Paul Bridgewater, DAAA President & CEO, began working in aging services in 1980. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Saginaw Valley State College and a Master's Degree in public administration from Oakland University. Mr. Bridgewater has been an instructor and lecturer at Marygrove College, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and Oakland University, and currently teaches gerontology courses at Wayne County Community College.
A member of the National Caucus and Center on Black Aged since 1984, he became its treasurer in 1998. He has been a Board member of the National Area Agency on Aging Association of Washington, D.C., a member of the Executive Council of AARP's Michigan Chapter, a trustee of New Detroit, president of the Michigan Area Agencies on Aging Association, chairperson of the Michigan Minority Aging Network, chairperson of the Southeast Michigan Older Workers Committee and president of the Michigan Society of Gerontology. He is currently a member of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Senior Advisory Council and Chair of the City of Detroit Dying Before Their Time Taskforce.
Mr. Bridgewater served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging in 1995 and 2005. In 1997 he was accepted into the Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives on Nonprofit Management program, which has drawn more than 30,000 senior executives from corporations world-wide. In 1998, President Bill Clinton invited Mr. Bridgewater to participate in the White House Conference on Social Security. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, the Administration on Aging, and the Michigan Legislature about the concerns of the elderly. In 2008, Josefina Carbonell, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging, invited Mr. Bridgewater to speak at a forum on the critical disparities in health and long-term care services among the urban poor.
A native of Saginaw, Michigan, Mr. Bridgewater resides in Detroit.