Sidebar Speaker Series: The Aging Parent Playbook: How to Prepare, Support, and Navigate the Road Ahead with Elena Kohl
Most of us know we should have "the conversation" with our aging parents — but few of us know where to start, what to cover, or how to make it stick.
This session is for anyone who has aging parents, whether the changes are just beginning or already well underway. Drawing on recent personal experience and hard-won lessons, we'll walk through a practical framework to help you get ahead of the challenges before they become crises — and how AI can help you do it more efficiently.
What we'll cover:
How to start the conversation — even when it's uncomfortable
The legal, financial, and health essentials to have in place (and why sooner is always better)
How to navigate the emotional shift as your parent-child relationship evolves
Building a support system for yourself — because this journey is hard
How AI tools can help you research, plan, and stay organized along the way
No two families are alike, and there's no perfect playbook — but having a plan makes all the difference.
Come ready to share, ask questions, and leave with concrete next steps you can act on right away.
Speaker Bio:
Elena Kohl has spent over twenty years building and scaling product and GTM teams that change how industries operate. From startups (C3.ai, OakNorth) to moonshot teams (Tapestry at Google X), she has led the development of enterprise and consumer products that leverage AI to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and create more personalized customer experiences across banking, utilities, higher education, and beyond.
After an intentional step back to travel with her sons and spend time with her aging parents, Elena is now exploring what's next — building AI agents, experimenting with vibe coding, and sharing what she's learned along the way.