Linda Krogh Harootyan served as the Deputy Executive Director for The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) for over a decade. Ms. Harootyan served as the Project Director for the Hartford National Center on Gerontological Social Work Excellence and co-directed the Change AGEnts Initiative. For 12 years, she partnered with Brian Lindberg to conduct policy institutes for Hartford nurse, social and medical faculty scholars. In addition to her senior management role at GSA, she designed and managed numerous grants and programs. Working with the Task Force on Minority Issues in Gerontology, she initiated and secured funding to launch a major initiative within the organization to address minority issues in aging. She also helped develop “Civic Engagement in an Older America,” a five-year initiative funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies. The capstone event was a summit on entrepreneurship and self-employment that brought together thought leaders from the private and public sectors to build a blueprint for research, programs, policies and capitalization options to advance this important area. In partnership with New America Media, Ms. Harootyan, in collaboration with Paul Kleyman, developed the Journalists in Aging Fellows Program, which brings journalists to GSA’s annual meeting to learn about aging issues and meet with experts.
Ms. Harootyan was a co-author of The Common Stake: The Interdependence of Generations, a publication that filled an important gap in the intergenerational debate. She co-wrote a chapter on “National Advocacy Groups for Older Adults” in the Handbook of Social Work and Health and Aging and was co-editor with Dr. Barbara Berkman of Social Work and Health Care in an Aging Society: Informing Education, Policy, Practice and Research.
In 2013, Ms. Harootyan served as the chair of Friends of the National Institute on Aging, a coalition of more than 60 organizations supporting the efforts of the NIA. She also served on the national advisory Boards for the National Hartford Centers of Gerontological Nursing Excellence and the Council on Social Work Education Gero-Ed Center. She also served on the planning team for the PBS Ageing Initiative funded by the Atlantic Philanthropies. For 3 decades, Ms. Harootyan served as a representative to the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations, an influential Washington, DC-based coalition of 50 aging organizations.
In 2016, Ms. Harootyan retired from GSA after 36 years. She and Bob Harootyan created a consulting business, Harootyan2, LLC, which focuses on aging program development and evaluation. They have helped clients secure more than $1.2 million in grants to date.