Marc Freedman

CEO and Founder, Civic Ventures
Movement: Redefining Aging

By tapping the talents and skills of older Americans, Marc Freedman seeks to change the way older Americans use their time, talent, and experience. At a time when the middle-aged population confronts ever-increasing demands on its time and public funding for education is desperately short, Marc believes that society can no longer overlook, or even write off, an older population that should be an enormous resource. "Now, with 10,000 boomers crossing over the half-century mark every day, it’s time to tackle their transition not just one at a time, but as a society," he wrote in BusinessWeek in November 2009. "At stake is the continued productivity of the largest, healthiest, longest-living, and best-educated generation in American history." To address this issue, Marc founded Civic Ventures, a national nonprofit organization that works to expand the contributions of older Americans to society and to transform the aging of American society into a source of individual and social renewal. In 2006, Marc created The Purpose Prize, the nation’s first prize for social innovators over 60, to further recognize the efforts of older Americans’ contributions in their communities and throughout the country. He also led the effort to create Experience Corps, the nation’s largest national service program engaging Americans 55 and above.

Formerly vice president of Public/PrivateVentures and a visiting fellow of Kings College, University of London, Marc is author of the books Encore: Finding Work that Matters in the Second Half of Life and Prime Time: How Baby Boomers Will Revolutionize Retirement and Transform America. He and Civic Ventures were named winners of the 2010 Skoll Award in Social Entrepreneurship. Marc is the recipient of numerous other awards and honors, including the Ashoka Senior Fellowship for social entrepreneurship, and the Maxwell A. Pollack Award of the Gerontological Society of America, and from 1995 to 1996, he was selected in the first group of Atlantic Fellows in Public Policy awarded by the British government. His efforts have been featured in The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and on NPR. The Wall Street Journal has recognized him as a "leading voice" in nationwide discussions about retirement. He holds degrees from Swarthmore College and Yale University.

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