The multi-generational Respectful Exits campaign is engaging all aging workers to transform the trajectory of work and retirement in a way that will ultimately serve individuals of all ages. Our team of leaders are both advocates who exemplify the experience, vigor, and determination of those working beyond the sell-by date, as well as younger champions who see it as a looming danger. They all bring a wealth of experience to this effort.
Leadership
Paul Rupert
Founder + CEO
Paul has led and consulted to for profit and nonprofit businesses for four decades. As a practitioner of various forms of campaigns, he has pioneered, advocated for and consulted to major employers on a broad range of innovative flexible scheduling and staffing initiatives. His consulting firm, Rupert Organizational Design, has led in the development of phased retirement practices for the last decade.
An early observer of the coming crisis in which longevity would clash with a broken career and retirement system, he founded Respectful Exits in 2016 to advocate for basic changes in the way employers manage their aging workforce. His decades of assisting more than 100 companies to embrace more flexible ways of working informed the Longevity Agenda as a practical, achievable, affordable set of policies and practices to help secure a brighter future for the economy and individual retirees.
Ira Arlook
Director, Media
Ira has directed national and international advocacy campaigns for a range of nonprofit and corporate organizations seeking change on issues of employer practices, the environment and social justice. He brings a great breadth of experience in media strategy, public relations, and communication channels including social media. He is adept at integrating local community efforts with local and national media coverage.
In the current frenzied and saturated media environment it is challenging to develop and deliver consistent, compelling messages, especially for an issue that is consistently under-emphasized. Ira’s considerable experience in successfully meeting this challenge on a variety of fronts is a major asset for the Respectful Exits campaign.
Robin Hardman
Director, Communications
Robin has chronicled and promoted mutually beneficial employee best practices in hundreds of major companies for three decades. Under the broad rubric of work-life and flexible practices she has worked with pioneering consulting firms Work-Family Directions and Families and Work Institute before launching her own advisory firm, Robin Hardman Communications.
She helps companies develop and communicate a broad range of policies and practices that deliver great value to employers and employees alike and guides them through the various :Best Place to Work” awards processes. As a longtime proponent of the flexible workplace, she is committed to highlighting corporate practices toward the aging workforce.
Brian Rolling
Social Media Strategist
Brian is Co-Founder and Chief Video Officer of SRW, our full-service video, social media and content creation team. They bring to our goal of building a grassroots supporter base diverse experience in engaging audiences on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn converting them into active participants in targeted campaigns. Brian’s background in professional film-making and video enlivens our work on all platforms.
The essence of the Respectful Exits campaign is the millions of stories of aging workers struggling to survive the new longevity and the innovative employers who are trying to build new age-inclusive environments. Brian has a unique and impressive track record of superior story-telling. SRW’s impressive client base ranges from companies like Deloitte and P&G, to emerging brands in the natural food space such as Kite Hill and Simple Mills.
Program Advisory Team
Nadia Younes
Coach/Consultant
Nadia has been a leader in D&I and flexibility efforts over two decades in a broad range of US and European corporations as an internal change agent. Her career included leading roles at Wells Fargo, Novartis, Amgen, The International Monetary Fund, Rio Tinto, EDGE, and most recently Zurich Insurance where she worked on European phased retirement. She is a senior consultant with considerable experience analyzing intent-to-retire data.
Having mastered organizational change processes in diverse and challenging environments, she is uniquely qualified to help major employers transform their age-exclusive policies and habits into the age-inclusive practices that mark truly diverse organizations. Her counsel to individuals and companies seeking to normalize phased retirement will help make it commonplace in the years ahead. Nadia lives in Zurich, Switzerland.
Ruth Katz
Coach/Consultant
Ruth’s commitment to work-life and flexibility initiatives spans the course of her lengthy career. She was an early leader in the development of employee assistance, flexibility, and organizational change programs. She continues that dedication as a consultant, conducting employee focus groups and qualitative research, and as an executive coach, working with clients young and old to strengthen and expand their career opportunities.
Ruth’s mastery of coaching, facilitation, and program development includes a strong understanding of the power and design considerations of flexible and phased retirement initiatives, and a deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities inherent in an aging workforce. She brings all that to bear in her efforts to enable creative development of the Respectful Exits agenda.