Gary Leland
Gary Leland is Founder and Host of The 200 Year Life Project, a public experiment to see how long and how well one human can live, and Founder of the BitBlockBoom Bitcoin conference in Texas. A cofounder of Podcast Movement and a member of the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame, he has spent three decades building businesses in the early years of e-commerce, podcasting, and Bitcoin.
Gary launched The 200 Year Life Project in 2025, at the age of 70, with the stated goal of becoming the first person to reach 200 in good health. He tests longevity interventions on himself, from supplements, exercise, and sleep protocols to continuous glucose monitoring, whole-genome sequencing, and full-body MRI scans, and he publishes his protocols, test results, and biological age measurements at GaryLeland.com so that others can copy or adapt them.
At 71, his most recent blood panel placed his biological age at 56. He documents the experiment on his YouTube channel, in his podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and in his Substack newsletter. He is also building The 200 Year Life Mastermind, a year-long group of ten members that begins meeting in May 2027, with our Elizabeth Parrish and our Bill Andrews among its confirmed expert guests.
On the show, Gary interviews the scientists and founders working to extend healthy human life, including our Aubrey de Grey, Bill Andrews, Dr. Michael Roizen, the creator of RealAge, and Elizabeth Parrish. His conversation with Parrish, She Says Gene Therapy Made Her 20 Years Younger, was featured on the Lifeboat Foundation blog in June 2026. Watch Aubrey de Grey: I Do Not Work on Longevity, I Work on Health, This Scientist Says You Can’t Live Past 125 (Until Now), and Dr. Michael Roizen Interview: How to Make Your RealAge Younger After 70.
Gary bought his first bitcoin in 2017, and in August of that year he began producing BitBlockBoom, which held its first conference in 2018 and describes itself as the longest-running Bitcoin conference in the world. He kept the event in person through the COVID-19 pandemic, and its fifth annual edition in 2022 drew a record crowd of more than 600 Bitcoiners, with speakers including Senator Cynthia Lummis, Jack Mallers, Jeff Booth, and Jimmy Song. Read BitBlockBoom Bitcoin Conference Surpassed All Expectations.
Known as the Bitcoin Boomer, Gary created the Bitcoin for Boomers TV series to introduce older audiences to Bitcoin, and since 2025 he has cohosted The Bitcoin Boomers podcast with Lawrence Lepard, Bob Burnett, and George Bodine. In 2021, he coauthored Bitcoin and the American Dream: The New Monetary Technology Transcending Our Political Divide with Jimmy Song, CJ Wilson, Pete Rizzo, and others. Listen to Bitcoin For Boomers & BitBlockBoom, Driving Bitcoin Forward with Gary Leland, and Gary Leland the Bitcoin Boomer.
Gary discovered podcasting in 2004 and recorded his first show, The Sport’s Podcast, that December, making him one of the first 100 podcasters. In March 2005, he launched Podcast Pickle, a directory and online community for podcasts and vidcasts that listed more than 12,000 shows by 2007. TIME included it in its 50 Best Websites 2006, and it was a finalist for the 2006 Webby Awards.
The site was covered in Podcasting For Dummies in 2005 and The Business Podcasting Bible in 2006, and Gary was quoted in Tricks of the Podcasting Masters and Promoting Your Podcast, both published in 2006. In 2014, he cofounded Podcast Movement with Dan Franks, Jared Easley, and Mitch Todd, and he remained with the company until 2020. Funded on Kickstarter, its first conference took place in Dallas in 2014, and by 2019 it drew more than 3,000 attendees.
In 2016, the Academy of Podcasters inducted Gary into its Hall of Fame alongside Mignon Fogarty, Rob Walch, Dawn Miceli, and Drew Domkus. Read 2016 Podcasting Hall Of Fame Class Announced. In February 2020, Dallas-based BizTalkRadio named him Executive Vice President to strengthen its digital and social media presence. Read Podcast Movement co-Founder Lured To BizTalkRadio.
After graduating from the College of Charleston in 1974, Gary moved from South Carolina to Texas in 1979, where he started out selling storm windows and doors door to door. He and his wife, Kathy, later opened a wallpaper store in Arlington.
He launched his first e-commerce business in 1995, and in 2000, after struggling to find equipment for his daughters’ softball team, he created SoftballJunk.com, an online and retail store for fastpitch softball equipment. The venture grew into a fastpitch media network that included the Fastpitch Radio Show podcast, Fastpitch TV, and Fastpitch Magazine. In 2015, he compiled The Fastpitch Book: 20 Great Coaches Give You 20 Great Tools to Improve Your Game, one of several fastpitch softball books he has published.
In North Texas, Gary founded the Arlington Social Media Marketing Meetup, which offers local business owners free sessions with invited speakers, and he cofounded Podcast Dallas with Mitch Todd. Arlington Mayor Jeff Williams proclaimed March 1, 2017, as Gary Leland Day. Read A Former Luddite Earned His Own Holiday in Arlington by Giving Free Tech Advice. That year he was also named one of 50 social media marketing influencers to follow. Gary lives in Texas with his wife, Kathy.
Visit his website, LinkedIn profile, YouTube channel, and Substack newsletter. Follow him on Facebook, Instagram and X.