Meet the AARP New York Executive Council
By: States: New York | Source: AARP.org
Lois Aronstein, AARP New York State Director
Lois Aronstein, of Manhattan, is the state director for the New York State Office of AARP, the nation’s leading organization for people fifty and over. AARP New York, through its two state offices in Manhattan and Albany and a worksite in Rochester, provides information and resources to its 2.6 million members in the state; engages in legislative advocacy on the state and national levels; and assists its members in serving their communities to help older New Yorker age with dignity and independence.
Through Aronstein’s leadership, AARP New York helped New York State pass landmark legislation that requires prescription drug prices from all New York pharmacies to be posted on the Internet so that consumers can have access to affordable medications. She also led AARP in advocating for a new law that creates oversight and consumer protections for residents in assisted living facilities and a new law that provides support to grandparents raising grandchildren. Aronstein is a frequent television, radio, and print spokesperson for AARP on national and state issues affecting older New Yorkers, including prescription drug affordability, Social Security, Medicaid, and consumer protections.
Aronstein initially directed AARP operations in six New England states before she was named director for AARP’s New York State Office at its establishment in 1993. Prior to joining AARP, Ms. Aronstein served as the executive director of the Framingham Council of Aging in Massachusetts and has held numerous other leadership positions on boards and advisory councils in Massachusetts and New York.
Aronstein currently serves on the Advisory Boards of the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs, RESERVE and IPRO, the Island Peer Review Organization. She is also a trustee of the Aging in New York Fund and served on the Board of Trustees of At Home, Inc., of the Visiting Nurse Association of Brooklyn.
Marilyn Pinsky, AARP New York President
Marilyn L. Pinsky of Jamesville, is the former commissioner of the Onondaga County Department on Aging and Youth. She retired from that position in June 2006. Pinsky has devoted her career to leading the county’s aging and youth services programs and she is a former consultant with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Pinsky has served as a congressional delegate to two White House Conferences on Aging. Currently, she is a columnist on aging issues for 55 Plus magazine and was formerly a columnist for the Sunday Herald-American. She presently serves on many boards, including Sage Upstate, Oasis-Education for Mature Adults, the Success By Six Policy Council, Women in Religion-InterFaith Works CNY, and she is a member of Women Transcending Boundaries. Pinsky also served on the boards of Syracuse Stage, the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra, Community Foundation of CNY, United Way of Central New York, and the United Way Board of New York State. She was also on the boards of the New York State Association of Area Agencies on Aging, the New York State Advisory Council on Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCS), the Association of New York State Youth Bureaus, and the Governor’s Conference on Aging.
Pinsky holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Syracuse University, and currently resides with her husband, Philip, in Jamesville, New York. They have three children and five grandchildren.
Alejandro Garcia, AARP New York Executive Council
Alejandro Garcia, of Syracuse, is director of the School of Social Work in the College of Human Services and Health Professions at Syracuse University. He is a recognized leader in aging and issues that affect the Latino elderly population with a particular emphasis on Social Security and prescription drug affordability. Alejandro also chairs AARP’s National Policy Council, which is comprised of 25 lead volunteers from across the country who advise AARP on its public policy agenda.
Garcia joined the SU faculty in 1978 and currently teaches in the areas of social policy, aging, and human diversity. He also serves as vice president of the New York State Communities Aid Association and is past chair of the board of the National Hispanic Council on Aging.
Garcia is the recipient of numerous national and statewide honors including a Lifetime Achievement Award of the National Association of Social Workers and SU’s Scholar/Teacher of the Year. He was elected a Gerontological Society of America Fellow and was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1981 and 1995. He is a frequent editorial columnist in the Syracuse Post-Standard and other newspapers around the nation.
Garcia is on the editorial board of the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare and is the book review editor of the Journal of Multicultural Social Work. He has also served as co-editor and reviewer on numerous other articles and book chapters on ethnic and race relations, social policy, and gerontological issues.
Garcia earned a Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master's of Social Work degree from the California State University at Sacramento, and a Ph.D. from Brandeis University.
Neal Lane, AARP New York Executive Council
Neal Lane, of Wynantskill is a native New Yorker and is the most recent addition to AARP New York State Executive Council. While serving in the US Army during the Vietnam War, he was a social work specialist working with troubled soldiers. He has led a number of service agencies at the county and at the state level, most recently as the director of the New York State Office for the Aging. In February 2007, Neal returned to the health and human services systems’ consulting business and served as a partner and analyst for Optimum Partners Consulting. He is also working with Project 2015 to help one of America’s Fortune 500 companies understand and respond to the needs of workers who are also care-givers to older adults. Lane also led New York’s delegation to the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.
Lane holds a Master’s of Social Work from Adelphi University and a Bachelor of Science in Communications from Ithaca College. He is also a recipient of the Dr. Patricia Pine Leadership in Aging Award.
Bob O’Connell, AARP New York Executive Council
Bob O'Connell, of Clifton Park, has a rich professional career as a social worker and advocate in the field of aging. He was regional administrator at the U.S. Administration on Aging from 1998 to 2004 and for twenty years held leadership positions with the New York State Office for the Aging. He was also director of services for the aged for the New York State Department of Social Services and commissioner of the Rensselaer County Department for the Aging.
With AARP, O’Connell continues to advocate for and develop positive health and social support systems for older New Yorkers and their caregivers. O’Connell is a frequent media spokesperson for AARP on prescription drug affordability and utilities issues. He is a graduate of Siena College and holds a Masters in Social Work from Syracuse University.
Phyllis Hill Slater, AARP Executive Council
Phyllis Hill Slater, of Great Neck, joined the AARP New York Executive Council in April 2006. She is president of Hill Slater, Inc., an engineering and architecture firm on Long Island. Hill Slater is a devoted business advocate and leader whose wide-ranging efforts have been recognized by national, state and local government officials, professional groups, major corporations, and nonprofit and civic organizations.
Hill Slater is a trustee for North Shore / LIJ Health System and WLIW-Channel 21 Public Broadcasting Television and a former trustee for SUNY Stony Brook University and SUNY Old Westbury University. She serves on numerous professional boards including Allstate Insurance Company of New York, Intramerica Live Insurance Company, the Institute for Student Achievement, Town of Hempstead Women & Minority Revolving Loan Program, Long Island Association, and the Long Island Development Corporation.
Her notable accomplishments and affiliations also include her work as former national president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, chair and co-founder of Black Women Enterprises, co-founder and executive global chair of Euro-American Women’s Forum, and her work on the President’s Advisory Board of SUNY Farmingdale and the Advisory Board to Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. She was also appointed by President George Bush to Secretary Elaine Chao’s 21st Century Workforce Committee.
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