AARP names new state director.

• Position: Charmaine S. Fuller Cooper, AARP South Carolina

The South Carolina branch of the AARP of has hired Charmaine S. Fuller Cooper as its new state director.

Fuller Cooper brings two decades of experience in campaign strategy and management, government relations, and rural, multicultural and conservative advocacy to the table, including nine years at AARP. She served the company previously as a campaigns field manager working with her predecessor in the role and North Carolina's advocacy director.

"For so many, financial security, affordable health care, housing and utilities are at the forefront of issues that greatly impact quality of life as we grow older," Cooper said in a news release. "It is our duty to hear the concerns of our members and to drive the change and security they desire."

She has also served as the executive director of the N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation after building the foundation and its clearinghouse from the ground up to reach victims of the forced sterilization eugenics program that operated from the 1920s through the 1970s.

Fuller Cooper's leadership elevated the voice of victims to an international audience, ultimately resulting in $10 million in compensation for living victims, according to the release. Also, she has...