Michael Pessman is a Chicago-based gerontologist, writer, and advocate whose life's work is rooted in a simple, stubborn belief: older adults deserve to be seen, heard, and treated with dignity — not sidelined, stereotyped, or forgotten.

That belief was planted early. Raised in the orbit of his grandparents' love and wisdom, Michael grew up understanding that older adults aren't a demographic footnote — they're the backbone of our families, our communities, and our shared history. Decades later, that conviction has become his life's mission.

Today, Michael is a nationally recognized voice in the aging space, with commentary featured in OK Magazine and bylines in the Chicago Sun-Times, The Hill, Next Avenue, KevinMD, and beyond. His writing takes the policy machinery that shapes older adults' lives — Social Security, Medicare, caregiving, the Older Americans Act — and makes it human, urgent, and impossible to look away from.

He's also the founder and editor of Ager Nation, a fast-growing newsletter built to cut through the noise. Every week, Michael sifts through the headlines, the policy fights, and the fine print so older adults and the people who love them don't have to — delivering trusted, curated news in a media landscape that too often overlooks this audience entirely. He started Ager Nation because he saw a gap that felt personal: too many older adults left without timely, reliable information about the decisions being made over their heads, and too many of their voices left out of the conversation altogether. His mission is nothing less than building one of the most trusted news sources in the longevity space — rooted in accuracy, empathy, and respect.

That mission is backed by years in the trenches. At the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center, Michael led community engagement and clinical trial recruitment in under-resourced Chicago neighborhoods. At the Alzheimer's Association, he was the voice on the other end of the helpline for families in crisis. And at Mather, he continues building creative and wellness programming that keeps older adults connected, engaged, and thriving.

Across every one of those roles, Michael has seen firsthand what older adults are up against — ageism, isolation, inequities in care, and policies that fail hardest the people with the fewest resources to absorb the blow. That's the fight he shows up for every day: advancing dignity, confronting ageism head-on, and pushing for stronger policy on aging in place, caregiving, transportation, and affordable housing.

It all comes back to the same conviction: older adults deserve to be informed, respected, and heard. Through Ager Nation and his national advocacy, Michael isn't just writing about that future — he's building the platform, and the movement, to make it real.

A graduate of Concordia University Chicago with a master's degree in gerontology, Michael is a Fellow of The Op-Ed Project and welcomes interviews, speaking engagements, and public discussion on the issues he's devoted his career to.

"We don't run out of value when we get older. We run out of people willing to listen."

— Michael Pessman, Founder & Publisher, Ager Nation Newsletter