What's Next Longevity Business & Venture Summit

The 17th Annual What’s Next Longevity Business Summit

Where Industry Leaders and Boomer Marketing Experts Converge

2020 Summit Speakers

Mary Furlong

Mary Furlong
President & CEO, Mary Furlong & Associates

Brad Fain
Executive Director, CACP, Director of Georgia Tech’s HomeLab

Ted Teele

Ted Teele
CEO, Touchtown

Lisa Taylor

Lisa Taylor
Chief Executive Officer, iN2L

Jim Murphy
Senior Vice President, Ageless Innovation

Hala Moddelmog

Hala Moddelmog
President and CEO, Metro Atlanta Chamber

Jill Lesser

Jill Lesser
President, WomenAgainstAlzheimer’s

Josh Iverson

Josh Iverson
Principal/Founder, iMediaSalesTeam/iMediaAudiences

Dan Hermann
President & CEO, Head of Investment Banking, Zeigler Link-Age Longevity Fund

Matthew Halpert

Matthew Halpert
Director of R&D, Medterra

Mel Barsky
Director of Business Development, CABHI

Peter Kaldes
President and CEO of the American Society on Aging

George Valentine
Executive Director, Cox Communications

Liron Torres
Head of Product for Smart Properties, Amazon

Todd Smith
Founder and CEO, myFamilyChannel

Sophie Schmitt
Founder, Seniosphere Conseil

Zach Pousman
CEO and Head of Research, Helpfully

Scott Peifer
Founder and Principal, ChangeAGEnts

James Hamilton
CEO, Vital Tech

Mark Francis
Founder/CEO CaregiverZone, ex-Age Wave/Intel

Dave Blanchard
OD/Strategic Business Development, Hamilton CapTel

Peter Yewell
COO and Co-Founder, Outpatient

Sherwin Sheik
President and CEO, CareLinx

Jolene Moore
Discovery Senior Living

Ashley Mercier
Media Solutions Manager, LinkedIn

Nancy Koenig
CEO, Caremerge

Kerry Hannon
Author

Julie Halpert
Freelance Journalist

Annette Fellows
UnitedHealth Group

Mark Feinberg
Founder and CEO, Stay Smart Care

Steve Ewell
Executive Director, CTA Foundation

Brian Corey
Co-Founder and CEO, Outpatient

Bob Blancato
President, Matz, Blancato and Associates

Jennifer Abernathy
Founder, Socially Delivered

Emily Splichal
CEO and Founder, Naboso Technology LLC

Laurie Orlov
CEO, Aging in Place Technology Watch

Nancy LeaMond
Executive Vice President of Strategy, AARP

Jody Gastfriend
VP Senior Care, Care.com

Ben Dickerson
Co-founder, Medterra CBD

Trish Costello
Founder and CEO, Portfolia

Laura Mitchell
CEO, GrandCare Systems

Sally Abrahms
Award-winning freelance writer

Jean Accius
Senior Vice President of Thought Leadership & International Affairs, AARP

Mary Alexander
Home Instead Senior Care

Jacqueline M. Baker
AARP Innovation Labs

Lori Bitter
The Business of Aging

Dr. Ken Dychtwald
Founder and CEO, Age Wave

Susan Donley
Stria

Maddy Dychtwald
Co-Founder, Age Wave

Richard Eisenberg
Next Avenue

Ted Fischer
Ageless Innovation

Todd Haim
Chief, Office of Small Business Research, National Institute on Aging

Liz Hamburg
Candoo Tech

John Hopper
Chief Investment Officer, Link•Age Ventures

Ernie Ianace
Co-Founder and EVP Sales and Marketing, VitalTech

David Lindeman
CITRIS

Jake Nice
Nationwide Ventures

Stephan Ostrander
COO, Embodied Labs

Sheri Rose
Thrive Center

Carrie Shaw
Founder and CEO, Embodied Labs

Brian Shulman
Director of Business Development, Intuition Robotics

Dr. Charlotte Yeh
AARP Services, Inc.

Sherri Snelling
Caregiving Club

Jack York
President and Co-Founder, It’s Never 2 Late

Subject Matter Dedicated to Better Understanding the Longevity Marketplace

What’s Next Atlanta? 

The World Health Organization has declared 2020 will kick off The Decade of Healthy Aging – are you ready to seize the opportunities the $8.3 trillion longevity economy offers? Meet the entrepreneurs, corporate executives, foundations, investors and distribution partners focused on the issues, initiatives and insights into living a longer life. The 17th Annual What’s Next Longevity Business Summit is the nation’s leading conference for learning about trends and opportunities, making deals, finding partnerships, and launching products for older consumers. Don’t miss out on networking with the aging thought leaders – Register today!

Reserve your spot today and build your network of innovators, nonprofits, and experts serving older consumers and fueling your business. Your registration includes:

Keynote from Dr. Ken Dychtwald

The Next Wave: How Boomer Retirees Will Redefine Money, Consumerism, Family, Work, Housing, Mobility, Health and Success

Rising longevity and the aging of the massive Boomer generation are radically altering both the demographic landscape and every aspect of the consumer marketplace. Already 50+ consumers account for more than half of all spending and control more than 70% of total U.S. net worth. In the coming years, we’ll see explosive business growth fueled by this unprecedented age wave.

This new presentation explores the industries, products, and services that will dominate the longevity marketplace—many of which are hiding in plain sight:

  • The medical breakthroughs and technologies on the horizon that have the potential to dramatically transform health, aging, and longevity
  • How an aging population’s evolving need for healthy choices will the influence food, beverage, and supplement sectors
  • How a cyclic lifeplan—with repeated personal reinventions—will stimulate demand for new ways to learn, give, volunteer, work, and enjoy life
  • How aging Boomers’ time affluence will re-define the travel and leisure, housing, education, media, and financial services industries
  • Lessons learned from four decades on the front lines about the successes of pioneering companies worldwide that have “cracked the code” and created brands and marketing strategies that resonate with this quirky and demanding generation

Data & Insights—Get the deepest market overviews from the leading analysts in caregiving and aging in place, financial services, health and housing.

Lunch with an Expert—Choose your spot at the table with your favorite analyst, investor, author, corporate or nonprofit executive.

Networking—Meet the leaders who drive the industry at breakfast, the Networking Reception, and in special sessions throughout the day.

Opportunities—This is the conference where deals are done! Don’t miss out on how to build and scale your business with key partners! 

2020 Tracks

The 2020 summit’s theme is “Mobility, Memory, Money, Marketing, and Business Development in the Longevity Marketplace” and includes sessions on:

  • Senior Living
  • Marketing and Media
  • The Home Health Hub
  • Caregivers: Your 2020 Target Customer
  • Communication with Patients – Engagement, Support through Texting and Trust, and how to get video support
  • Finding Your Tribe and Getting into the Inner Circle
  • Riches in Niches: How to Make Arthritis a Little Less Ruff
  • How to Build a Better Mousetrap and Enhance Your Talent Force
  • Entrepreneurship Master Class 2020
  • What’s Next Makeovers – The How To Sessions

Key Takeaways

  • The Ecosystem of the Longevity Economy is diverse
  • Hone your investment strategy
  • Fresh from the Field Research Insights
  • Appealing Partnerships
  • Featured Research
  • NEW IN 2020! The Media Center@What’s Next

What’s Next Innovation Challenge sponsored by AARP Innovation Labs

Have you created a company to address the needs of older adults with hearing loss? Hear from a panel of experts, four pitches, audience judging. Winner goes on to the national competition. The deadline for submissions is March 1st at 11:59pm PST.

Apply Now

See Our Agenda

What Industry Experts Are Saying

“Mary Furlong has had a profound impact on Link•age. Mary‘s ”What’s Next“ and ”Boomer Venture“ meetings have been invaluable in helping shape our company‘s strategy and focus. We truly look forward to expanding our relationship with Mary and her organization. I would highly recommend that anyone interested in working with Boomers seek to develop a relationship with MFA!”

Scott Collins, President and CEO, Link-age

“If you are involved in marketing products or services to baby boomers, you should absolutely be working with Mary Furlong. Mary has an amazing network, and is the best person I‘ve ever met at connecting people who can help each other. I’ve attended her Boomer Business Summit for the past three years, and have left every conference with at least one new partner and at least one new customer.”

Andy Cohen, Founder and CEO, Caring.com

"Mary Furlong is the connective tissue of the senior industry. The best decision I've made as a startup CEO in this industry is to become one of her clients. Through her, and through her conferences and events, I've made many, many important connections that resulted in friendships and lucrative professional opportunities for our company."

Robert Wray, CEO at BlueStar SeniorTech

“I’m looking forward to sharing my latest ideas on which industries, products, and services will dominate the emerging longevity marketplace—many of which are hiding in plain sight. I’ll be covering everything from medical technologies on the horizon that have the potential to dramatically transform health and aging - to how aging Boomers’ time affluence will re-define the travel and leisure, housing, education, media, and financial services industries.”

Dr. Ken Dychtwald, Keynote Speaker, What's Next 2020

Our Collaboration With The American Society on Aging


For more than a decade, MFA has collaborated with the American Society on Aging (ASA) to present the What’s Next Longevity Business Summit in conjunction with ASA’s annual Aging in America national conference. Scheduled this year for March 25-26 in Atlanta, Aging in America is the nation’s largest multidisciplinary conference on aging issues, featuring programming unrivaled for its breadth and depth. More than 500 presentations during the four-day conference offer a comprehensive view of the current and coming trends in aging research, practice and policy, ample networking opportunities, and an exhibit hall with more than 100 business and social entrepreneurs and advocates. You can register for both the Longevity Summit and the Aging in America Conference by clicking here