Summit 2024, Panel 4: Elevating the Aging Discourse: The Federal Perspective

Lance Robertson is a Partner in State Health at Guidehouse.  He joined the firm in 2021, after serving in Washington DC as the Assistant Secretary on Aging and Administrator of the HHS Administration for Community Living (ACL).  From 2007 to 2017, Lance served as the Director of Aging Services for the State of Oklahoma and oversaw the Older Americans Act programs and ran the state’s largest Medicaid waiver.  He is also a Past President of ADvancing States, the national association membership group of State Aging Directors.  Prior to state service, Lance was an administrator for twelve years at Oklahoma State University.  He has served on numerous boards and committees at the local, state and federal levels and speaks regularly at events across the country.  He is a subject matter expert on home and community-based services, social drivers of health, community-based organization network development, stakeholder engagement, public sector leadership and more.  He has a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from the University of Central Oklahoma and is an Army veteran.       

Yen Lin leads Healthy Aging for the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion in the US Department of Health and Human Services. She has led a series of national Symposia and action planning workshops to strengthen collaboration among public health and aging and adult services leaders to support the health and well-being of older adults. She leads strategic data visualization for the Healthy People 2030 initiative and advises several federal Healthy People workgroups, including Older Adults and Dementias Including Alzheimer’s. She represents ODPHP on interagency workgroups focused on health equity and environmental justice. She holds a Master of Public Health from Case Western Reserve University.

Kari Benson is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Aging at the U.S. Administration for Community Living. In this role, Kari leads the Administration on Aging in advocating on behalf of older Americans. She guides and promotes the development of home and community-based services policy designed to afford older people and their caregivers the ability to age with dignity and independence and to have a broad array of options available for an enhanced quality of life. This includes the promotion and implementation of evidence-based prevention interventions proven effective in avoiding or delaying the onset of chronic disease and illness.

Atalaya Sergi leads AmeriCorps Seniors, the federal grant-making office focused on engaging people aged 55+ in national service and volunteerism. She has spent her career as a leader in national service, community engagement, and education, working in the public and nonprofit sectors. Atalaya launched her former organization’s only AmeriCorps Seniors Foster Grandparent program and co-founded Los Angeles Generation to Generation, to engage older persons in supporting young children. At AmeriCorps Seniors she has led the development of new funding opportunities to support pandemic recovery, partnerships with Tribal nations, and workforce development - a service to work opportunity for older persons.

Patricia M. D’Antonio, BSPharm, MS, MBA, BCGP is the Vice President of Policy and Professional Affairs for The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and a board-certified geriatric pharmacist. Trish directs GSA’s policy initiatives and is responsible for developing relationships with organizations in the aging arena. Trish represents GSA on several policy coalitions and serves as co-chair for the Adult Vaccine Access Coalition, president of the board of the Protecting Access to Pain Relief and Chair of the Friends of NIA.  Additionally, she serves as the Executive Director for the National Center to Reframe Aging, the central hub to advance the long-term social change endeavor designed to improve the public’s understanding of what aging means and the many ways that older people contribute to our society. Before joining GSA, Trish served as Executive Director for the District of Columbia Board of Pharmacy and Program Manager for the Pharmaceutical Control Division, where she was responsible for the regulatory and policy development for the practice of pharmacy and served as liaison to the FDA, DEA, and other federal, state, and city organizations that promote safe handling of medications.  She received her Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy from Duquesne University and her Master of Science in Health Finance and Master in Business Administration with a concentration in health care from Temple University. She completed a residency in administration and finance at The Philadelphia Geriatric Center.