AARP Hearing Center
Julián Castro, former U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and a former mayor of San Antonio, Texas, speaks with Nancy LeaMond of AARP.
Photo by AARP
Nancy LeaMond
Executive Vice President, Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer, AARP
As the AARP executive who oversees the AARP Livable Communities initiative, Nancy LeaMond, the AARP Livable Communities team and AARP Texas are the hosts of the 2017 Annual AARP Livable Communities National Conference. A nationally recognized leader on health, retirement security and other issues important to older Americans, LeaMond's career spans 35 years in the government and nonprofit sectors. As the head of AARP's Community, State and National Affairs division, LeaMond leads a team of 650 staff and more than 17,000 volunteers across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. As AARP's chief advocacy and engagement officer, LeaMond leads the association’s government affairs work and legislative campaigns and is responsible for driving AARP’s social mission on behalf of people age 50+ and their families. She also oversees AARP’s public education campaigns, community outreach and volunteer engagement. LeaMond holds a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master's degree in public policy and urban planning from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She is a former trustee of Smith College, a member of the KB Home National Advisory Board on home and community development, and a board member of the International Women’s Forum of Washington, D.C. Every year since 2011, she has been named by The Hill as one of the nation's top lobbyists.
The following speakers are listed in alphabetical order.
Kathleen Brasher
Principal Lead, Age-Friendly Rural Communities, Northeast Health Wangaratta, Australia
Kathleen Brasher has been involved in the international age-friendly movement since 2006, when she contributed to the World Health Organization’s global age-friendly cities guide. A member of the WHO Strategy Advisory Group for the Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, Brasher has advised governments and advocacy organizations across Australia and New Zealand. She has been an invited delegate to the International Symposium on Age-Friendly Rural and Remote Communities, in Winnipeg, Canada, and was seconded to the New York Academy of Medicine to assist with the development of the International Ageing in a Foreign Land Research Consortia protocol. Brasher is also a member of the Building an Age-Friendly USA steering committee with Grantmakers in Aging. A trained nurse and midwife, Brasher holds a bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D (in sociology of health and illness) from Monash University. She earned her graduate diploma in arts from the University of Melbourne. Brasher has certificate-level training in counseling and mediation with a focus on elder mediation. In addition, she is a nationally accredited mediator and a member of the Australian Association of Gerontology, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the International Federation on Ageing. (When not working to inspire the world to value growing old, Brasher can be found knitting beanies, cuddling her new granddaughter, or trying to improve her golf swing.)
Janee Briesemeister
Chair, Austin Commission on Seniors
Appointed to the Austin Commission on Seniors in 2015 and elected its chair, Janee Briesemeister led the work on drafting the city’s age-friendly action plan, which was adopted by the Austin City Council last year. She also serves on the Austin Joint Inclusion Committee and the Austin Multi-Modal Consumer Advisory Committee. Briesemeister has nearly 30 years of experience in consumer advocacy, policy development and advocacy issue campaigns at the state and national levels. While working as a senior legislative representative at AARP and advocating for affordable home utility services, Briesemeister received the Lyn Bodiford Award for Excellence in Advocacy. Previously, Briesemeister was a senior policy analyst at Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of the independent, nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports. Now a consultant, Briesemeister continues to advocate for consumer advocacy and energy affordability with clients including the National Consumer Law Center and various state utility consumer advocacy offices.
Julián Castro
Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development & Former Mayor, City of San Antonio, Texas
Born and raised in San Antonio, Julián Castro was elected to the San Antonio City Council at age 26 and became the city’s mayor eight years later in 2009. He was named to the World Economic Forum’s list of Young Global Leaders in 2010 and recognized by Time magazine as one of "40 Under 40" rising stars in American politics that same year.
As mayor, Castro led a voter-approved effort to significantly expand high-quality, full-day pre-kindergarten. He also established the Café College, a one-stop center offering San Antonio students with guidance about applying to college. Castro also brought a sense of urgency to revitalizing the city’s urban core, launching a "Decade of Downtown" initiative that resulted in thousands of new housing units in the center city. Among Castro’s goals was to make San Antonio a leader in the 21st century global economy. Under his leadership, San Antonio ranked first on the Milken Institute's Best Performing Cities list, received an A+ grade for doing business by Forbes and was the only Top 10 city at the time to achieve a Triple-A bond rating with each of the three major ratings agencies.
In 2014, President Barack Obama named Castro to his Cabinet as the 16th Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). As secretary, Castro oversaw 8,000 employees and a budget of more than $46 billion. In 2015, HUD launched Connect Home, a partnership among Internet service providers, housing authorities and nonprofits to expand broadband service to residents of public housing. During Castro's tenure HUD was recognized as one of the most improved federal agencies.
Castro received his bachelor's degree from Stanford University and his juris doctor from Harvard Law School. He and his wife, Erica, have a daughter, Carina, and a son, Cristián. Castro's twin brother, Joaquin, represents the 20th Congressional District of Texas. Julián Castro serves on the board of directors of the LBJ Foundation and Common Sense Media.
Robin Chase
Transportation Entrepreneur
Robin Chase is the co-founder and former CEO of Zipcar, the largest car sharing company in the world. She's also the co-founder and a board member of Veniam, a vehicle communications company that’s building the networking fabric for the so-called "internet of moving things." In addition, Chase is on the boards of the World Resources Institute and the internet service company Tucows. She serves as an advisor to the French National Digital Agency and is a member of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Advisory Committee on Automated Transportation and the Dutch multinational DSM's Sustainability Advisory Board. The author of Peers Inc: How People and Platforms are Inventing the Collaborative Economy and Reinventing Capitalism, Chase works with cities to maximize the coming use of self-driving cars. A sought-after speaker, Chase lectures widely, is frequently featured in the media, and has received numerous honors including being listed among the "100 Most Influential People" (Time), "Fast 50 Innovators" (Fast Company) and "Top 10 Designers" (BusinessWeek). Chase is a graduate of Wellesley College and MIT’s Sloan School of Management. She was a Harvard University Loeb Fellow and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of design from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Joe Chow
Mayor, City of Addison, Texas
