How Did I Get Here? AARP chief Jo Ann Jenkins has worked with Potuses and Flotuses since 1981

Chief executive officer, AARP

“My father was a merchant marine, and my siblings are all 8 to 10 years older than me, so when my father was out at sea, it was just my mother and me at home.” “I’ve worked for or with every president or first lady since Reagan.” “One of the things I’m proudest of is working closely with Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole to put women in leadership positions throughout the department.” “The big issue was, how do we digitize content? We came up with the digital standards for preservation that libraries and industries around the world use.” “I’ve been focusing on how increased longevity gives us another 20 to 30 years to do something different. We have 38 million members.” “It’s a Jesuit school, like a close-knit family. You got to know your professors closely at a time when that was unusual in universities.” “I tried not to make any unnecessary enemies in Washington. You never know who will be your boss one day.” “It’s a fascinating place. There’s more than 4,000 staff members, with employees who know over 260 languages.” “I’d always wanted to run a nonprofit. In two years, we went from 800,000 donors to 2 million.”

Watching President Obama sign the Improving Medicare Post-acute Care Transformation (Impact) Act of 2014 in the Oval Office

Greeting President Reagan, 1981

Checking out a replica of the Capitol grounds at the Capitol Visitor Center, 2008

High school graduation

With Michael Douglas, 2015

Published by Publicaffairs, 2016