About Us
Mission
The Silver Century Foundation seeks to change the personal and cultural experience of aging.
The Foundation is a strong voice for a new view of aging that challenges cultural myths, simplistic stereotypes, and ageist assumptions. Through a combination of education, programs, and research, as well as this website, it promotes awareness of the way our culture forms our basic ideas about aging and the aging process, and awareness of alternative life choices that enable individuals to live lives that are not diminished by growing older. We see life's later years as part of its unfolding adventure, rather than as a time of inevitable decline.
Vision
The Foundation envisions a society where:
- People no longer fear their own aging.
- Formal education about aging abounds and people are educated not just for the tasks of early adulthood but for the middle and later years as well.
- Viable social roles for older adults exist.
- Aging adults and the work they undertake are valued.
- Different age groups are not in conflict but are interdependent.
- Aging is seen as the anticipated fulfillment of life, not as its inevitable decline.
- Old age is respected and honored.
Board
Katherine M. Klotzburger, Ph.D.
President, The Silver Century Foundation
Katherine Klotzburger is the founder, president, and executive director of The Silver Century Foundation.
Kay spent nearly 30 years in academic administration - primarily at the City University of New York - and as a management consultant specializing in organizational effectiveness and equal opportunity. She was Director of the CUNY Affirmative Action Office and Coordinator of the American Council on Education's program in the New York tri-state area, which was created to identify women who showed promise and help them advance into major positions in academic administration.
Later, she founded Change-Agents, Inc., a management consulting practice providing consulting, counseling, and training to colleges and small businesses and to individuals wishing to make career transitions.
For nearly four decades, Kay has sought to address social and political issues affecting women's lives by founding and administering caucuses, doing advocacy and consulting, and serving on policy boards. She holds a Master of Arts and a Ph.D. degree in political science from New York University and a Communications Arts degree from Michigan State University, as well as certificates in business administration and psychotherapy. She is an ACE Fellow in Academic Administration and a certified NLP Master Practitioner.
Barbara Melnikov
Assistant Director, EducationWorks, Inc.
Barbara Melnikov's life's work has been grounded in her belief that individuals of all ages should have opportunities for education, personal growth and self-discovery and should have the kind of support that will enable them to make sound life decisions. With more than 25 years in non-profit leadership she brings a rich history to the Foundation. She has developed and implemented strategic plans, coordinated competitive grant making, and managed and evaluated programs primarily in K-12 and post-secondary education.
She is one of the founding members and assistant director of EducationWorks, an educational non-profit that joins national service and civic engagement with urban school reform, engaging AmeriCorps members from 18 to 80 in national service.
Prior to EducationWorks, Barbara was with the NJ Department of Higher Education where she implemented grant-supported programs for college/school collaborations, and guided the challenge grant program for New Jersey's community colleges. This program empowered the colleges to reexamine and strengthen their missions in minority recruitment and retention, college/school collaboration, and technology/business initiatives.
Barbara earned a BA in Psychology from Miami University and an MA in Vocational Rehabilitation from the University of Iowa. She has served on a number of boards and in a variety of volunteer activities. She has taught English as a Second Language to newly relocated Vietnamese and Cambodian refugees, has been a counselor in a crisis intervention center, has lead support groups for job hunters, and has sponsored and hosted exchanges with Volgograd, Russia promoting citizen diplomacy.
Joan E. Gerberding
Senior Vice President Advertiser Solutions, DMI Music & Media Networks
Joan Gerberding has spent nearly four decades in the media and broadcasting industry. The magazine Radio Ink named her an unprecedented eight consecutive times to their top fifty prestigious "Most Influential Women in Radio" list, and in 2002 she was named both the "Number One Most Influential Woman in Radio" and "Broadcaster of the Year."
She has been national president of American Women in Radio and Television; has served as a board member of the Radio Advertising Bureau, co-founder and spokesperson for the Most Influential Women in Radio group; and in 2007, with Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda, and a group of other influential women, helped to found the Women's Media Center in New York City.
She was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Nassau Broadcasting, a privately held radio group of 21 radio stations based in the Northeast, president of a national advertising sales company and president and founder of a digital place-based media company to integrate digital place-based media into consumer and retail venues.
Advisory Committee
Katharine Bogle
Architectural Design
Project Manager, Bogle Design Group
Michael Chrickshank, C.S.C.S.
Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist
Master Trainer, New York Sports Clubs
Sally K. Davidson, Ph.D.
President, SKD Productions
Professional Photographer
Hildred Geertz, Ph.D.
Anthropologist, retired
Leslie Gray Harper
Computer Consultant
Susan Hoskins, LCSW
Executive Director, Princeton Senior Resource Center
Barbara Lancaster, Ph.D.
Business and Financial Consultant
Retirement Issues Specialist
Gonthar Rooda, DC, ABAAHP
Executive Director, Princeton LifeExtension Center
Maxmillian Shane, CMT
Certified Massage Therapist
Janet Stern
Managing Editor, Princeton University Press (14 years)
Board of Directors, Arts Council of Princeton
Co-host, cable-TV film review program, "Fistful of Popcorn"
Toby Tuckman
Gerontologist, retired
Staff
Flora Davis
Writer and Editor
Pamela Groves
Freelance Writer
Louise Hutner
Writer and Editor
Charlotte Hussey
Website Consultant and Editor
Carol Jacobs
Film Reviewer
Robert Miskimon
Freelance Writer
Gillian Sterling
Public Relations and Marketing Specialist
Freelance Writer
Contributors
Lenora R. Good
Human in Training
Virginia Stuart
Writer
Karen Millward
Writer
Consultants
Jeanette Bressler
President, Bressler Consulting, LLC
Lois Favier
President, New Experiences Nonprofit Services
Janet R. Pickover, CMP
Director, Site Inspections Plus
Consultants (Past)
Diane Frances
President, Getting in Gear Performance Consulting