Second Wind Tour
NEWS
Contact: Kavan Peterson, Director of Communications
410-929-3052 or info@secondwindtour.org
www.SecondWindTour.org
Dr. Bill Thomas’
Second Wind Tour
The Second Wind Tour will visit 25 cities in the spring of 2014 and offer audiences powerful
insights into more deliberate, deeper, and connected ways of living and working.
Tour in partnership with AARP’s Life Reimagined, Capital Impact Partners, and Merrill Lynch
“In Second Wind (Simon & Schuster; March 11, 2014), Bill Thomas goes deep inside our culture. Like the best kind of
doctor, he evaluates the toll our hurried, quantified, and driven lives have taken on us before he suggests a new
way forward. He'll challenge the way you think about your future. And you'll want to make the journey with him."
—Jane Pauley, author of Your Life Calling
EMBARGOED: Not for publication before March 10, 2014
ITHACA, N.Y. -- We live in a “youth obsessed” culture in which every race goes to the swiftest and every prize
to the most aggressive. Dr. Bill Thomas, one of the most innovative and creative thinkers working in
medicine today, is bringing a radical new approach to growth and aging through a national “non-fiction”
theatrical tour produced in partnership with AARP’s Life Reimagined, Capital Impact Partners, Merrill Lynch
and more than three dozen sponsor organizations.
Inspired by Thomas’ new book examining the baby boom generation’s reluctant generational second coming
of age—“Second Wind: Navigating the Passage to a Slower, Deeper and More Connected Life” (published by
Simon and Schuster March 11 and named by Publisher’s Weekly as a Top 10 Social Science book of 2014)—
the Second Wind Tour will visit 25 cities on a national bus tour from March 31-June 6, 2014.
Well known as an inspirational writer, speaker, and performer, Dr. Thomas combines his efforts to promote
change in medicine and society with elements of artistic expression. His background as a playwright
("Kallimos," "Play What's Not There") and musician helped him to create the Second Wind Tour’s unique
"non-fiction" theater experience blending theater, video, and music.
Each half-day performance will be held in a premier theater with two acts. Act one will consist of five fastpaced theatrical monologues featuring a cast of speakers including Dr. Thomas and renowned consumer
health expert and TV personality Dr. Janet Taylor. The second act blends the illumination of the deep
connections between music, identity, and memory in the form a “marvelous surprise” documentary film
preview by director Michael Rossato-Bennett followed by a live musical performance by Musicians for World
Harmony Founder Samite Mulondo.
By blending spoken word, innovative set design (by Tony-award winning designer John Arnone and
projection designer Austin Switser), film, and music into a single experience, the tour will offer audiences a
holistic exploration that draws on a deep well of evidence-based approaches to growth, change, aging, health,
and wellness. The goal of the tour is to start a new conversation that reframes “life after adulthood” as an
exciting stage of human growth and development—a time for challenging received attitudes toward aging.
"The Tour is really a companion to the book’s ‘second wind’ theme in that it challenges the conventional
narrative of decline in mid-life and beyond,” Dr. Thomas said. “I want people to see, hear, feel, and connect to
the power that arises from finding a 'second wind' in life."
To launch the tour, Dr. Thomas assembled a coalition of more than three-dozen national and local sponsors
who share his vision of helping people “re-imagine their lives, work, and communities.” Sponsors play a
direct role in creating the tour, selecting the four speakers performing on stage with Dr. Thomas and
personally inviting each attendee to the invitation-only events.
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The theme of “reimagination” attracted AARP’s Life Reimagined and Capital Impact Partners, which will each
sponsor a speaker on the 25-city tour, as well as Merrill Lynch, also a national sponsor.
“Merrill Lynch is dedicated to helping clients navigate longevity, fully explore its opportunities and meet its
financial challenges with confidence,” said David Tyrie, managing director, head of retirement and personal
wealth solutions for Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “New retirement realities require a different way of
talking about, planning for and managing your life and your finances to and throughout retirement.” Merrill
Lynch has developed tools, insights and resources to enable advisors to have broad, meaningful
conversations with clients about their life goals and priorities in later years – such as their health, family,
giving, home, work and leisure – and connect those priorities with their finances.
AARP created Life Reimagined to help millions of people navigate a new life phase, explore opportunities and
live their best life. Life Reimagined is a series of free programs, experiences, resources and services – online
and offline – that help people turn their goals and dreams into real possibilities. Dr. Taylor, a Life
Reimagined thought leader, will offer insights and share tools that people need to discover their own
personal path to purpose and fulfillment.
"The Second Wind tour will be groundbreaking and promises to provide inspiration, insight and a new lens
to view aging,” said Dr. Taylor. “After the show is over we want to provide the tools to help folks find their
'what's next?’ in life."
The tour will also feature a national speaker from The Green House Project, a model for long-term care
designed to look and feel like a real home. Over the last decade, Green House homes have provided an
evidenced-based model that reinvents nursing homes across the United States. Conceived by Dr. Bill Thomas,
Green House Homes have been replicated nationwide with support from the Robert Wood Johnson
Foundation. Capital Impact Partners, a community development financial institution, manages The Green
House Project as part of their Community Solutions Group and provides financing for new Green House
Homes nationwide. The Green House Project will be showcased by Capital Impact Partners on the tour.
“The Green House Project allows us to reimagine how nursing homes should be and provides the setting and
environment that all of us would prefer when we need long-term care,” explained Terry Simonette, President
and CEO of Capital Impact Partners. “We are very excited to be a part of this extraordinary project and tour.”
Each tour stop will feature a local speaker selected by community sponsors and a number of regional
performers will join the tour for a week at a time. The five swings of the tour will travel through the midAtlantic March 31-April 4; the west coast April 14-18; across the south May 19-23; and the Northeast June 26.
Mid-Atlantic
West Coast
Midwest
Southern
Northeast
3/31 New York
4/14 Seattle
5/5 Columbus
5/19 Jacksonville
6/2 Buffalo
4/1 Pittsburgh
4/15 Portland
5/6 Chicago
5/20 New Orleans
6/3 Portsmouth NH
4/2 Newark
4/16 San Francisco
5/7 Detroit
5/21 Memphis
6/4 Boston
4/3 Baltimore
4/17 Phoenix
5/8 Ann Arbor
5/22 Kansas City, MO
6/5 Hartford
4/4 Washington, DC
4/18 Los Angeles
5/9 Minneapolis
5/23 Denver
6/6 Philadelphia
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ABOUT DR. BILL THOMAS:
Dr. Bill Thomas is a visionary and internationally recognized expert on aging. He is an Ashoka Fellow and
winner of the Heinz Award for the Human Condition. He co-created The Eden Alternative, an international
nonprofit, and The Green House Project, both models to revolutionize nursing home care. In addition to
teaching, speaking, and consulting internationally, he is currently a Senior Fellow of AARP's Life Reimagined
Institute. A graduate of the State University of New York and Harvard Medical School, he lives in Ithaca, New
York with his family.
ABOUT LIFE REIMAGINED:
Life Reimagined is a community of people committed to rediscovering their gifts, exploring new
possibilities, and moving toward their best lives. Visit us at: www.lifereimagined.org
ABOUT CAPITAL IMPACT PARTNERS:
As a nonprofit organization and a certified Community Development Financial Institution with a national
presence, Capital Impact Partners improves access to high-quality health and elder care, healthy foods,
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housing and education in low-income communities across the country. Learn more at:
www.ncbcapitalimpact.org
Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management:
Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management is a leading provider of comprehensive wealth management and
investment services for individuals and businesses globally. With over 13,700 Financial Advisors and $1.9
trillion in client balances as of December 31, 2013*, it is among the largest businesses of its kind in the world.
Within Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management, the Private Banking and Investment Group provides
tailored solutions to ultra affluent clients, offering both the intimacy of a boutique and the resources of a
premier global financial services company. These clients are served by more than 150 Private Wealth
Advisor teams, along with experts in areas such as investment management, concentrated stock
management, and intergenerational wealth transfer strategies. Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management is
part of Bank of America Corporation. Visit us at www.ml.com/retire.
*Source: Bank of America. Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management (MLGWM) represents multiple business areas within Bank of
America’s wealth and investment management division including Merrill Lynch Wealth Management (North America and
International), Merrill Lynch Trust Company, and Private Banking & Investments Group. As of December 31, 2013, MLGWM entities
had approximately $1.9 trillion in client balances. Client Balances consists of the following assets of clients held in their MLGWM
accounts: assets under management (AUM) of MLGWM entities, client brokerage assets, assets in custody of MLGWM entities, loan
balances and deposits of MLGWM clients held at Bank of America, N.A. and affiliated banks.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
SECOND WIND: Navigating the Passage to a Slower, Deeper, and More Connected Life
By Dr. Bill Thomas
Published by Simon & Schuster
Publication Date: March 11, 2014
Price: $25.00
How do you know that you are outgrowing adulthood? When you begin to feel that the life you have been
living is out of balance; when the need to perform, to hurry, and to acquire is no longer compelling. It’s like
the moment when your favorite tennis shoes start to give you blisters. The way you’ve been living your adult
life doesn’t fulfill you anymore. See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Second-Wind/Dr-BillThomas/9781451667561 - sthash.LPzuEPgB.dpuf
Learn More about Dr. Bill Thomas at www.ChangingAging.org
Reporters may contact sponsors at:
AARP Life Reimagined
Anne Herbster, 1.202.434.3853
AHerbster@aarp.org
Capital Impact Partners
Jeanne Molinari 703-647-2316
jmolinari@capitalimpact.org
Merrill Lynch
Susan McCabe, 1.646.855.4111
susan.mccabe@bankofamerica.com
Simon and Schuster
Sarah Reidy, 1.212.698.7008
sarah.reidy@simonandschuster.com
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