Meet the AARP Maryland Volunteer Executive Council

In addition to their leadership and advisory roles, AARP Maryland Executive Council members represent the state office as spokespersons, serve as liaisons to current and potential strategic community partners, support volunteer team building, and spearhead outreach efforts within various regions of the state.

David is a people person who enjoys working in a team environment. A skilled communicator as well as a patient listener, he believes that together everybody achieves more. David was raised in a military family and has traveled throughout the world. Prior to retiring at the end of 2017, he spent 40 years in surgical device sales for three major surgical device companies and two start-ups. David’s professional honors include numerous sales product excellence awards, multiple regional and national representative of the year honors, as well as several regional managers of the year awards. He was promoted to Eastern Area Sales Director in 2006 and spent 11 years in senior management positions for his last company.

In the community, David has contributed his time and support to the Howard County Arts Council, as well as his family church. He lives a very active lifestyle that includes fitness, music, and travel. He is a caregiver to his 94-year-old mother who also lives in Columbia. In September 2018, David appeared on television and radio in support of AARP initiatives and was honored with AARP Maryland’s Communications Volunteer of the Year award. A graduate of Ohio University, David lives in Columbia with his wife and is the proud father of two daughters.

Lois Meszaros, Ph.D., is a retired psychologist with more than 45 years of experience in the field of psychology and developmental disabilities. Over the course of her career, Mezaros has served as director of developmental disabilities for the State of Maryland, director of psychological services for several local health departments, chief operating officer for Chimes Delaware, adjunct professor at McDaniel College and the University of Baltimore and in private clinical practice.

In testament to her professional service, Meszaros has been honored as McDaniel College’s Alumni of the Year, has received three gubernatorial citations for outstanding service to the State of Maryland, and was included in the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry. Additional honors include awards from the Maryland Special Olympics, being named a finalist for Woman Administrator of the Year by the State of Maryland and serving as president of the Baltimore Psychological Association.

As an AARP Maryland advocate, Meszaros cares deeply about mental health services for older adults and the implementation of the 988 behavioral health crisis hotline. She tracks and testifies on legislation related to mental health, 988, mobile response teams and the Greater Baltimore Regional Integrated Crisis System.

Meszaros earned her Ph.D. from Catholic University and her M.Ed. and B.A. from McDaniel College. In the community, she has served as treasurer of the Baltimore Psychological Association, board member of Friends of Uniform Services University, the Delaware Polar Bear Plunge and the Delaware Buddy Walk, and as a consultant to clinical practitioners.

Xenia Montenegro spent more than 30 decades with AARP, working in various research roles thought the organization, as a team lead, senior research advisor, acting director and market research manager. In that capacity she directed research and provided strategic insights to AARP board members, senior management and staff.

Throughout her tenure at AARP, Montenegro prepared, published and presented reports on topics as varied as membership acquisition and renewal; generational demographics; multicultural outreach; midlife issues such as caregiving, finances, health care, divorce and sexuality; legal services; and AARP commercial products and services. Her work has been published in AARP The Magazine, on the AARP website, and in professional publications, and she has presented at conferences nationally and internationally.

Before joining AARP, Montenegro worked as a consultant, evaluator and researcher for the American Association of School Administrators, The World Bank, the State of Maryland, the Delmarva Peninsula, and the Hawaii Department of Education.

Montenegro earned her B.S. in English and Mathematics, M.A. in Counseling Psychology, Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Hawaii. She has three adult children and lives in Montgomery County, where she loves to travel, read, garden, paint and play the piano.

Karen Morgan has devoted her life to public service, with a particular focus on state legislatures and legislative policymaking. While studying law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she worked as a research analyst for the Wisconsin Legislature. After receiving her juris doctor degree, she worked as a lobbyist for the National Conference of State Legislatures, focusing on civil rights, criminal justice and banking regulation issues.She then undertook staffing duties for the Maryland General Assembly, where she spent most of her career before retiring in 2019. She developed her interest in consumer protection when she became the manager for the sunset review process, which gave her the chance to investigate the relationship between businesses, the promises they make to protect the health and welfare of the public, and the role of state government in holding businesses accountable.

She served the Maryland legislature as a budget analyst, bill drafter, federal funds analyst, and bill analyst before transferring to the fiscal and policy notes function where she worked as a writer, then editor and reviewer. She has written numerous analyses in the areas of family law, criminal justice, criminal procedure, drunk and drugged driving, traffic safety enforcement, juvenile law and civil procedure. Her analyses have been cited by Maryland’s highest court and her original research on state domestic violence laws was cataloged by the Library of Congress.

Morgan has also had a longstanding interest in computer security, identity theft and consumer protection issues. She has drafted a number of bills in the identity theft prevention area and co-authored a report on how identity theft laws are enforced in Maryland. She has made presentations on identity theft legislation before the Maryland General Assembly and the Maryland Identity Theft Working Group, organized by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the State of Maryland.

Since her retirement in 2019, Morgan has volunteered with AARP on fraud prevention and was recognized 2021 for her work with the Protect Week campaign, a program to highlight and prevent elder financial abuse.

Morgan is originally from Chicago, Ill., and while she makes her home in Maryland, insists that she is from the “south side” of Chicago, and a die-hard fan of the Chicago White Sox!

Jamie Hurst

Karen Kalla is a retired policy advocate, constituency network and political campaign organizer in the fields of environmental protection and higher education.

Her 27-year career as program director in national nonprofit organizations is bookended by extensive volunteer community service including past roles as an elected town commissioner of a Montgomery County municipality, president of Montgomery County Civic Federation, appointed member of the Governor’s Energy 2020 Task Force, co-founder of Maryland Citizens Network,  co-founder and chair of the Montgomery County League of Environmental Voters, president and executive director of Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association, and now lead advocate for AARP Maryland.

At the Sierra Club legislative headquarters in Washington, DC, Karen directed programs in international population, global warming, and political campaigns. she traveled nationally to organize political support for environmental candidates in critical districts and to lead educational and grassroots organizing programs that advanced state and federal environmental policy and legislation.

Recognizing the central nature of education to this work, Karen then worked for 20 years in the field of higher education (American Association for Higher Education and Association of American Colleges and Universities) to advance programs that equip all students with the knowledge and skills needed to contribute to careers and actions that advance the quality of life, civic engagement, and our democratic institutions.

Understanding that individual well-being is inextricably entwined with the health of our physical, natural, social, and political environments, Karen is dedicated to better understanding and addressing the root causes of inequities and imbalances in our communities.  She is fortunate to have found a place what shares these ideals and commitments in AARP Maryland.

Karen holds a B.S. in education from Salisbury University and a personal trainer certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Larry Walton is a retired senior governmental financial oversight manager with the National Security Agency. Walton currently serves as the vice chair of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE) and as president of NARFE’s Ocean Area chapter. He is a longtime volunteer with AARP Maryland and has served as president of the Ocean Pines AARP chapter in Worchester County for nine years, for which he received AARP Maryland’s Chapter Leader award in 2022. Walton has also served as vice chair of the Worcester County Commission on Aging and has received many accolades for all his various roles.