Debra Bailey Whitman
Debra Bailey Whitman is AARP’s Executive Vice President, Policy, Strategy and International Affairs. She is an authority on aging issues with extensive experience in national policymaking, research, and the political process. She oversees AARP’s Public Policy Institute and several other offices. She works closely with the board and National Policy Council on a broad agenda to develop AARP policy priorities and make life better for older Americans. As staff director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, she worked to increase retirement security, preserve a strong system of Social Security, lower the cost of health care and make the pharmaceutical industry more transparent. From 2001 to 2003, she served as a Brookings LEGIS Fellow to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, working as a health policy adviser to Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.She holds a master’s and doctorate in economics from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s from Gonzaga University.
