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Leaders in Innovation Honored

We are thrilled to announce the leaders and innovators in the Aging Network honored with awards at the n4a 41st Annual Conference and Tradeshow in San Diego last week.   

Kathy Greenlee, ACL Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging, was honored with our prestigious Advocacy in Aging Award. The Award recognized and celebrated her extraordinary leadership and tireless work on behalf of both the Aging Network and the millions of older adults and caregivers that the network serves each year.

The n4a Excellence in Leadership Award was also presented at the conference to three AAA directors: Lynn Kellogg, CEO of the Region IV Area Agency on Aging in St. Joseph, MI; Mary Beals-Luedtka, Area Agency on Aging Director of the Northern Arizona Council of Governments in Flagstaff, AZ; and Rosanne DiStefano, Executive Director of Elder Services of the Merrimack Valley, Inc. in Lawrence, MA. n4a members submit nominations for this Award to recognize AAA and Title VI directors who have demonstrated exceptional leadership capabilities at the local, state or national level in advancing the mission of the Older Americans Act and preparing communities for our nation's rapidly aging population.

n4a President Joseph Ruby presented the President's Award to Dawn Simonson, Executive Director of the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging in North St. Paul, MN. This Award is presented annually by the n4a President to honor a colleague in the aging field who has helped advance the mission of n4a.

We also honored 46 local aging programs created by 36 of our member agencies with the 2016 n4a Aging Innovations and Achievement Awards. The awards program, sponsored by Critical Signal Technologies your Link to Life (CST-LTL), recognizes AAAs and Title VI programs that have implemented successful initiatives to support older adults, people with disabilities and family caregivers. The Awards were presented at a luncheon and in addition, thanks to the generous support of CST, the top-ranking programs received monetary awards. To learn more about this year's winners, read our press release.

n4a's National Aging and Disability Business Center, on behalf of the John A. Hartford Foundation, presented the inaugural John A. Hartford Business Innovation Award to Laurence Gross, CEO of the Southern Maine Agency on Aging. Ellen Schmeding, Director of the County of San Diego, Aging & Independence Services, and Connie Benton Wolfe, President & CEO of Aging & In-Home Services of Northeast Indiana, also received honorable mentions. This award recognizes community-based organizations that have made significant strides in contracting with health care entities and, as such, have substantially improved the quality of life of older adults.

Congratulations to all the winners!

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