A Connecticut man is assuming the helm of AARP, the 40 million member group that advocates for people 50 and older.
Barry Rand of Stamford is set to become AARP’s first black CEO today on Monday. He’s hoping to extend the organization’s reach to people of all ages through its health care reform effort.
Rand says he sees the AARP’s goal of increasing prosperity for all Americans as an extension of the 1960s civil rights movement.
The 64-year-old Rand rose from salesman to executive vice president during a 30-year career with Xerox Corp. He went on to serve as chairman and chief executive of car-rental company Avis Group Holdings Inc.
He’s taking over at Washington, D.C.-based AARP for Bill Novelli, who took a business professor’s job at Georgetown University. (AP)
