News
Jim Guest elected as new President of Consumers International at CI World Congress
06 May 2011
On Friday, 6 May 2011, Jim Guest was elected as
President of Consumers International (CI) at the General Assembly
meeting of Consumers International World Congress in Hong Kong. He
replaces outgoing President Samuel Ochieng.
Jim Guest is also the CEO of Consumers Union of United States
and previously the Vice President of CI.
Years in the consumer movement
Mr Guest became CEO of Consumers Union (CU) in 2001 after a long
career in public service, including 21 years as Chair of CU's Board
of Directors. As the CEO of one of the leading nonprofits in
America, Mr Guest has transformed the organisation into a
multimedia publisher that engages regularly with its readers,
including more than eight million subscribers and 600,000 online
activists. After graduating from Harvard law school and completing
a Woodrow Wilson fellowship in economics at MIT, he worked as
legislative assistant to Senator Ted Kennedy.
Strengths
On his first address as CI President Mr Guest quoted Martin
Luther King, saying "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice
everywhere".
Mr Guest said he intended to play to CI's strengths, which were
its diversity, its passion, and its persistence. He said he had a
long term view, and that CI was in this business for the long haul.
"We need to be the kind of organisation that does not take 'no' for
an answer," Mr Guest asserted.
Mr Guest went on to say that the balance of economic power in
the world was too weighted against consumers in relation to
corporations and it was CI's job to fight for the balance to be
shifted. He thanked the Hong Kong Consumer Council and their staff
for their wonderful work hosting CI World Congress 2011.
Complete list of elected CI Council members