AI50

Investor and advisor to early stage and growth businesses in the health and wellness space, with a passion around transforming the quality of living for Older Adults.

Marketing and Strategy Leader committed to helping businesses grow through smarter Branding, Strategy, Customer Acquisition and Product Development/Commercialization.

Abby's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbymillerlevy/

"If you're here for real-talk, stick around.

I talk about my struggle with mental health; working parent anxiety, the importance of a flexible work schedule as a wife, mother, employee and volunteer.

I interviewed for one year after I left the stay-at-home-mom life.

What compelled me to join Matchwell?

Just as I am empowered with a flexible work schedule - we are changing the industry allowing clinicians to find the same.

Organizations are in a clinical staffing crisis.

As a technology company, we support clinical recruitment efforts – helping organizations reduce the need to rely on staffing agencies and overtime by providing a steady stream of PRN staff." - Rachel Nader

Rachel's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelnader/
Website: https://WeMatchWell.com/Senior-Living/

Stelios Valavanis is founder of onShore Security and investor in several early stage companies.

"Boomers are in a different life stage that can offer them exciting new opportunities like pursuing lifelong dreams of entrepreneurship.

My advice to Boomers figuring out their entrepreneurial path would be that In addition to exploring the industries you know well, and/or are passionate about, look at what areas are growing in the economy, and have good trajectories over the next decade or two. In my case, I pivoted my business, onShore Security, about 10 years ago, because the growth opportunity was really in focusing on offering customized cyber security services for our clients. Today onShore Security does that in a way that uniquely positions our clients in sensitive industries like banking and international construction to be truly cyber safe.
Because investors can sometimes see your later start as a potential negative due to sometimes unjustified fears that you may not have the energy to take your dreams all the way like a younger entrepreneur might, you have to be prepared to tell your story about why now, and be ready to show some skin in the game with putting some of your own investment dollars into the business as well.

Know your value, as someone who has leadership skills under your belt, operational hustle, and can leverage years worth of life lessons and experiences.

My wife and I have just recently launched a new business incubator in Evanston, Illinois, just north of the Chicago city limits called The Gallery which can found online at the thegallery.VIP. What we are quickly discovering there is that as everyone is adjusting to the new pandemic era "normals" of today many boomers are envisioning new possibilities for themselves either as solopreneurs or as leaders of larger entities. It's actually an incredible time to do so because change means opportunity. As things are shifting, so are the needs of the marketplace and it's a chance for entrepreneurs to come up with new ways to meet those needs, and capitalize on that.

In a nutshell, boomers have an incredible opportunity window today as so many things are shifting to become more empowered than ever in terms of starting new ventures that fit many of today's new needs in the marketplace. Certainly at our company, things are accelerating as businesses are trying to adjust to today's new normal of Work From Home which is a big trend that is not going anywhere and is in fact growing, and it requires that their cyber security postures are tweaked accordingly because employees are getting on the corporate network from all different locations now and sometimes on different devices increasing the risk of a potential cyber hack many fold.

I encourage all the boomers out there with unrealized dreams of entrepreneurship to seek out the gaps in the marketplace and look at this time of enormous shifts as their time to make it happen." - Stelios Valavanis.

Stelios Valavanis graduated from the University of Chicago in 1988 with a Bachelor's degree in Physics and has 39 years of experience ranging from software development to network design and cybersecurity. He's founded 8 companies, invested in 10 more, sits on various boards, and develops interactive audio installations.

Stelios currently serves on the board of the ACLU of Illinois and is the CEO of onShore Security, an established cybersecurity provider of managed security since 1999, serving primarily the financial services industry.

He is a strong advocate of open source software and its contribution to Internet security.

Stelios' Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stelvalavanis/
onShore Security: https://www.onshore.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/stelvalavanis

Ngan K. MacDonald is an executive with experience in analytics, information management, healthcare reform, IT strategy and business transformation. She leads projects, both large and small, in data, strategy and implementation. "Healthcare is in the midst of a technology and data transformation." - Ngan K. MacDonald.

Ngan's experience in both consulting and corporate enterprise data functions ensures a deep understanding of both what it takes for companies to execute their strategy and how to leverage expert resources in the market. "Data management and analytics go hand in hand to improve business outcomes and communication is key to bridging the gap between technology and business leaders for enterprise alignment." - Ngan K. MacDonald.

Ngan believes passionately that healthcare data needs to be liberated and used to enable better healthcare outcomes. "We have enormous untapped opportunities in healthcare where we have an embarrassment of rich data that needs to be connected and made available to patients and their care givers." - Ngan K. MacDonald.

Ngan's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nganmacdonald/
Website BCBS: https://www.bcbs.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/NganKMacDonald

Ashutosh Saxena received his PhD in Artificial Intelligence with Andrew Ng at Stanford University, and went on to become a pioneering professor at Cornell. He received numerous awards including Sloan Fellowship, MIT Innovators under 35, and 8 people to watch by Smithsonian Institution.

"I realized that elderly living is an under served demographic. The biggest worry people have is that something would happen to them and no one would even know. With advances in Artificial Intelligence and IoT, it is the right time to develop AI for addressing the needs of the seniors. Solutions that help increase their safety and comfort can prolong independent living for seniors.

Prolonging independent living for seniors; If we are able to detect incidents and keep them safe, then they can live longer independently. Risks of COVID-19 have shown how vulnerable they are, and shows the urgency of addressing this. A staff at a senior living community risks infecting them just to check if they are active – this is something technology can help with.

We retrofit the home with IoT devices in just one hour. Seniors require an easy-to-use product, so Caspar.AI provides them with a seamless experience – they do not need to any settings, the AI cares for them. Our artificial intelligence driven solution operates behind the walls, it learns residents’ preferences. Using sensors, it detects and alerts in case there is an incident such as falling or leaving stove on.

Most IoT solutions today send all the data to the cloud.  On the other hand, Caspar.AI keeps the data local to the home, does AI on the edge, and only sends alerts if necessary to the Carecircle. We launched our core product for seniors a few months back. It is already deployed in several locations such as SF Bay Area, Reno, Las Vegas, etc. Now we are partnering with senior housing operators who want to increase safety and comfort of their residents, while increasing their staff’s efficiency." - Ashutosh Saxena

Ashutosh's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saxenaashutosh/
Website: https://cs.stanford.edu/people/asaxena/index.html

Maja Rudinac (VP of Business Development at Caspar.AI) received her PhD in robotics and has over 10 years of experience in building products for seniors (like service robots).

"Our residents living in independent living property in Vegas, have their safety enhanced with Caspar. Caspar.AI will help in prevention, detection, and alerts. For prevention, AI sends wellness reports and manages home to help residents live more healthy. It helps them wake up rested and motivates them to exercise. For detection, it detects if there is an incident 24/7. If there is an incident such as a fall, it alerts the care circle.

Seniors get 24/7 safety and a comfortable living environment in the home. In addition, we increase their engagement. In Revel, all common areas are transformed into safe touchless rooms, so that residents can enjoy their regular hobbies. This helped during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The housing operators and caregivers can enhance their offering with Caspar.AI. It costs just a few hundred dollars, and it takes 1 hour to implement. Just on more efficient operations, costs are quickly returned. Caspar.AI makes it safer for service staff as many things can be done remotely. Also, it saves energy." - Maja Rudinac

Maja's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maja-rudinac-b1aa6a71/

It's all about vibrancy, engagement, activities in stimulation and, further development, whether it's an online class or any skill set they want to acquire. If you're blessed enough to to live in an independent living community that provides it's a perfect fit.

I find these days that the majority of retirement homes are very good homes with very good operators. I think there are very, very few which are not up to standard. I think if you go into a retirement home and you feel a good vibe and you see smiling people around you, you can feel totally comfortable that you will be happy there.

I heard a lot of seniors say they didn't expect to make new friends at 85, but they do. They meet people, other people who are just as lonely and want a new friend, their peers, their age group.

The most beneficial thing about doing a hotel conversion to senior living is the fact that you're saving a lot on your cost and on your time, which means you can then offer better rates. If your product costs you less, you can sell it for less. And we know these days, the cost of a retirement home is high and some people cannot afford it.

If your product costs you less to build then seniors can afford it, you can sell it for lower prices and people can afford to move in hotel hotels in general. And ever since we've done those, every hotel I go into, I start looking around me to figure out, can it be converted to a retirement home?

In general, hotels really lend themselves to conversion. They are built in a way where you have all these independent suites. Usually there's large amenity spaces. So the structure is usually there. So then it's a question of community. A lot of time, hotels are either in downtown a commercial areas, not really residential areas, or sometimes they're on airports or highway ramps, not really where you want to put a retirement home.

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Miri Hadas Koller has almost 30 years of experience in all aspects of real estate, including the marketing of single-family homes and condominium properties, the management of commercial properties, and now more than 10 years experience in the seniors housing sector.

Miri has helped build Greenwood retirement communities from 2 retirement homes to a portfolio of 8 homes, and a team of 500 employees. In February this year Miri joined Yee Hong to help build a culturally appropriate portfolio of retirement communities geared towards the Asian Canadian seniors.

Miri's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/miri-hadas-koller-a4723619/
Yee Hong Seniors Living: https://www.yhsl.ca/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mirikoller

Scott has spent his career in innovation and change, testing the paradigms, constantly moving and learning.

He got turned on to longevity when he started doing marathons and Ironman triathlons in his forties.

Today he focuses on practical methods to extend healthspan and longevity.

Scott works on the five key elements of longevity; the same five key elements that produce the best health because longevity is really a function of PR prolonging health and delaying the onset of disease, or what we typically refer to is age related or, or early onset disease if it's happening younger. Generally around mind, and in simplest form, that's really got a lot to do with attitude and getting your life organized and in shape the things around the environment that's around you.

Scott Fulton, an engineering technology graduate of St. Lawrence College and former researcher, Scott works closely with the health sciences community and is a member of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine.

Scott teaches longevity at the University of Delaware campus and online. His courses span the 5 pillars of longevity, Mind, Environment, Diet, Exercise and Community.

He is also founder of Home Ideations, an online design firm devoted to creating exciting spaces for Boomers who value high function without sacrificing aesthetics.

Scott serves as Treasurer for the National Aging in Place Council and is a frequent guest speaker.

Scott's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottfultonentrepreneur/
Longevity Advantage: https://www.longevityadvantage.com/
Home Ideations LLC: https://www.homeideations.com/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLygQtEiJl8Lm6eRqasFnsQ/videos?view_as=subscriber
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Home_Ideations

Please meet my guest who's approaching life and the practice of medicine with love and respect, Michael D. Fratkin, MD is a builder, an innovator and a dreamer.

We discuss Palliative Care For The 21'st Century and "What Matters".

Standing on a foundation of inspiration and burnout, Dr. Fratkin began creating ResolutionCare Network to build capacity for capable and compassionate palliative care in the rural Northern California community in which he made his home. He has been a transformative and provocative voice for improving the experience of people and families facing the completion of their lives while ensuring that the meaningful professional experiences of those providing care is of equal importance. Furthermore, ResolutionCare Network is revolutionizing healthcare enterprise development as a Certified B Corp launched with a crowdfunding campaign and using technology to connect people to people wherever they are.

Michael's Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-fratkin-4520b081/
ResolutionCare Network: https://www.resolutioncare.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelDFratkin

Sai Raj Kappari is a Clinical Gerontologist and works in emphasizing the biopsychosocial aspects of aging and its impact on the wellbeing of individuals he serves. He has a PharmD and Master of Science in Gerontology from University of Southern California. Dr. Kappari is the co founder of HEMA.Inc a California based corporation providing resources and expertise for older adult organizations. Dr.Kappari is member of California Longterm Care Association and has developed curricula for community colleges and universities across California. Dr.Kappari believes in empowering youth and providing opportunities for those who are willing to learn and lead in the healthcare industry.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sai-raj-kappari-pharmd-msg-35183891/

Dr. Jim Concotelli recently retired after over 30 years in the senior housing industry. He worked in senior leadership positions for several of the largest management companies developing holistic wellness programs and memory care service models. Several of Jim’s programs won national recognition including three Argentum “Best of the Best” awards and an International Council on Active Aging “Innovators Award.” Many of these programs are still active in senior living communities around the US. Currently, his company Living Wise and Well, provides consulting services and online mind/body classes.

You can reach Dr. Concotelli on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jim-concotelli-msw-ph-d-59bb7b74/