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For the past three years, I've been writing a highly successful regular feature for U.S. News & World Report called “Second Acts” in which I profile a person who has made such a move. I call it happy journalism and have flown around the country meeting people from all walks of life, ranging in age from early 40’s to 70's, who have taken up a new path. I’ve compiled more than two-dozen such stories. In the process, I have identified the practical steps necessary for someone to launch a successful second career.
Why is this an important, appealing, and timely topic? The bulging boomer population is moving into the second phase of their lives and asking themselves what should I be doing? What matters to me? What is my legacy? They are working longer, living longer and seeking in a way no generation before them has done. To make a change after decades in the same field takes strength, courage and vision. If you have a second act to share, I'd love to hear your story.
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 Ever dream of ditching the ruthless money-making grind of the corporate world and digging into meaningful work at a nonprofit?
Betsy Werley, who spent 26 years working first as a corporate lawyer and then leading business projects at JPMorgan Chase, felt that urge. "I was one month shy of my 50th birthday, and I thought, 'I'm not getting any younger. Go out and let that next big thing happen.'" And she did. Five years ago, Werley signed on as executive director of The Transition Network (TTN), a New York City-based nonprofit that helps women over 50 through career changes. When she took the reins, there was one major chapter in NYC and a few other chapters starting to gel. Today, there are nine, including chapters in central Ohio, Chicago, Connecticut, Houston, Long Island, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and new ones set to launch in Baltimore, Boston, Boulder and Atlanta. Total community: more than 6,000 women. |
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Running companies was his thing. Volunteering was not. Until the tsunamiPicture yourself atop a ski slope in Telluride, Colo., with a day of perfect powder schussing before you. You pause, take it all in—and wish you were helping Hurricane Katrina flood victims dig out of rotting houses. It was an alpine epiphany for David Campbell. The year was 2005, shortly after he founded the nonprofit Hands On Disaster Response, based in Carlisle, Mass. "That's sick, but that's what I wanted," Campbell says. "I wanted to be in Biloxi with the natural disaster relief volunteers on our first mission."
Campbell's path to creating and running a volunteer organization began when he heard about the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and traveled to Phuket Island in Thailand to help. Not only had he never been to Thailand, but his closest volunteer experience was running a United Way campaign in Buffalo, N.Y. His planned one-week visit turned into a one-month stay, and a new way of life.
At that point, Campbell, now 67, was managing director of a Boston-based investment-banking firm. He cut his teeth at IBM and later served as chief executive of Buffalo-based Computer Task Group. His reaction to the news of the tsunami was something he didn't see coming. "When I heard about it, I was overwhelmed. It was the major disaster of my lifetime. In my gut, I knew I had to help," Campbell recalls.
He was confident he could. He knew how to manage people, delegate, and keep projects running and budgets under control. Moreover, he was adept at navigating the Internet. It was while trolling the Web that Campbell stumbled across Michael Ciegielski, an Air Force Academy graduate who was living on Phuket Island. Ciegielski had started a number of volunteer projects in Bang Tao, a tsunami-affected area. |
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Many are using their retirement years to pursue a purpose, a passion, or a dreamBy Kerry Hannon
 To become a certified personal fitness instructor, you have to be at least 18 years old. New Yorker Liliane Kates had that nailed. When she took the exam in 2005, she was well past 65. |
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A veteran of corporate America finds her skills are right for a new task
When Anne Nolan first walked down the darkened steps into a homeless shelter, she started to cry. "I was so overwhelmed by the emotion of the place, the humanity, the pain," she recalls. "I was terrified and frightened. The dilapidated building was filthy, and it was mobbed with people lined up for food and shelter." |
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He heard it through the grapevine: A TV producer follows his nose to a new careerPosted October 1, 2008 Becoming a winemaker—never mind a winemaker in Walla Walla, Wash.—had never crossed Steve Brooks's mind. Then he stumbled upon a New York Times story about the fast-growing wine industry in the high-desert town near the Blue Mountains. |
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