About Our Team

The People Say is a joint initiative of The SCAN Foundation and the Public Policy Lab. The SCAN Foundation is an independent public charity devoted to transforming care for older adults to ensure all of us can age well with purpose. The Public Policy Lab is a nonprofit design and innovation lab for the public sector.

Public Policy Lab

Core Team

  • Jessica Francois, Researcher
  • Raj Kottamasu, Senior Principal (Research Lead)
  • Chelsea Mauldin, Executive Director
  • Giselly Mejia, Lead
  • John Payne, Head of Design
  • Petey Routzahn, Senior Lead (Design and Project Management Lead)
  • Tanvi Sharma, Fellow
  • Ying Tang, Senior Analyst
  • Antonia Yunge, Senior Lead

Additional Support

  • Brendan Mapes, Senior Analyst
  • Shanti Mathew, Managing Director
  • Stephanie Yim, Operations Director

The SCAN Foundation

Core Team

  • Narda Ipakchi, Vice President for Policy
  • Kali Peterson, Program Officer

Advisory Committee 

To deepen the value and utility of this project, the Public Policy Lab and The SCAN Foundation assembled a diverse advisory committee to bring their expertise and perspective to this work. Committee members provided input on project inquiry areas, research locations, research methodologies, and how to best organize and frame findings to accelerate equitable policy change and health-system improvements. 

The committee—composed of two dozen leaders from government, advocacy organizations, academic centers and think tanks, and industry—convened virtually in group at four points over the initial course of the project. Additionally, many committee members provided written feedback and also sat for individual interviews with project researchers.

  • Adimika Meadows Arthur, CEO/Executive Director, HealthTech for Medicaid (HT4M)
  • Sara Cantor, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Greater Good Studio
  • Denny Chan, Managing Director, Equity Advocacy, Justice in Aging
  • Marc A. Cohen, PhD, Co-director, LeadingAge LTSS Center, UMASS Boston
  • Natalie Davis, CEO, United States of Care
  • Tim Engelhardt, Director, Medicare-Medicaid Coordination Office, US HHS Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
  • Ariele Faber, Chief Experience Officer for 
the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
  • Richard G. Frank, The Brookings Institution
  • Vicki Gottlich, Director, Center for Policy and Evaluation, US HHS Administration for Community Living (ACL)
  • S. Orlene Grant, President and CEO, The Juanita C. Grant Foundation
  • Nat Kendall-Taylor, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, FrameWorks Institute
  • Ariel Kennan, Senior Director, Digital Benefits Network, Beeck Center for Social Impact & Innovation, Georgetown University
  • Jennifer P. Lundblad, PhD, MBA, President and CEO, Stratis Health
  • Kate McEvoy, JD, Executive Director, National Association of Medicaid Directors (NAMD)
  • Laura Mosqueda, MD, Senior Advisor, National Center on Elder Abuse; Professor of Family Medicine and Geriatrics, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California
  • Hector Ortiz, Senior Policy Analyst, US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
  • Rani E. Snyder, Vice President, Program, The John A. Hartford Foundation
  • Fernanda Villaseñor, Principal, Cities for Financial Empowerment (CFE) Fund
  • Sherrie Wallington, PhD, Associate Professor, George Washington School of Nursing
  • Jennifer B. Young, Partner, Tarplin, Downs & Young LLC

We also appreciated the input of our federal liaison:

  • Sean Bruna, PhD, Senior Advisor, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Other Project Support

Research Assistance

Community-Based Organizations

The project team is deeply grateful for the many local staff members across the country who provided support during our research fieldwork, including:

  • Nina Alton, Family & Adult Services Coordinator, Resource Center
  • Pam Appleby, Polk County Congregate Meal Site
  • Ashlyn Black, Parkway Recreation Center
  • Theresa Carey, Manager, West Alabama Senior Center
  • Shadrach Collins, Jr., Recreation Superintendent, City of Mobile Parks and Recreation 
  • Mary Ganguli, Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh
  • Mary Harris, Southwest Pennsylvania Area Agency on Aging
  • Patricia Ivy, Director, Selma Senior Center
  • Zhikang Ling, Director, Homecrest Bensonhurst Community Center
  • Samuel McCrorey, Senior Services Manager, Polk County Iowa Government
  • Maribel Mendez, Program Director, DayOut, ADHC El Centro
  • Danielle Taylor, Layden Senior Center
  • Eileen Yu, Director, Homecrest Sheepshead Bay Center

Greater Good Studio

Big thanks to the team at Greater Good for providing contacts and assisting with research in California. 

  • Ruti Prudencio, Senior Designer, Greater Good Studio
  • Sarah Yang, Former Design Research Lead, Greater Good Studio

Public Relations

  • Rachel Griffith, Vice President, McCabe Message Partners
  • Patrick McCabe, President, McCabe Message Partners
  • Jameson Roth, Senior Account Manager, McCabe Message Partners

Video Production

  • Nicole Chin, Translator
  • Linda Huang, Video Editor
  • Adam Saewitz, Lead Video Editor 

Web Development

Development and technological solutions were provided by Make Repeat.

  • Will Garrison, Senior Software Engineer, Make Repeat
  • Whit Nelson, Principal, Make Repeat