Beth R. Finkel

Beth R. Finkel is the State Director of AARP New York. She leads the day-to-day operations of the most visible and successful organization in the State, advocating for New York’s 50-plus population.

Under Ms. Finkel’s leadership, AARP’s powerful lobbying efforts on behalf of its 2.5 million New York members and their families have led to historic New York State reforms. In her role as Director, she specialized in programming and advocacy for older New Yorkers, including passage of the Secure Choice Savings Program, CARE Act, assisted living protections, antipredatory lending, paid family leave, affordable housing and right to counsel, and master plan for aging. In addition, she has worked on numerous bills on kinship care and groundbreaking State legislation to improve nursing home conditions, ban utility shutoffs, allow for universal absentee voting, and expand access to online food ordering and delivery through SNAP.

Ms. Finkel conceived of and launched Disrupt Disparities, the first holistic approach to inequities in health, economic security and livable communities of 50-plus populations. This initiative has now become an AARP-wide enterprise.

Throughout her years at AARP New York, Ms. Finkel was at the helm where she led and developed the statewide Kincare Coalition and New York’s Older Adults Hunger Stakeholders Coalition. She convened the first Older Adults Hunger Summit to find solutions to barriers of food insecurity, and co-created the NYS Medicare Savings Program Taskforce, a consortium of government, public policymakers and advocates who worked to break down obstacles to enrollment of low-income Medicare beneficiaries.

Ms. Finkel also serves on New York State’s Secure Choice Board, Food Policy Workgroup, Women and Finance Taskforce, Rx Affordability Board and the New York City Age Friendly Commission.
 
Ms. Finkel has published numerous white papers and research reports on hunger, kinship care, caregiving and more. City & State, in its annual Albany Power 100, regularly names her. 

A native New Yorker, Ms. Finkel holds a Master’s degree in Social Work from Yeshiva University in Community Organizing and a Bachelor of Science from American University in Business Administration. She and her husband live in Manhattan.