around the world and produce original content to complement the shows. In addition, under The Clarient Group, Hodin partnered with major real estate developers to create broadcast and advertising signage businesses in mixed use properties, with The Time Warner Center in New York City as their inaugural project. Hodin has a BA from Dartmouth College
Some Useful Links:
Global Coalition on Aging website
Silver Economy Forum website
H&H Media Inc. website
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