10:00–10:10 – Opening Remarks

  • Alan Murray, president, Pew Research Center (moderator)

10:10–10:30: Opening Presentation: The Next America
Highlights from a new book about America’s generations and the demographic overhauls that will shape the future.

  • Paul Taylor, executive vice president of special projects, Pew Research Center

10:30–11:45 – Panel 1: Family and Society
America’s young and old differ in their social values, their racial and ethnic identities, and their economic prospects. How are these gaps transforming our livelihoods, our families and our communities?

  • Neil Howe, economist, Historian and Co-author of Millennials Rising
  • Abby Huntsman, co-host, MSNBC’s “The Cycle”
  • Alicia Menendez, anchor, Fusion
  • Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist, The Washington Post
  • Brad Wilcox, director, National Marriage Project and visiting scholar, American Enterprise Institute

12:15–1:30 – Presentation of Survey Findings

  • Carroll Doherty, director of political research, Pew Research Center

Panel 2: Politics and Policy
In the last two presidential elections, generational differences have mattered more than they have in decades. Is the generational gap in politics here to stay? And what does it mean for the policy landscape?

  • Bill McInturff, partner and co-founder, Public Opinion Strategies
  • Aaron Smith, co-founder and executive director, Young Invincibles
  • Neera Tanden, president, Center for American Progress
  • Debra Whitman, executive vice president, policy, strategy and international affairs, AARP

Participant Bios

Alan Murray (@alansmurray) is president of the Pew Research Center. He previ- ously spent 29 years at The Wall Street Journal, where he most recently served as deputy managing editor and executive editor, online. Murray spent a decade as the Journal’s Washington bureau chief, during which the bureau won three Pulitzer Prizes. He subsequently served as CNBC’s Washington bureau chief, co-hosting “Capital Report with Alan Murray and Gloria Borger.” At various times, he wrote the Journal’s weekly business and political capital columns, and won numerous awards for his writing on economics and international issues. He is the author of four books, including Showdown at Gucci Gulch, co-authored with Jeffrey Birnbaum.

Paul Taylor (@PaulTaylorDC) is executive vice president of special projects at the Pew Research Center, where he oversees demographic, social and generational research. Taylor is the author of The Next America, a new book examining generations and the country’s changing demographics. From 1996 through 2003, he served as president and board chairman of the Alliance for Better Campaigns. Before that, he was a newspaper reporter for 25 years, the last 14 at The Washington Post, where he covered presidential politics and served as a foreign correspondent. He is also the author of See How They Run and co-author of The Old News Versus the New News.

Carroll Doherty (@CarrollDoherty) is director of political research at the Pew Research Center. He plays a leading role in developing the center’s research agenda and overseeing editorial content about long-term trends in political values, U.S. views on policy issues and priorities, and political knowledge and news interest. Before joining Pew Research in 2000, he was a journalist for many years, covering congressional leadership, politics and foreign affairs as a senior writer for Congressional Quarterly and serving as an off-air investigative reporter for CBS News on foreign affairs.

Panel 1

Neil Howe (@lifecourse) is a historian, economist and demographer who writes and speaks frequently on generations, the economy and social change. He is president and co-founder of LifeCourse Associates, a marketing, HR and strategic planning consultancy serving corporate, government and nonprofit clients. Howe is a bestselling author who has written more than a dozen books on generations, demographic change and fiscal policy, many of them with William Strauss. Howe and Strauss originally coined the term “Millennial Generation” in 1991 and wrote the pioneer- ing book on this generation, Millennials Rising, in 2000. Howe is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, where he helps direct the Global Aging Initiative.

Abby Huntsman (@HuntsmanAbby) is the co-host of MSNBC’s ensemble show “The Cycle” airing weekdays at 3 p.m. Before joining MSNBC, she was a host for HuffPost Live, the Huffington Post’s live streaming network. She is the daughter of former presidential candidate Jon Huntsman and worked on his 2012 campaign as a media adviser. Previously, Huntsman worked for ABC News in Washington and “Good Morning America” in New York. She also worked for Burson-Marsteller.

Alicia Menendez (@AliciaMenendez) is the host of “Alicia Menendez Tonight” on Fusion. Prior to joining Fusion, she was a host and producer on the internet-based video streaming network HuffPost Live. She also produced and co-hosted a one-hour political talk show, “Power Play,” for SiriusXM and National Latino Broadcasting. Before starting her career in media, Menendez worked to increase political participation among women, minority communities and young Americans.

Michelle Singletary (@SingletaryM) writes the personal finance column, “The Color of Money,” for The Washington Post. Her award-winning column is nationally syndicated by The Washington Post Writers Group and is carried in about 100 newspapers. In January 2014, a new edition of her third book was released, The 21-Day Financial Fast: Your Path to Financial Peace and Freedom. She has been a personal finance contributor for MSNBC, NPR and ABC’s daily talk show, “The Revolution.” For two seasons she hosted “Singletary Says” on TV One. She also directs a financial program at her church and volunteers at prisons in Maryland teaching financial classes to inmates.

Brad Wilcox (@WilcoxNMP) is a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he directs The Home Economics Project, which explores the links between family structure and economic growth. Wilcox is also an associate professor in the department of sociology at the University of Virginia, where he directs the National Marriage Project. He is a fellow at the Institute for Family Studies and has been a research fellow at Yale University, a research associate at Princeton University and a Civitas Fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of When Marriage Disappears: The Retreat from Marriage in Middle America and the co-author of Gender and Parenthood: Biological and Social Scientific Perspectives.

Panel 2

Bill McInturff (@POStqia) is a partner and co-founder of Public Opinion Strategies, a national political and public affairs survey research firm. Since its founding in 1991, the firm has completed more than 6 million interviews with voters and consumers in all 50 states and more than a dozen countries, and conducted more than 4,500 focus groups. Called “the leading Republican polling company” by The New York Times, the firm currently represents 15 U.S. Senators, six governors, and more than 75 members of Congress. McInturff, along with Hart Research Associates, conducts the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll and polling on economic trends for CNBC.

Aaron Smith (@YI_Care, @aaronsmith44) is executive director and co-founder of Young Invincibles, a national organization working to expand economic opportunity for 18- to 34-year-olds. Before co-founding Young Invincibles while a law student at Georgetown University, Smith worked on Capitol Hill and in local politics in his native Yonkers, N.Y. Smith has testified before the Senate and has met often with President Obama and top lawmakers about a variety of issues impacting young Americans, including the cost of college, unemployment and health care.

Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) is the president of the Center for American Progress and counselor to the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Most recently, she served as the chief operating officer for the center. Tanden previously served as senior advisor for health reform at the Department of Health and Human Services, advising Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and working on President Obama’s health reform team to develop and pass the Affordable Care Act. She also has served as the director of domestic policy for the Obama-Biden presidential campaign; policy director for the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign; and as associate director for domestic policy and senior advisor to the first lady in the Clinton administration.

Debra Whitman (@DebAARP) is an authority on aging issues with extensive experience in policymaking, domestic and international research and the political process. As AARP’s executive vice president for policy, strategy and international affairs, she leads policy development in retirement security, health care, consumer protections and other issues. Previously, Whitman served as staff director for the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging. She has worked at the Congressional Research Service and served as a Brookings Institution LEGIS fellow and health policy advisor on the Senate HELP Committee. Whitman began her career in the Social Security Administration’s Division of Policy Evaluation.