Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D. is a visionary gerontologist, psychologist, educator, lecturer, consultant, entrepreneur, and best-selling author of over 16 books on aging-related issues. Dr. Ken Dychtwald has dedicated his life to battling myths and stereotypes about aging and advancing new, game-changing, vital, positive roles and images for those in the later decades of life.

As an acknowledged authority on Baby Boomer demographic trends and mature marketplace opportunities, he is also the founder and CEO of Age Wave, a specialized firm which conducts benchmark research in the field and provides consulting services to business and non-profits worldwide on a broad range of issues relating to aging populations.

These include healthcare, home care, Social Security funding, longer working lives, buying power, retirement savings and pensions, housing communities, political clout (a larger percentage of over-65 voters go to the polls than any other age group), and much more. The pressing issues facing families, the general public, government officials, companies, the medical and legal professions, and institutions of all kinds is long and urgent—especially as the huge “Baby Boomer” generation matures rapidly and new longevity records are established every year.

Early life and career

Ken Dychtwald grew up in Newark, NJ. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Union Graduate School, a consortium of 30 universities. In 1973, at age 23, he became co-director of SAGE. Funded by the National Institutes of Health, SAGE investigated how newly popular mind/body disciplines, such as yoga, meditation, nutrition therapy, and biofeedback could improve the health and well-being of older adults. At age 27, he published his first book, Bodymind, based on his doctoral thesis, and became a pioneering international authority on holistic health and lifelong self development. In 1982, Dychtwald joined a panel created by the Office of Technology Assessment, a think tank for the US Congress, to examine how population aging would impact America in the 21st century. In 1983, Dychtwald married Maddy Kent Dychtwald, a professional lecturer, author and co-founder of Age Wave. They have two children, Casey and Zak.

Dr. Dychtwald founded California Bay Area-based Age Wave in 1986—an entrepreneurial enterprise and consultancy to major corporations, helping them develop products, branding, marketing, and distribution strategies for the “mature market.”

Clients have included nearly half the Fortune 500, such as American Express

American Express

American Express Company or AmEx, is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Three World Financial Center, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States. Founded in 1850, it is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The company is best...

, Ameriprise

Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one of the leading diversified financial services companies in the U.S. Ameriprise Financial engages in business through its...

, Baxter International

Baxter International

Baxter International Inc. , is an American health care company with headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois. The company primarily focuses on products to treat hemophilia, kidney disease, immune disorders and other chronic and acute medical conditions...

, CBS Inc., Chrysler

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

, the Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company is an American multinational beverage corporation and manufacturer, retailer and marketer of non-alcoholic beverage concentrates and syrups. The company is best known for its flagship product Coca-Cola, invented in 1886 by pharmacist John Stith Pemberton in Columbus, Georgia...

, General Motors

General Motors

General Motors Company , commonly known as GM, formerly incorporated as General Motors Corporation, is an American multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Detroit, Michigan and the world's second-largest automaker in 2010...

, Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....

, McDonald’s, Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

, Merck

Merck & Co.

Merck & Co., Inc. , also known as Merck Sharp & Dohme or MSD outside the United States and Canada, is one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world. The Merck headquarters is located in Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, an unincorporated area in Readington Township...

, Prudential

Prudential Financial

The Prudential Insurance Company of America , also known as Prudential Financial, Inc., is a Fortune Global 500 and Fortune 500 company whose subsidiaries provide insurance, investment management, and other financial products and services to both retail and institutional customers throughout the...

, RJR Nabisco

RJR Nabisco

RJR Nabisco, Inc., was an American conglomerate formed in 1985 by the merger of Nabisco Brands and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company. RJR Nabisco was purchased in 1988 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co...

, Sara Lee

Sara Lee

Sara Lee Corporation is a global consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois, USA. It has operations in more than 40 countries and sells its products in over 180 nations worldwide...

, Time Inc.

Time Inc.

Time Inc. is a subsidiary of the media conglomerate Time Warner, the company formed by the 1990 merger of the original Time Inc. and Warner Communications. It publishes 130 magazines, most notably its namesake, Time...

, and Warner-Lambert. For example, Age Wave advised Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson

Johnson & Johnson is an American multinational pharmaceutical, medical devices and consumer packaged goods manufacturer founded in 1886. Its common stock is a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the company is listed among the Fortune 500....

 in the ideation and development of Tylenol Arthritis Pain medication, and helped Chrysler

Chrysler

Chrysler Group LLC is a multinational automaker headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, USA. Chrysler was first organized as the Chrysler Corporation in 1925....

 engineers create cars designed for the physical limitations and needs of older adults. In 1996, he received the American Society on Aging Award for outstanding national leadership in the field of aging.

Age Wave

Ken Dychtwald developed the concept of the age wave, writing a book and starting a company of the same name. “Age wave” refers specifically to a massive population and cultural shift caused by three converging global demographic forces:

• The Baby Boom. In the middle of the twentieth century, fertility rates increased significantly in the United States, Canada, Australia, and most of Europe. For example, nearly one-third of Americans—76 million people—were born between 1946 and 1964. This period of increased fertility occurred between the baby busts of the Depression and World War II and the Vietnam war.
• Elevating longevity. Due to advances in public health, nutrition management and medical advances, life expectancy vaulted during the 20th century. In the United States, life expectancy at birth in 1900 was 47. Today, life expectancy at birth in the United States is 78.
• The birth dearth. The Baby Boom has been followed by a period of declining fertility rates, so that many parts of the world are now experiencing sub-replacement fertility levels.

According to Dr. Dychtwald, the “age wave” has already reshaped social and cultural trends, marketplace opportunities, productivity, and consumption patterns. Because of its enormous size and unique preferences and priorities, the men and women of this generation don’t just populate existing lifestages or consumer trends, they transform them. Some examples of cultural, demographic and consumer trends and events driven by the "age wave" include:

• Benjamin Spock’s book, The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, published during the first year of the Baby Boom, sold at least one million copies a year for eight straight years.
• 1.5 million cans of baby food were consumed in 1953, almost six times as many as a decade before.
• Enrollment in the Cub Scouts doubled between 1950 and 1955.
• The toy industry increased fifteen-fold in the 1940s and 1950s to meet the needs of rapidly growing numbers of children.
• 83 percent of the total population growth in the United States during the 1950s was in the suburbs as parents of the Baby Boomers moved out of the cities to raise their larger families.
• In the 1960s, teenagers accounted for 55 percent of all soft drink sales, 53 percent of all movie tickets, and 43 percent of all records sold. Fast food franchisers grew 20 percent a year.
• Sales of home gym equipment rose from $75 million in 1982 to over $1 billion in 1985.
• Minivans and SUVs were created and came to dominate the auto industry in the 1980s and 1990s as Baby Boomers began raising families.
• The age wave will cause a massive slowdown in workforce growth in the coming years. In the next decade, America’s workforce will grow only 4 percent as the boomers begin to retire, down from 12 percent in the current decade and 29 percent in the 1970s when the boomers were entering the workforce.

Dr. Dychtwald argues that as the boomer generation continues to mature, life’s second half will be further transformed and that, in the next several decades, this age wave will shift the epicenter of consumer activity from a focus on youth to the needs, challenges, and aspirations of maturing consumers. Because of the aging of the boomer generation, we are on the cusp of an explosion of maturity-oriented products and services such as: nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals, fitness communes, re-careering, philanthropreneuring, career-transition coordinators, smart homes, long-term care and longevity insurance, equity release

Equity release

Equity release is a means of retaining use of your house or other object which has capital value, while also obtaining a lump sum or a steady stream of income, using the value of the house....

 reverse mortgages, college campus-based retirement housing and Internet cemeteries.

However, the "age wave" will also put unprecedented pressure on families, communities and governments as multiplying numbers of older adults strain entitlements, eldercare, healthcare delivery and pensions.

Middlescence

In 1988, Dr. Dychtwald began popularizing the term “middlescence"; with the modern postponement of old age due to extended longevity, and the multiplying numbers of people who were reinventing themselves post-youth, a new middlescent lifestage was rising up between 45 and 65. Like adolescence (identified and named by Dr. Stanley Hall in 1904), middlescence is emerging because a sizable group is not quite ready for life’s next stages—in this case, late adulthood and old age. Also, like adolescence, Dychtwald believes that this new middlescence is already demonstrating some identity disorientation, it will likely turn out to be a period of high-spirited growth and ascension, not retreat and decline. Building upon Erik Erikson’s theories about the unique psychosocial crises accompanying each lifestage, Dychtwald believes that middlescence is a time for the deeper and further development of self, and is a period of mounting tension between resilience and brittleness. He first popularized this notion in his 1990 videotape program “Middlescence and Beyond,” and wrote more extensively about this new lifestage in his 1999 book, Age Power: How the 21st Century will be Ruled by the New Old (J. P. Tarcher). His 2006 article – co-written with Bob Morison and Tamara Erickson - in the Harvard Business Review titled “Managing Middlescence” applied his psychosocial theories to multigenerational workforce management.

Career Highlights

1974: Co-founded the “Holistic Health Council” – from which evolved both the SAGE project, which he co-directed for five years, and the wider holistic health movement, generally.

1982: Served as advisor to the Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Congress.

1986: Coined the phrase “Age Wave” and then founded and served as President and CEO of the similarly named Age Wave enterprise, created to guide “Fortune 500” companies and government groups in product/service development targeted at aging “Baby Boomers” and mature adults. His client list eventually included more than half of the “Fortune 500.”

1988: Featured in Inc Magazine’s cover story on “Redesigning America.”

1995: Named a delegate and featured presenter at the “White House Conference on Aging.”

1998: Conceived the “Ageless Heroes” PBS special and complementary national awards program, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Co-chaired the awards presentation with President George H. W. Bush.

1998-2000: Featured presenter at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

2000: Chosen by Peter Jennings and ABC News on New Year’s Day to serve as the global expert on worldwide demographic shifts for the New Millennium.

2003: Featured on 60 Minutes in a special report on “The Age Wave.”

2005: Named a delegate and featured presenter at the “White House Conference on Aging.”

2005: Featured presenter at the annual Financial Services Roundtable, the premier executive forum for leaders of the U.S. financial services industry.

2004–2006: Served as Senior Advisor on global aging to the Chairman of HSBC and oversaw a number of widely acclaimed studies about the future of longevity and retirement in twenty countries.

2006: Delivered a keynote address at News Corporation’s Global Executive Management Conference, along with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Al Gore and Bono.

2007: Produced and hosted the two-hour PBS special, “The Boomer Century: 1946-2046,” which aired over 2,000 times.

2010: Delivered the keynote presentation and chaired a panel of the nation’s leading experts on “The Aging of America: Triumph or Tragedy?” for the joint conference of the American Society on Aging/National Council on Aging conference.

Notable Publications

1977: Authored Bodymind, still in print in 12 languages.

1980: Authored Millennium: Glimpses Into the 21st Century, in collaboration with Jonas Salk, Carl Rogers, and Timothy Leary, among others.

1989: Authored Age Wave: The Challenges and Opportunities of an Aging Society, still in print.

1989: Coined the term “eldercare” and then authored two books on the subject: Implementing Eldercare Services and New Directions in Eldercare Services.

1999: Authored Age Power: How the 21st Century Will Be Ruled by the New Old, still in print.

2004: Co-authored article, “It’s Time to Retire Retirement,” in the Harvard Business Review.

2005: Authored The Power Years: A User’s Guide to the Rest of Your Life, still in print.

2006: Authored Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Shortage of Skills and Talent that is still in print.

2008: Authored Gideon’s Dream: A Tale of New Beginnings, an illustrated children’s book about metamorphosis and transformation in adult life that is still in print.

2009: Authored With Purpose: Going from Success to Significance in Work and Life. Re-issued in paperback in 2010 as A New Purpose, Redefining Money, Family, Work, Retirement and Success.

2010: Co-authored New York Times Op-Ed, “The Age of Alzheimer’s,” with Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and Nobel Laureate Stanley Prusiner. Widely re-published and re-posted on the Internet over 50,000 times in one week.

Select Awards and Honors

In 2003, Dr. Dychtwald was honored by American Demographics Magazine as the country’s most influential marketer to aging Baby Boomers over the past quarter century.

He was also the recipient of “The American Society on Aging Award” for outstanding national leadership in the field of aging. His article in The Harvard Business Review, “It’s Time to Retire Retirement,” earned him the coveted “McKinsey Award” as “the best article” of the year 2004.

Personal Testimonials

“I have been learning from Ken Dychtwald for years and am convinced that he is today’s most innovative and original thinker on this important subject.”

- President Jimmy Carter

“Ken Dychtwald has a unique ability to blend cutting-edge social science and unrivaled knowledge about the marketing and workforce implications of the global age wave with world-class presentation showmanship. The response to his talks to our “Committee of 100” leadership has been tremendous and he has managed to earn the highest speaker ratings in our history of meetings. His presentation style is riveting, his knowledge base grows even stronger with the years and his understanding and insightful solutions are truly visionary. I highly recommend Ken Dychtwald to any organization seeking a show-stopping keynoter.”

- Thomas J. Donohue, President and CEO, U.S. Chamber of Commerce

“You have a real gift for communicating with others. On a scale of 100, you received an average score of 98%. Obviously, this is just about as close to being perfect as you can get. We have enjoyed many top-ranked speakers over the years, including Dr. Victor Frankel, Mother Teresa, David Brinkley, George Will, Chris Matthews, Cokie Roberts, Congressman Claude Pepper and Senator Ted Kennedy, but no one was ever better received than you.”

- Val J. Halamandaris, President, National Association for Home Care and Hospice

“Congratulations! Your presentation at our annual convention generated the highest speaker rating in the 24-year history of this event.”

- Jack O’Neill, Vice President Education and Conference Services, Securities Industry Association

“The global population is turning gray—and no one understands the economic, social, and personal impact of this better than Ken Dychtwald.”

- Sir Martin Sorrell, Chairman and Chief Executive, WPP Group, plc

Recent developments

In 2005 - 2006, Dychtwald served as Editorial Director for a quarterly series in the New York Times Magazine entitled “Empowered Living.”

In 2007, he directed and hosted the PBS special The Boomer Century, produced by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Joel Westbrook and Neil Steinberg and co-written by two-time Academy Award winner Mark Harris. The program included interviews with famous Baby Boomers—academics and authors including Oliver Stone, Rob Reiner, Julian Bond, Erica Jong, Eve Ensler, Lester Thurow and Alvin Toffler. The program aired more than 2,000 times on PBS stations nationwide.

His most recent PBS special “With Purpose” aired nationwide in 2009 to coincide with the book release of the same title.

Dr. Dychtwald is frequently quoted in international media such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Fortune, Time, Newsweek, Business Week, U.S. News and World Report, The Economist, 60 Minutes, Good Morning America, ABC World News Tonight, Today Show, and BBC.

Dr. Dychtwald has created and overseen national and global studies on key population aging trends and implications in partnership with companies such as Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab may refer to:*Charles M. Schwab , American steel magnate*Charles R. Schwab , founder of the eponymous brokerage*Charles Schwab Corp., an American based brokerage firm...

, Genworth

Genworth Financial

Genworth Financial is a Fortune 500 global financial security company that specializes in life and long term care insurance, wealth management, mortgage insurance, lifestyle protection insurance and annuities...

, HSBC

HSBC

HSBC Holdings plc is a global banking and financial services company headquartered in Canary Wharf, London, United Kingdom. it is the world's second-largest banking and financial services group and second-largest public company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine...

, Ameriprise

Ameriprise Financial

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. is one of the leading diversified financial services companies in the U.S. Ameriprise Financial engages in business through its...

, Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch

Merrill Lynch is the wealth management division of Bank of America. With over 15,000 financial advisors and $2.2 trillion in client assets it is the world's largest brokerage. Formerly known as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., prior to 2009 the firm was publicly owned and traded on the New York...

, SunAmerica, Viacom

Viacom

Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...

, and Allianz

Allianz

SE is a global financial services company headquartered in Munich, Germany. Its core business and focus is insurance. As of 2010, it was the world's 12th-largest financial services group and 23rd-largest company according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine.Its Allianz Global Investors...

. These studies have covered topics such as emerging models of aging and retirement around the world, retirement attitudes and preparation among Baby Boomers, boomer attitudes and expectations for media and entertainment, the stages of retirement, retirement preparation among four generations of Americans, and the impact of the recent recession on retirement.

Books

• Bodymind
• Age Wave: The Challenges and Opportunities of an Aging Society
• Healthy Aging
• Age Power
• Leaving a Legacy: The Essential Resource for Financial Professionals
• The Power Years: A User's Guide to the Rest of Your Life
• Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills and Talent
• Handbook of the New American Workforce
• Gideon’s Dream: A Tale of New Beginnings
• With Purpose: Going From Success to Significance in Work and Life