International Women’s day is the perfect time to celebrate some of the women leading aging innovation and Age Tech. Founders, CEOs and investors, all of the women on this list are trailblazers and thought leaders in their respective fields.
CEOs and Founders
Wendi Burkhardt
With more than 25 years of experience working with venture startups, emerging and rapid-growth technology companies and Fortune 500 corporations, Wendi has certainly had an extremely diverse career. Today, she’s the CEO and Co-Founder of Silvernest, a startup that’s creating the next generation of roommates. They developed a home-sharing solution for aging-in-place, that enables Americans to surmount many of the financial and social challenges facing them as they age in the 21st Century.
Elli Kaplan
Elli Kaplan co-founded (and became CEO of) Neurotrack in 2012, with the purpose of developing a cognitive assessment test that will enable earlier and more effective evaluation of patients who may be at risk for cognitive decline.
Kaplan has two decades of experience in the public and private sectors, including positions at the White House, the State and Treasury Departments, and the United Nations Development Program. She also held positions with AIG, Goldman Sachs and multiple startups, and has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Mylea Charvat, Ph.D.
Long before she became the CEO and founder of Savonix, the 13 year old Mylea Charvat became interested in the brain when her grandmother began to suffer cognitive problems. Dr Mylea Charvat is a trained clinical neuropsychologist & neuroscientist and founded Savonix in 2015. At Savonix, Charvat drives strategy to address dementia globally with business & clinical leaders & works as a domain expert in digital cognitive assessment with partners from Boston University to Fortune 50 CEOs seeking to detect & prevent cognitive decline & dementias.
Helen Adeosun, EdM, and Madhuri Reddy, MD
It’s not every day that an educator and a medical doctor co-found a company, but when they do, you can bet it’s going to be quite unique. Born out of Helen’s first hand experience as a caregiver, and Dr. Reddy’s experience as a specialist in Geriatric medicine, CareAcademy is the first and only learning enablement platform for caregivers.
Ruth Poliakine Baruchi
With over 15 years of experience in leadership and management of innovative business & technology projects, Ruth Poliakine Baruchi co-founded MyndYou in 2015. MyndYou is one of Israel’s most successful Age Tech exports, that developed an AI based, data-driven platform that provides tools for maintaining cognitive abilities.
Mandy Salomon, Ph.D.
Mandy Salomon founded Mentia in 2017 and launched its first product, Deva World soon after. Deva World is the outcome of Salomon’s Ph.D. that was awarded for developing virtual environments to promote social wellbeing for people impacted by dementia. Salomon brings a rich experience in creative production. Mentia is a valued-added partner of the Eden Alternative®.
Carrie Shaw
Carrie Shaw founded Embodied Labs, after years of caring for her mother who suffered from Early-Onset Alzheimer’s disease. The company makes it possible for elder-care professionals to immerse themselves in how their patients experience the world. Using VR, they help care professionals learn what it’s like to have changes in vision, hearing, cognition, and more.
Heidi Culbertson
Those of you who have been following the space of VUI in the past few years, already know Heidi’s work. As a pioneer in VUI for older adults, she created the first ever Alexa skill for older adults- Ask Marvee. Heidi is an advisor and strategist to ventures focused on building voice experiences that delight and engage older adults, and she has a book coming out in spring 2021. I, for one, can’t wait to read it.
Leda Rosenthal
Another founder who started her company after her mother was diagnosed early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, is Leda Rosenthal. Leda became determined to find the best caregiving technologies to help combat these new challenges. Realizing that these insights could be valuable to other families, she founded Alz You Need.
Carine Zeier
Carine is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO of Dele Health Tech. With background in business and arts, she specializes in taking early-stage technology into commercial stages and assisting businesses on their path to becoming digital masters – from strategy to realization.
Erum Azeez Khan
With a strong background in science, Erum wasn’t the most likely candidate to start a tech company focused on solving the needs of older adults. But in 2016, when she identified the need and met her co-founder, she started Soundmind.
Susanne Dröscher
Susanne is the co-founder and co-CEO of Caru. Her academic career gave her a strong science and engineering. I met with Susanne a few months ago to speak about Caru.
Jo Anne Jenkins
As CEO of AARP, Jo Ann Jenkins leads the world’s largest non-profit, nonpartisan membership organization. She has transformed AARP into a leader in social change, dedicated to empowering people to choose how they live and age. A fearless champion of innovation and impact. Her best-selling book, Disrupt Aging is the voice of the #DisruptAging movement. Jenkins also leads AARP’s presence at CES with the annual startup pitch competition, that included several companies that were included in the Age Tech Market Map.
Mary Furlong
Mary Furlong is a force of nature in this business. As a visionary leader with decades of experience in the boomer and senior markets, she founded Mary Furlong & Associates, in 2002. She is the person behind some of the biggest aging-business conferences in America, the Boomer Venture Summit and the Longevity Business Summit. Furlong is a trusted advisor to many Age Tech startups, VCs and other organizations in the business of aging.
Thought Leaders
Laurie Orlov
Laurie Orlov is s tech industry veteran, who started the Aging In Place Technology Watch in 2008. Her website covers market research, trends, blogs and reports that provide thought leadership, analysis and guidance about technologies and services that enable boomers and seniors to remain longer in their home of choice. She’s also a writer, speaker and elder care advocate.
Kerry Burnight, Ph.D.
As Chief Gerontologist at GrandPad, Kerry is responsible for improving the lives of millions of seniors, by reconnecting them with their family, friends, and caregivers. She also founded the Ageless Alliance: United Against Elder Abuse, a non-profit organization seeking to eliminate elder abuse through awareness, advocacy, and action.
Investors
Tracy Chadwell
With a background in law, private equity and venture capital, Chadwell founded 1843 capital in 2017. Since Silver-Tech being one of the fund’s areas of focus, the firm has invested in some of the founders on this list.
1843 Capital is an early stage technology venture firm advocating for gender equity to generate superior returns. I had the pleasure to interview Tracy for TheGerontechnologist Podcast, you can listen to the interview and read the transcript here.
Katy Fike, Ph.D.
Armed with a Ph.D in Gerontology, and background in investment banking Katy co-founded Aging2.0 with Stephen Johnston in 2012. She later became a partner at Generator Ventures, a fund that is focused on Age Tech.
Fike was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business, she speaks frequently on topics related to innovation and aging in media outlets such as NPR, Bloomberg TV, Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes, Time, PBS NewsHour, TechCrunch and the Huffington Post.
Yael Benvenisti, Ph.D
Yael is the CEO of the only fund in Israel that is focused solely on Age Tech, Mediterranean Towers Ventures.
With a Ph.D. in Gerontology and an M.A. in geriatrics and rehabilitation, Yael has an in-depth understanding of the challenges in aging.
She is a woman who wears many hats, the chairperson of the SIG (Society of Electrical and Electronic Engineers in Israel) Technologies of Aging Well, a board member of the Israel Gerontological Society, and a leader in the local Aging2.0 chapter. I interviewed Yael for TheGerontechnologist Podcast, you can listen to the interview and read the transcript here.
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