Our Team

Tara Ballman is a nationally recognized aging-in-place expert who is passionate about connecting and supporting professionals serving older adults. She is an author of three books on financial retirement issues, two books on aging in place issues, and conference speaker addressing aging-in-place topics.

For years, Tara and her family struggled through the evolving stages of her father’s declining health. Unexpected illnesses, unforeseen situations, and a fear of the future was their reality, with so many questions and nowhere to turn. After her father passed, she had a desire to help other families navigate through the stages of aging and proactively plan for future needs, regardless of what life throws at them.

A public health gerontologist, Israel brings a systems perspective to aging—focused on integrating services, supports, and care across settings to better meet the needs of aging adults and caregivers. Israel’s work is grounded in a life course perspective, recognizing that aging is shaped not just by the services available in later life, but by a lifetime of structural, social, biological, and environmental factors. He has contributed to national initiatives to improving care in nursing homes, hospitals, and community health centers.

Israel earned his doctorate in gerontology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and is committed to advancing approaches that anticipate and respond to the changing needs of individuals, families, and communities over time. Having been a caregiver, he continues to focus on building more connected, responsive systems that support aging—wherever people live.