Defend Your Dollars is the website of the Consumers Union Financial Services Campaign, where we support reforms to the financial marketplace to curb bad practices by banks and lenders.
The Daily Dollar Blog Writers
Gail K. Hillebrand, Financial Services Campaign Manager
Gail Hillebrand leads Consumers Union's Financial Services advocacy campaign based in Consumers Union's West Coast office. She is works to improve the marketplace for consumers in banking, consumer credit, payments, identity theft, and e-commerce. Ms. Hillebrand is a long time Bay Area resident and consumer advocate. She is the founding contributor to the Daily Dollar's Money Mom consumer tips series. To learn more about Consumers Union's financial services advocacy, see: www.consumersunion.org/money.html, www.financialprivacynow.org, and www.creditcardreform.org.
Michelle Jun, Staff Attorney
Michelle Jun is a Staff Attorney for Financial Privacy Now. She came to Consumers Union in 2003, initially to work on nonprofit hospital and healthcare conversions. Michelle works on payments issues, and has also worked on identity theft and financial privacy issues. A transplant from Southern California, Michelle now resides in San Francisco.
Lauren Z. Bowne, Staff Attorney
Lauren came to CU as a staff attorney in May of 2005 to work on children's health insurance with the Healthy Kids, Healthy Schools Project. She spent three years working on issues ranging from childhood obesity and marketing to children to nonprofit health entity conversions and health marketplace reform. She is currently a member of the Financial Services Advocacy Team.
Just prior to joining CU, Lauren attended law school during which she focused her efforts on consumer food issues and environmental policy. Before getting her legal education Lauren spent time working with a bay area organization that advocates for children's after-school and child-care programs. Lauren lives in San Francisco.
Michael McCauley, Media Director
Michael
McCauley has nine years of media experience, serving as media liaison for a number of nonprofit organizations. Prior to joining CU in 2000, Mr. McCauley served as Communications Director for Greenbelt Alliance, the Bay Area's regional land conservation and urban planning nonprofit. As Communications Director, he handled a number of responsibilities, including media outreach, policy communications, and marketing. Before moving to California, he was Communications Director for Trial lawyers for Public Justice (TLPJ), the national public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C. At TLPJ, he coordinated media relations for the organization's
wide ranging docket of environmental, consumer, and
civil rights cases. Prior to TLPJ, McCauley served as
Research Director for Public Citizen's Congress Watch.
During that time, he oversaw the group's research efforts
on a wide number of consumer and environmental issues,
and acted as a key spokesperson on congressional reform
issues.
Tim Marvin, Grassroots Organizer
Tim Marvin is a Grassroots Organizer at the West Coast Office of Consumers Union. He splits his time as a member of the financial services and the food and product safety teams. Prior to joining Consumers Union, Tim worked with the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG) first in 2001 as a student activist and canvasser. After college he was hired as a campus organizer at SUNY Albany then Syracuse University/ SUNY College of Environmental Science and University. In 2005 he worked in the Manhattan office overseeing activities at seven NYPIRG chapters around the state. During the summers he directed three outreach offices and then became a Regional Outreach Supervisor for two summers. In addition, he worked with NYPIRG's legislative and issue staff on a variety of campaigns such as the Bigger Better Bottle Bill and Wind Power Education.
Money Mom
The Money Mom blog series is penned by the Consumers Union Financial Services team. Money mom's goal is to provide useful money and finance tips, and to inform and involve you on how to better safeguard your wallet and funds.
