Kenneth M. Dychtwald is an American entrepreneur,

gerontologist Gerontology ( ) is the study of the social, cultural, psychological, cognitive, and biological aspects of aging. The word was coined by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov in 1903, from the Greek , ''geron'', "old man" and , ''-logia'', "study of". Th ...

, psychologist, and lecturer. He is a co-founder and chief executive officer of Age Wave, a California Bay Area-based consulting and research company focused on the implications of an aging population.

Early life and education

Dychtwald grew up in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey and the seat of Essex County and the second largest city within the New York metropolitan area.Weequahic High School Weequahic High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades, located in the Weequahic section of Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. The school is operated by the Newar ...

in 1967. Dychtwald studied at

Lehigh University Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epi ...

and received his Ph.D. in psychology from Union Graduate School.

Career

Dychtwald spent much of his career developing and honing the concept of the ''Age Wave'', a population and cultural shift caused by the converging global demographic forces of the

Mid-20th century baby boom The middle of the 20th century was marked by a significant and persistent increase in fertility rates in many countries of the world, especially in the Western world. The term ''baby boom'' is often used to refer to this particular boom, generall ...

, increasing

life expectancy Life expectancy is a statistical measure of the average time an organism is expected to live, based on the year of its birth, current age, and other demographic factors like sex. The most commonly used measure is life expectancy at birth ...

, and the declining fertility rates of the later 20th and early 21st centuries. In 1986, Dychtwald and his wife, Maddy, founded Age Wave, a think tank and consultancy with a perspective on the social, business, healthcare, and financial implications and opportunities of global aging and rising longevity. Dychtwald served as a fellow and presenter at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

and was a delegate and featured presenter at both the 1995 and 2005 White House Conferences on Aging. In 2004, Dychtwald co-wrote the article “It's Time to Retire Retirement”, which tied for the first place McKinsey Award as the best article of the year in the ''

Harvard Business Review ''Harvard Business Review'' (''HBR'') is a general management magazine published by Harvard Business Publishing, a wholly owned subsidiary of Harvard University. ''HBR'' is published six times a year and is headquartered in Brighton, Ma ...

''. In 2010, Dychtwald co-authored, along with

Sandra Day O’Connor Sandra Day O'Connor (born March 26, 1930) is an American retired attorney and politician who served as the first female associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. She was both the first woman nominated and the ...

and

Stanley Prusiner Stanley Benjamin Prusiner (born May 28, 1942) is an American neurologist and biochemist. He is the director of the Institute for Neurodegenerative Diseases at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prusiner discovered prions, a class of ...

, an op-ed, “The Age of Alzheimer’s”, published by ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''. Dychtwald is a member of the Board of Trustees at the XPRIZE Foundation and is the Chair of the Alzheimer’s XPRIZE.

Personal life

Dychtwald is married to

Maddy Dychtwald Maddy Kent Dychtwald is an author, professional speaker, and a board member for non-profits focused on the topic of aging and the influence of older women on the global economy. Her books have discussed the economic improvement of women over time a ...

. They live in

Orinda, California Orinda is a city in Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city's population as of the 2020 census is estimated at 19,514 residents. History Orinda is located within four Mexican land grants: Rancho Laguna de los Palos Colorados ...

, and have two children, Zak and Casey.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dychtwald, Ken Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Lehigh University alumni American gerontologists American psychologists People from Newark, New Jersey