My primary career was as a journalist, most recently as a reporter for The Wall Street Journal. In my last few years at the Journal, I covered new trends in philanthropy and got enamored of big system-change ideas and social entrepreneurship in areas such as global health, economic development and the environment. After awhile, I got itchy to try to make change myself. I got hooked by Civic Ventures’ vision of turning the inevitable aging of America (and the world) from a crisis into an opportunity, and by the possibility of unleashing a tremendous store of human capital on some of society’s most pressing challenges. I was delighted when Marc Freedman invited me to join up and embark on my encore career.