A. James Forbes

A. James Forbes Jr., C.P.A., of Putnam Valley, N.Y., was re-elected by the AARP Board of Directors to continue in his role as secretary/treasurer for the 2012-2014 biennium. As such, he chairs the audit and finance committee. He also serves on the AARP Insurance Trust and is a member of the compensation subcommittee of the governance and compensation committee. Forbes was secretary/treasurer during the 2010-2012 biennium; and during the 2008-2010 biennium, he served on the audit and finance committee and the AARP Insurance Trust.

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Life Perspectives

"My wife and I had taken care of my parents for many years. My mother and father had a home, but my mother wasn't particularly well. It didn't make a great amount of sense for them to have a separate home to be maintained. They didn't need it, and it was too much of a burden.

"So, when we built a home in Yorktown, New York, my wife (as wonderful as she is) said yes to having my parents live with us. So we built the first accessory apartment for parents in Westchester County. It was much like their own single-family house, with a bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen and a den — and a patio outside. It was in a garden-type setting in our home, but it provided an opportunity for separation, as well. The only thing we shared was the laundry space and the front entrance. The best thing was that they could look out their windows and see the kids playing in the backyard. The kids could come up to the window for milk and cookies. That was the best part.

"The whole concept was an eye-opener, it turned out. This was a new way of looking at housing, putting multiple generations together. My wife and I became advocates for this type of living arrangement, and it ultimately made national news. NBC picked up on it, filming a news piece about our apartment. We received calls from all over the country asking how we did it, how it was working and how we made it happen. We knew there was a big issue here. It hit a nerve in the United States. And it inspired a national debate.

"We had a wonderful time there. Our kids grew up in the house next to their grandmother and grandfather. It was just a terrific experience.

"That triggered in me the passion for taking care of parents and for trying to figure out how we can do it in this new world in which we're living. That passion stayed with me and helped spur me to become involved with AARP."

Education

Bachelor of Arts, business administration, Manhattan College; certified public accountant in New York State.

Expertise

Accounting and finance, emergency relief work, nonprofit and for-profit turnarounds, interim financial services for nonprofits

Experience

Professionally, Mr. Forbes provides interim, senior executive leadership in not-for-profit and healthcare organizations.  His particular focus is on capacity building at all levels of the organization:  public policy, planning, optimization of financial and operational infrastructures; and mission development. 

Mr. Forbes has previously held the positions of Executive Services Partner in the not-for-profit practice at Tatum, LLC; Executive Vice Chairman, AmeriCares; and Executive Vice President, Lighthouse International.  His for-profit roles, among others, have included Mercedes-Benz of North America as their Chief Financial and Operational Controller.

Volunteer Experience

Boards: Served as treasurer of the AARP Foundation board of directors and Chair of the Foundation Audit and Finance Committee; board chair of the Beacon Foundation; board member of the YMCA

Other: Chair of the Board of Directors of the Biomedical Engineering Alliance and Consortium in Hartford, CT; Co-Founder of the Executive Forum in Greenwich, CT; Co-Chair of the Finance Committee of his local church.

Honors

Honored by the Beacon Foundation for his success as founding chairman; by St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church for outstanding volunteerism; and by the YMCA Vocational Counseling Testing Service for leadership.

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