Consumers Union

Gene Kimmelman is Vice President for Federal and International Affairs at Consumers Union (CU), an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers. CU publishes Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org. Mr. Kimmelman was promoted to this new position in January 2006 to undertake an expanded role managing CU?s international consumer work. He is responsible for management and oversight of all of CU?s federal and international public policy and advocacy activities. He has extensive knowledge in a wide variety of public policy issues, with expertise in telecommunications, cable television, product liability, and antitrust law. His previous title at CU was Senior Director, Public Policy and Advocacy. Mr. Kimmelman is a nationally recognized expert on deregulation and consumer protection issues, particularly in the area of telecommunications. He was the lead consumer advocate during the federal government's consideration of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, major media and telecommunications mergers and testifies often before Congress as it reviews federal policy involving these industries. Mr. Kimmelman is widely quoted on these issues in a variety of publications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He is interviewed frequently for network and cable television news programs. Prior to joining Consumers Union, Mr. Kimmelman served for two years as chief counsel and staff director for the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Prior to that, he was legislative director for the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) where, during his 10-year tenure, he directed CFA's legislative, regulatory, and judicial intervention program. Mr. Kimmelman began his career as a consumer advocate and staff attorney for Public Citizen's Congress Watch. Mr. Kimmelman is a Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude graduate of Brown University. He studied in Denmark as a Fulbright Fellow at Copenhagen University's graduate program on the public sector. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia and was the recipient of the University's Fortsman Fellowship in 1980.

Ken Weine is Vice President, Communications for Consumers Union, an expert, independent, nonprofit organization whose mission is to work for a fair, just and safe marketplace for consumers. CU publishes Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org with approximately 8 million total paid subscriptions to its products and services and more than $200 million in revenue. Mr. Weine manages communications and media strategy for Consumers Union and Consumer Reports and oversees a staff of eleven. For Consumer Reports? magazine and Web site, he directs editorial and trade publicity, and oversees creation and distribution of CR?s syndicated newspaper column, radio program, and television news service. For Consumers Union, working with CU?s West Coast and D.C. offices, he manages and coordinates publicity of its advocacy campaigns on health care, food and product safety, and financial privacy. In addition, he designs and implements public education campaigns on a variety of topics related to CU?s mission. During Mr. Weine?s

Beau Brendler is director of Consumer Reports WebWatch, the Internet integrity division of Consumers Union. WebWatch campaigns have signed up more than 250 companies, organizations and Web sites -- including The New York Times, CNN, Barnes & Noble, Monster.com and ING -- to abide by a list of credibility guidelines for Web sites. These guidelines, organized around the principles of transparency, separation of advertising and editorial, were endorsed by the U.S. State Department and translated into Russian, Chinese, Arabic, and Portuguese. Brendler came to the organization in May 2001 after five years at ABC News in New York, where he was editorial director and a founder of the ABC News.com Web site. His career spans newspapers, magazines and television, including five years as a reporter and assitant city editor in Anchorage, Alaska. He lives in Patterson, New York with his wife, daughter and son.

Charles Bell is the Programs Director for Consumers Union. In that capacity, he provides fiscal and administrative oversight of Consumer Reports WebWatch, and assists with research, media work, policy development and coordination. In his work in the executive office of Consumers Union, Bell provides staff support to James Guest, Consumers Union's President, and oversees special initiatives that involve outside funding and external alliances. These include Consumer Reports WebWatch, and the Center for Consumer Health Choices, which provides comparative information on health insurance and health care. Bell also works closely with Consumers Union's advocacy offices in California, New York, Texas and Washington, DC on a wide range of consumer policy issues, including the Internet, the environment, financial services and health care. He also manages the Colston E. Warne Program, which provides financial and technical support for U.S. and international consumer organizations. Since joining Consumers Union in 1989, Bell has written articles on health care and consumer affairs topics which have been published in the Charlotte Observer, the Journal News, the San Francisco Examiner, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Seattle Times, and the Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine. Bell holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science from Antioch University, Seattle, Wash. He studied at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University, Salem, Ore., and is currently pursuing a master's degree in international business at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs.

Elena joined the West Coast Office in 1998 as Project Coordinator of the Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools Project. Elena is originally from the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. Her first visit to San Francisco was in 1989-90 when she participated in the CORO Foundation Fellowship in Public Affairs. She returned to the bay area 8 years later to direct a non-profit organization for the treatment of Alcohol and Substance Abuse. Before moving to the bay area, Elena directed a community center and a youth leadership program in Southern California. Her passion is working with young people and families, especially in the areas of leadership development and empowerment.

Steve came to CU in August 2004. He works in the DC office, most directly with Gail Shearer who heads up the grant-funded Best Buy Drugs Project. Just before coming to CU, Steve was Director of Research and Policy at the National Institute for Health Care Management, for four years. Prior to that, he was Senior Policy Analyst at the National Coalition on Health Care, for two years. And before that Steve had a 20-year career in medical and health care journalism, working at both mass media and trade publications, including USA TODAY, U.S. News & World Report, and Business & Health magazine. Steve lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife, Grace, and two much-pampered dogs. Their two children are up and out, with the youngest having just started college this fall.

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