Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Rob Hilton Advising U.S. Policy on Low-Income Long-Term Care

Rob Hilton (DM 2005) was one of thirty thought leaders invited to Washington D.C. in May in an effort to tackle the tough problem of how to best care for low-income seniors over the long term. The American Association for Housing and Services for Aging (AAHSA), together with the Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Health and Human Services (HUD), convened the first "Affordable Senior Housing with Services Summit" to strategize about a policy framework for affordable human housing for low-income seniors.
Dr. Hilton is President and CEO of the MacGregor Foundation (http://mcgregorfoundation.org/), and he was invited to this exclusive summit primarily because of some pioneering research his organization originated and supported on the topic.  According to Dr. Hilton, it was the DM program that opened his eyes to the power of such research as a guide to practice, and inspired him to invest in the research project. 
Dr. Hilton was a banking executive before transitioning to the field of non-profit long-term care.  He joined the EDM program as a way to gain a broad expertise in this domain and focused his research on long-term care.  According to Dr. Hilton: "The value of the actual research I did has proven itself again and again.  In part due to my understanding of senior housing from the point of view of seniors... I have been able to anticipate trends in needs of aging seniors."  Further, the program enabled him to handle complex information in his field: "I can pick up any academic article and understand it...  I'm not intimidated by the tidal wave of information I'm exposed to."
Dr. Rob Hilton spent 27 years in the banking industry before joining MacGregor, most recently as the head of Key Bank's Global Treasury Management Group.  Dr. Hilton holds a BA in American Studies and Architecture from Wesleyan University and an MBA in International Finance from the University of Chicago.  He also sits on the Alumni Advisory Board for the DM program.