About Bay Area Older Adults™
Bay Area Older Adults is a charitable 501(c)3 organization that helps older adults improve the quality of their lives.
How the idea came about
Mission
Vision
Benefits of becoming a member
Our Team
Donors and Sponsors
Volunteering Opportunities
How the idea came about
Bay Area Older Adults (BAO) was created by Anne Ferguson out of her love for her dear grandparents, who passed away several years ago. At BAO, we are inspired by our desire to bring joy to and improve the lives of older adults. Our first offering is a free, comprehensive web–based resource for regional outdoor, fitness, social and cultural activities in the San Francisco Bay Area. The website was designed to be accessible to a wide range of older adults. It is very easy to navigate and includes all the details needed to venture out with confidence. BAO is Anne’s humble offering to the older adult community in the name of her grandparents, Jacqueline and Jean–Paul Latil.
Mission
Bay Area Older Adults' mission is to stimulate the hearts, bodies and minds of older adults through easy access to arts and culture, nature and new friends.
Vision
The vision of Bay Area Older Adults is to promote an active and healthy lifestyle for older adults and build communities of older adults who share common interests.
For nonmembers and members alike
The information offered through the website includes leisure activities such as regional outdoor, outdoor, fitness, social and intellectual activities. Rather than having to search through different newspapers, newsletters, magazines and a host of different internet sites, we collect all of this information for you, in one convenient location with all the details you need to venture out with confidence. Please visit this link for an example of the detailed information we offer. These features make it easier for you to fill your days with activities. For a guide with step by step instructions on how to access the full benefits of the website, please click here.
Benefits of becoming a member
Nonmembers are free to use the website without registering; however, membership is FREE and only requires you to register three pieces of information — your name, zip code and email address (so we can email you member discounts and a list of fun and healthy monthly events). To register as a member, please use this link. Please see our privacy policy that describes the protection of your personal information.
Here are some of the important benefits to becoming a member. As a member, you have FREE access to:
- Member–only discounts: BAO negotiates with other organizations to get discounts on products and services related to our mission, such as yoga and other fitness classes, nature magazines, sporting goods and local wildlife tours.
- Monthly newsletters: Each month, BAO sends you a list of fun and healthy group events so you can explore new places in your community and meet new friends with similar interests.
- Forum: BAO is building a new website feature that will make it easy for you to communicate with other members of the BAO community. This is an opportunity to find others with similar interests, start groups that attend events together and share information.
- Your own personal calendar: Once you find an activity of interest to you, you can easily save this to a day and time of your choice in your calendar. The day before the event, you will be sent a reminder of your plans. This makes it easier for you to schedule fun and healthy activities. For more details, click here.
Our Team
We are a passionate team who all serve Bay Area Older Adults as volunteers.
OFFICERS
Anne Ferguson Ph.D., M.B.A.
Anne is the CEO, Founder and Chair of the Board. She manages Bay Area Older Adults' daily operations, long term strategy, fundraising, programs and volunteers. Her background is in breast cancer scientific research. She transitioned into the commercial sector where she now has over ten years of strategic marketing and business development experience within global biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies such as Molecular Devices, MDS Sciex, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Affymetrix and XOMA. At these companies, she is responsible for closing multi-million dollar alliances and deals with commercial and non–profit entities, management of multi–disciplinary project teams and leading development and execution of business strategy and project plans.
Anne received her Ph.D. from UC San Diego, pursued her American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellowship to identify new breast tumor markers at The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and completed her M.B.A. at San Jose State University.
Shilpa Bhat M.S., M.B.A.
Shilpa serves as CFO and member of the Board. She also advises BAO on program management. She has 12 years of experience in program management for projects with multi-million dollar budgets and has consistently led her team to meet schedule and quality requirements. Currently, she is Senior Program Manager at Covidien, an $11 billion company that creates advances in medical devices and pharmaceutical products to improve lives. Previously, she held program manager positions at Affymetrix and Philips.
Shilpa holds an M.S. and M.B.A. in biomedical engineering from Louisiana Tech University.
ADVISORS
Lori Andersen M.P.A.
Lori helps us connect to the nonprofit organizations that serve older adults in Santa Clara County and provides feedback on strategy and tactics. Lori presently serves as Director of Healthy Aging at The Health Trust. The Healthy Aging Initiative supports programs to ensure that older adults spend more years in good health and engaged as vital members of our community. Lori has extensive experience in the field of aging with over 25 years working in public and non-profit organizations in the areas of planning, program development and operation, grants management and fund development. For eight years she served as Director of Planning for the Council on Aging Silicon Valley responsible for assessing the needs of older adults and building community capacity to address them. As Director of the Bay Area Independent Elders Program, Lori managed a $6 million grants program for a foundation collaborative that was designed to strengthen and expand local resources for long term care programs. Prior to joining The Health Trust, Lori administered the grants programs for the Alzheimer's Association of Northern California and Northern Nevada.
Lori holds an M.P.A. from the University of Southern California and a B.A. in Government and Public Administration from American University in Washington D.C.
Nusrat Khaleeli Ph.D., J.D.
Dr. Khaleeli supports and counsels BAO on contracts, trademarks, patents and copyrights. She is currently of counsel at TechLaw, LLP, specializing in patent law. Previously, she held positions at Perkins Coie LLP and King and Spalding LLP. She is a member of the State Bar of California.
Nusrat holds a J.D. from Santa Clara University School of Law where she served as a Technical Editor for the Computer and High Technology Law Journal and received a High tech Law Certificate. She won the Witkin Academic Excellence Award in technology licensing. Nusrat also holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from The Johns Hopkins University.
Bronwyn Barnett M.A.
Bronwyn is BAO's marketing communications advisor. She currently serves as Deputy Director of Communications at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, where she leads the lab's external communications initiatives. Prior to joining SLAC, Bronwyn managed the marketing communications team at Affymetrix and was responsible for marketing and branding strategy, creative direction, social media, advertising and integrated campaign planning. Previously, she was Managing Editor at Red Herring magazine, a weekly print publication.
Bronwyn holds a master's degree in journalism from Stanford University and a bachelor's degree in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
Lynnette Vega M.A.
Lynnette provides creative and logistical advice on BAO programs. She has nearly 30 years experience developing and directing innovative social, cultural, educational and health-related programs for older adults and adults with disabilities in the Bay Area. She has worked at LGS Recreation, Lytton Gardens Health Care Center and Fair Oaks Senior Center. Additionally, Lynnette is a Community Education instructor for Foothill College's Adaptive Learning Division.
Lynnette has a Masters Art Therapy from Notre Dame de Namur University.
Donors and Sponsors
Bay Area Older Adults™ is a tax-exempt charitable organization, qualified under section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Code. All contributions and sponsorships are tax-deductible. For more information about individual and corporate donations and sponsorships, please visit the donation and sponsorship page
How to become actively involved with Bay Area Older Adults™
Please email us at share@bayareaolderadults.org if you are interested in volunteering.
