Robert Stephen
Vice President, Family Caregiving
AARP
Bob Stephen is AARP’s Vice President, Caregiving and Health Programs and serves as AARP’s lead for family caregiving. In these roles, he leads the strategy and execution of AARP’s enterprise-wide efforts to help 50 plus Americans live independently as they age, while supporting the 40 million family caregivers who so often make this possible.
Prior to joining AARP in 2010, Bob spent over two decades in strategy development and management consulting where he worked with rural communities and healthcare providers. He has a BA from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University Of Chicago Booth School Of Business.
Erik Gaikowski
State Director
AARP South Dakota
Erik Gaikowski joined AARP as the South Dakota State Director in March 2016, representing over 106,000 AARP members in the state. Erik is a highly respected non-profit leader specializing in volunteer leadership development, strategic staff deployment, and community engagement since 2000.
Previously, Erik led the development and coordination of a statewide advocate network and partner organizations to successfully influence health policy, and also developed strategic partnerships with medical, corporate, and public employers to advance organizational priorities to improve the health of all citizens.
Erik holds a degree in Political Science from Northern State University. He lives in Sioux Falls with his wife Mandy and two young daughters.
Mashell Sourjohn
Associate State Director of Community Outreach
AARP Oklahoma
Mashell currently serves as AARP’s Associate State Director of Community Outreach where her focus is enhancing the quality of life for all Oklahomans as we age in areas of Native American outreach, caregiving, hunger, livable communities, transportation, protecting social security, financial asset protection, fraud prevention, and encore entrepreneurship.
Mashell currently serves on the Pottawatomie County Community Market Food Resource Center Board and on Oklahoma’s REI Women’s Business Center Advisory Board. She is a current member of the Native American Journalist Association, American Society on Aging, and the American Public Health Association.
She has formerly served on the national American Diabetes Association’s Awakening the Spirit Native American Committee, the Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women committee, and the New Mexico Shared Strategic Plan for Prevention and Control of Chronic Disease 2012-2016.
Mashell is a proud citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation and is of Cherokee Nation heritage. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Arts in Administrative Leadership and holds a Master of Jurisprudence in Indian Law from the University of Tulsa College of Law. She is also an alumna of the Oklahoma Public Health Leadership Institute. In 2017, Mashell was awarded the national AARP Sherrie Gordon Award for Excellence in Multicultural Leadership. She is one of only 30 certified Aging in Place Specialist accredited by the National Home Builders Association in the state of Oklahoma. With a matching employee giving program from AARP, Mashell proudly established the Kenneth Sourjohn, Sr. Memorial Scholarship fund via the Muscogee Creek Nation Scholarship Foundation to assist any citizen of the Muscogee Creek Nation in their own purpose driven journey and higher education attainment goals.
Prior to AARP, she was employed at the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association for eleven years in roles such as the Regional Health Equity Director for American Indian and Alaska Native Outreach, State Health Alliance Director, Affiliate Cause Consultant and Interim Vice President of State Health Alliances and Research.
Aietah Stephens
State Director
Sooner SUCCESS
Aietah Stephens’ journey as a parent of child with needs began over 19 years ago. She and husband Lancer are blessed to have four children, their oldest daughter has a rare chromosome anomaly. As a parent, Aietah understands how important it is to support families raising a child with special needs. Aietah is an enrolled member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma. She is also Executive Director for Sooner SUCCESS in the Department of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics located at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Aietah has worked at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center for over 20 years. Sooner SUCCESS works with families one on one in their community to provide supports for the families while working towards more inclusive communities. She has experience in helping families raising a child with special needs, public health program coordination, community inclusion and engagement. Specifically a background in program development, public health school-based programs, prevention program evaluation and community coalition experience to promote health and wellness initiatives on a community level. She is currently serving on the Department of Development and Behavioral Pediatrics Administration Team, Board President on the Lead Learn Live Executive Committee, and serves on the Oklahoma Caregiver Coalition. She earned a Master of Science degree in Student Personnel Services from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, a Bachelor of Science degree, double major, in Communications and Indian Studies from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma in Chickasha, Oklahoma, and an Associate of Arts degree in Liberal Arts from Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.
Karla Abbott DPN RN
Associate Professor, Nursing
Augustana University
Karla Abbott teaches Behavioral Health Nursing, Nursing Leadership and Interdisciplinary Palliative Care at the senior level. An enrolled member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Karla is involved in research that preserves the health of Native Americans and increases Native American participation in the STEM fields. Karla is faculty advisor to the Augustana Nursing Student Association (ANSA). She received her B.S.N. from Michigan State University, her master's in nursing from Augustana, and her DNP from Augsburg College, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Winifred Quinn
Director, Advocacy & Consumer Affairs
AARP CCNA
Winifred Quinn is a highly accomplished 20-year expert in health care policy, advocacy, outreach, and relationship management. Dr. Quinn’s passion is to improve the quality of life for older adults and their families.
Dr. Quinn helps direct a national campaign dedicated to improving health care through nursing, the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, which is guided by the landmark 2011 report, The Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health as well as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s clarion call for achieving health equity. Dr. Quinn directs the Campaign’s access to care strategy and its efforts to help create a more diverse nursing workforce, faculty, and leadership.
Dr. Quinn’s work includes innovations in workforce and technology, and their related policies, and how they can help older adults live at home with dignity.
Dr. Quinn is an alumna of Union County College and Douglass College, Rutgers University. She received her PhD in health communication from Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Her public policy and innovation passion and career are rooted in her young adult experiences of caring for her parents.