AARP CEO and leadership

Martha Boudreau is AARP’s chief communications & marketing officer. She is responsible for setting enterprise brand and communications strategy and unifying AARP’s voice throughout the organization’s extensive channels: social, digital, earned media and paid media along with AARP’s leading publications, AARP The Magazine and AARP Bulletin.

She is a leader in the Washington, D.C., communications industry. Before coming to AARP, she served as president of the mid-Atlantic region and Latin America for FleishmanHillard, a leading global communications consulting firm. She served on the company’s global management committee and was a key figure in growing the firm’s presence in the Middle East and its expansion into Latin America. In addition to her financial and client service responsibilities in the Washington office, she was central to the global coordination of client work and new business efforts.

During her tenure as general manager of FleishmanHillard’s Washington office, she led the efforts to change its offerings to reflect a rapidly evolving communications landscape. She established the firm’s government communications practice, which quickly positioned FleishmanHillard as the largest public relations provider to the U.S. government. For the diplomatic community, she spearheaded a “Digital Diplomacy” team that trained ambassadors and embassy staff on using social media to support their traditional outreach efforts in Washington.

She represented FleishmanHillard at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, and was an active participant in regional WEF events as well as the forum’s Global Gender Parity program. Her teams in Latin America handled media and executive communications for WEF events in Peru and Mexico.

Martha Boudreau is a native of Detroit and received her B.A. from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She is a member of the International Women’s Forum and serves on the Advisory Council for Washington Women in Public Relations. She also has served on the boards of several organizations in Washington, including the National Press Foundation, the American Heart Association’s mid-Atlantic affiliate, the American Bird Conservancy and The Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing.

Scott Frisch is executive vice president and chief operating officer for AARP. He is responsible for all enterprise-wide operational and financial matters including human resources, information technology, real estate and facilities management as well as data and analytics performance management.

Since his appointment as COO, Scott has helped guide AARP through a period of dynamic change, reengineering the operational functions of the organization to maximize efficiencies and increase operating reserves. He established a $40 million investment fund that spurs innovation in health and wellness as well as a $60 million investment vehicle to accelerate research into cures for all types of dementia including Alzheimer’s. Scott oversaw the comprehensive renovation of AARP’s 500,000 square foot national office headquarters in Washington, DC to provide the latest in technology and environmentally-friendly and innovative workspace. He is widely respected at all levels of the organization for his acute business acumen and fiscal discipline.

Prior to his appointment as COO, Scott served as senior vice president and chief financial officer for AARP Services, Inc. (ASI), the for-profit subsidiary of AARP. He provided strategic guidance and expertise in all areas of ASI’s financial management. He had previously served as chief financial officer and treasurer at AARP Financial, Inc.

Prior to joining the AARP enterprise, Scott held a variety of management positions at Columbia Management Group, NATIXIS Asset Management Services, Inc., Putnam Investments and KPMG.

Scott graduated from Villanova University. He is a certified public accountant and previously held Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Series 6 and 63 licenses. Scott is a Board member on the Greater Washington Board of Trade, Treasurer and Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee of the Downtown DC Business Improvement Council and is on the Board of Advisors of CBC Financial, LLC. He sits on the Wall Street Journal CFO Network, the Executive Committee of the Milken Institute Center for the Future of Aging Business Council, and is a Malcom Baldrige Executive Fellow. Scott is also a member of the Connected DMV COVID-19 Strategic Renewal Task Force, a collaboration of regional leaders focused on accelerating the economic and business recovery of the greater Washington area in the wake of the novel coronavirus outbreak.

Kevin J. Donnellan is executive vice president and chief of staff for AARP. He provides the link between the CEO and AARP's Executive and Leadership Teams, working to implement the enterprise strategy, solve problems and deal with sensitive issues before they are brought to the chief executive.

Prior to becoming chief of staff, Kevin served eight years as AARP's chief communications officer (CCO). Under his leadership, AARP has become a 21st-century media conglomerate, exploding the myth that Americans 50-plus are not wired into new communications channels. In 2011, 2012 and 2013, he was named to Influence 100-the world's 100 most influential corporate communicators-by the Holmes Report. As chief of staff, Kevin continues to provide leadership and management for all internal communications, executive positioning and public outreach functions in the enterprise.

Before becoming CCO in 2006, Kevin served AARP in a number of roles in advocacy (director of advocacy, director of grassroots and elections) and legislative and public policy (legislative counsel) that proved critical to the growth and success of the organization.

Kevin is a member of the Ad Council Advisory Committee on Public Issues and chairs the group's Committee on Community & Stewardship. He is a member of the prestigious Arthur W. Page Society. He also serves as Chairman of the Ideagen Impact & Thought Leader Council and serves on the advisory board of George Mason University's College of Health and Human Services. He is a former chair of the board of directors of the Long-Term Care Campaign and represented AARP on the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations.

Kevin came to AARP from Capitol Hill, where he was executive assistant to Rep. Geraldine Ferraro. He holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees in government and politics from St. John's University in New York.

Nancy LeaMond currently serves as AARP's Chief Advocacy and Engagement Officer. She leads government relations and campaigns for AARP, widely seen as one of the most powerful advocacy organizations in the country. She also oversees AARP’s public education and outreach initiatives designed to help Americans take charge of their health and better plan, work, and save for retirement. She was formerly CEO/President for five years of the Congressional Economic Leadership Institute, a public policy group founded in 1987 to identify and research emerging international economic, trade, technology, tax and workforce issues. She began her career as the Chief of Staff to U.S. Congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar. On March 18, 1993 she was nominated by President Clinton to serve as Assistant U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) for Congressional Affairs. She served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky.

As AARP’s chief public policy officer, Debra Whitman, leads policy development, analysis and research, as well as global thought leadership supporting and advancing the interests of individuals age 50-plus and their families. She oversees AARP’s Public Policy Institute, AARP Research, Office of Policy Development and Integration, Thought Leadership, and AARP International.

Dr. Whitman is an authority on aging issues with extensive experience in national policymaking, domestic and international research, and the political process. An economist, she is a strategic thinker whose career has been dedicated to solving problems affecting economic and health security, and other issues related to population aging.

As staff director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, she worked across the aisle to increase retirement security, lower the cost of health care, protect vulnerable seniors, safeguard consumers, make the pharmaceutical industry more transparent, and improve our nation’s long term care system.

Before that, Dr. Whitman worked for the Congressional Research Service as a specialist in the economics of aging. She provided members of Congress and their staff with research and advice, and authored analytical reports on the economic impacts of current policies affecting older Americans, as well as the distributional and intergenerational effects of legislative proposals.

From 2001 to 2003, she served as a Brookings LEGIS Fellow to the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Earlier in her career, she conducted research on savings and retirement for the Social Security Administration, helping to establish the Retirement Research Consortium and serving as the founding editor of the Perspectives section of the Social Security Bulletin.

Dr. Whitman has been quoted by or appeared in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, Bloomberg, USA Today, NBC Nightly News, CBS News, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, and Politico, among others. She serves on several boards, including the National Advisory Council on Aging for the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Aging, the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, the National Coalition on Health Care, and the Pension Rights Center.

Dr. Whitman holds master’s and doctorate degrees in economics from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in economics, math and Italian from Gonzaga University.

Edna Kane-Williams is an EVP & Chief Diversity Officer at AARP.