09/11/2024 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/11/2024 14:15
YONKERS, NY - This month marks ten years for Marta L. Tellado as President and CEO of Consumer Reports - the singular and storied non-profit organization that works with consumers to instill fairness, safety, and transparency in the marketplace.
Tellado, who has announced she is planning to step down from the leadership role, has overseen a period of dramatic transformation for CR, modernizing and diversifying the nearly 90-year-old institution to better meet consumers' needs in a changing world. CR's recent innovations have included pioneering the testing of digital products and services for privacy and data security - as well as introducing an ethical AI-powered tool, AskCR, to help consumers navigate the modern marketplace with ease and with trust. CR has continuously evolved in recent years to become a force for consumers' interests and values in a digital age where technology is outrunning consumer protections.
"Leading this remarkable team has been a tremendous honor," said Tellado. "Our partnership with consumers has never been more relevant. Together over the last ten years, we have transformed this iconic enterprise, making it fit for purpose in an age when consumer harms are all too often hidden from us and when too much of the information we seek to guide our everyday decisions is untrustworthy. I am enormously proud of the work we've done to re-shape today's marketplace - through investigating and standing up to the world's biggest brands, raising the bar on safety, and imbuing trusted consumer insights and independent data into how products and services are designed and into the hazards in our food and water that don't meet the standards Americans deserve. By authoring groundbreaking digital standards and consumer protections, we are ensuring that the latest innovations serve consumers' interests."
Tellado will continue in the role until her successor is chosen, and she is working closely with members of CR's Board of Directors to ensure a smooth transition.
"We are deeply grateful to Marta for her extraordinary leadership and the legacy of innovation and success that she has built," said Ellen Taus, Chair of CR's Board of Directors. "In a time of unprecedented change for consumers on every front - from the rise of electric vehicles to the proliferation of fake online reviews - Marta has consistently helped steer CR ahead of the curve by investing in our institutional agility, our digital prowess, our internal and audience diversity, and our unique and influential role lifting up consumer voices."
The search for the next leader of CR is being led by the Board's Vice Chair, Russell Noles. "Thanks in large part to Marta's leadership, we are embarking on this search from a position of renewed impact and relevance in consumers' lives," said Noles. "The mission of CR is as vital today as it has ever been, and our work is well underway to identify a new leader who will carry forward the momentum that Marta has helped build over the last ten years - through innovative partnerships, trailblazing investigations and advocacy, and cutting-edge testing that makes a real difference in people's lives."
"From generation to generation, CR has helped build a better, safer marketplace for all, and I am truly grateful to have played a part in that ongoing journey," added Tellado. "Consumers are steeped in deceptive marketing and subject to digital platforms that trace our every move to control what we see and the prices we pay. I am proud that Consumer Reports remains a harbor of truth - beholden to no one but people who want a fair shake."
Over the last ten years under Tellado's leadership, CR has transformed its work and achieved major victories for consumers across three core areas: raising the bar on safety, standing up to big brands, and putting people at the center of innovation.
Raising the bar on safety
In an age when safety threats have rapidly evolved - including not only dangerous products, contaminants in our food, and insufficient government standards, but increasingly complex digital threats as well - CR has evolved in turn, standing with consumers at those moments when the stakes are highest.
Standing up to big brands
When companies fail to do right by consumers - and government fails to protect the people's interests - CR is an independent force for accountability and change, harnessing the voices and experiences of consumers to level the playing field and deliver results.
Putting people at the center of innovation
With innovation accelerating at lightning speed, CR has successfully brought its historic commitment to safety, security, and fairness from the physical world to the digital age - standing up for people's interests as new technologies are unleashed, creating groundbreaking standards and tools for the digital age, and reinventing itself as an enterprise to earn trust and exert influence in a digital marketplace.
Test for and reveal security flaws in popular apps like GoodRxand Glow, which compromised intimate information about users, and took action to fix them - resulting in major fines in some cases and stronger standards in all.
Founded in 1936, CR has a mission to create a fair and just marketplace for all. Widely known for our rigorous research and testing of products and services, we also survey millions of consumers each year, report extensively on marketplace issues, and advocate for consumer rights and protections around safety as well as digital rights, financial fairness, and sustainability. CR is independent and nonprofit.
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