National Committee Board of Directors

Barbara B. Kennelly - National Committee President and CEO

National Committee President and CEO Barbara B. Kennelly has spent 25 years in public service at local, state and federal levels, including 17 years as a member of the U.S. Congress.  A former ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee's Subcommittee on Social Security, Mrs. Kennelly was the first woman to serve as Chief Majority Whip and she was Vice Chair of the House Democratic Caucus. She was also the first woman to serve on the House Committee on Intelligence. Throughout her career, Mrs. Kennelly has advocated for Social Security, Medicare and other health and retirement issues. After leaving Congress, she served as Counselor to the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.  Mrs. Kennelly served on the 2005 White House Conference on Aging.  In 2006, Mrs. Kennelly was appointed to the Social Security Advisory Board by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Mrs. Kennelly resides in Hartford, Connecticut and Washington DC .

View Barbara B. Kennelly's Facebook Page

Carroll L. Estes, Ph.D. - Chairperson

Dr. Estes joined the Board of Directors in 2002. She is a professor of Sociology at the University of California , San Francisco (UCSF). She is the founding and former director of the Institute for Health and Aging (1979-1998) and the former Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, School of Nursing , UCSF. Dr. Estes is a member of the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, and past president of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), the American Society on Aging (ASA), and the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE). She has served as consultant to the U.S. Commissioner of Social Security and the U.S. Senate and House committees on aging for more than two decades. She resides in Healdsburg, California .

Agenda for Action: Building a Movement for Elder Women's Advocacy

Sandra G. Wagenfeld - Vice Chair

Mrs. Wagenfeld joined the Board of Directors in 2003.  She is president of Aviation Products, Management, Inc., the umbrella organization for two aviation-related companies, which deal with reducing the environmental impact of commercial jet noise, without degrading aircraft safety, fuel efficiency and overall performance.  Mrs. Wagenfeld is also the owner and chair of SWINGSHIFT, Inc. of New York , NY and SWINGSHIFT, LLC of Greenwich, CT.  Mrs. Wagenfeld is active in a wide range of civic, political, and philanthropic endeavors, her Board memberships include:  The Metropolitan Opera and Connecticut Voices for children.  Mrs. Wagenfeld resides in Westport , Connecticut and New York City .

Patricia G. Archbold, D.N.Sc., R.N. - Secretary

Pat Archbold joined the Board of Directors in 2005.   Dr. Archbold is Professor Emerita from the Oregon Health & Sciences University where she was the founding Director of the J.A. Hartford Center of Geriatric Nursing Excellence.  Since 2005 she has been Program Director for the J.A.Hartford Foundation's national initiative, Building Academic Geriatric Nursing Capacity at the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Archbold's research focuses on understanding family care for frail elders, and developing health system interventions to support families in their role. Dr. Archbold resides in Montpelier,Vermont.

Shelly C. Shapiro, CPA - Treasurer

Shelly C. Shapiro was the Chief Financial Officer for the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare from 1995 to 2005. During that time, she was responsible for all aspects of the National Committee's financial operations, including planning, budgeting, reporting and analysis, cash flow projection, and treasury functions.   She also managed the human resources, facilities management and information systems departments.  Prior to this she served as the Manager of Not-for-Profit Practice for KPMG Peat Marwick LLP, Washington , D.C. Mrs. Shapiro received her BS in Management -Accounting from A.B. Freeman School of Business, Tulane University. Mrs. Shapiro resides in Rockville, MD.

Catherine Dodd

Catherine L. Dodd, PhD, RN, has devoted the last two decades to public policy in the area of health and human services.  She currently serves in San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's cabinet as Deputy Chief of Staff overseeing Health, Human Services, Workforce Development, Aging Services, Community Courts and Civic Engagement.  Prior to joining the Mayor's staff, she was District Chief of Staff to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) and prior to that she served as Region IX Director of Health and Human Services as an appointee of President Clinton. Catherine has served many non-profit organizations as an enthusiastic board member, among them the Glide Methodist Church , the Homeless Prenatal Program and Zen Hospice.  She has also held many leadership positions at the state and national level in the American Nurses Association.

Mitchell Kaplan

Mr. Kaplan joined the Board of Directors in 2006.  He is the co-founder of the Kaplan Stahler Agency, a boutique literary agency located in Beverly Hills that handles a diverse group of clients from motion picture /TV writers to reality TV producers. Mr. Kaplan is a graduate of the NYU School of Commerce.  He also served in the U.S. Air Force and the New York Air National Guard.  Mr. Kaplan is actively involved in many organizations.    Mr. Kaplan serves on the Boards of the Alliance for Children's Rights, the National Committee for an Effective Congress, and ACLU Foundation of Southern California .  Mr. Kaplan resides with his wife, Marilyn Jones, in Hollywood.

Hans Riemer

Mr. Riemer joined the Board of Directors in 2006.  He is a senior advisor at AARP.  Previously, he was the key, early staffer in charge of getting young people out to vote for the Barack Obama campaign during the primaries.  His youth vote experience began as Political and Issues Director for Rock the Vote, the Los Angeles based nonprofit organization dedicated to building political power for young people. From 2001-2003, Mr. Riemer was a senior policy analyst directing the Social Security Information Project at the Institute for America's Future, a progressive research and advocacy organization. While there, he ran a national coalition of organizations dedicated to protecting Social Security.  From 1996-2001, Mr. Riemer was the director of the 2030 Center, a public policy organization for young adults focused on economic issues and particularly Social Security, which he founded at the age of 23.  Mr. Riemer resides in Silver Spring , Maryland.

Maya Rockeymoore, Ph.D.

Dr. Rockeymoore joined the Board of Directors in 2005.  Dr. Rockeymoore is a scholar and activist with expertise in an array of social and political issues.  She currently teaches a course on The Politics and Policy of Race and Gender at the American University .  Dr. Rockeymoore is the former Vice President of Research and Programs at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.  Prior to joining the CBCF, she served as the Senior Resident Scholar for Health and Income Security at the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality. Dr. Rockeymoore resides in Washington, D.C.

"Health Care Reform - A Step Forward But Long Road Ahead"

Bill Vaughan

Bill Vaughan is currently a consultant in the health sector for Consumers Union, the non-profit, independent publisher of Consumer Reports. Starting in 1965 he worked for various Members of the House of Representatives' Ways and Means Committee, and retired in 2001 as Health Subcommittee Staff Director for the Minority. Between 2003 and May 2005 he was Director of Government Relations for Families USA, a national health advocacy organization.