OFFICIAL DebtorWise site

Dr. Robert D. Manning - President and CEO

Author of the widely acclaimed book Credit Card Nation; The Consequences of America's Addiction to Credit (Basic Books, 2000), which received the 2001 Robert Ezra Park Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sociological Practice, Dr. Manning is a specialist in consumer finance, deregulation of retail banking, comparative economic development, immigration, ethnic/race relations and globalization.

Dr. Manning is a Fellow of the Filene Research Institute and past Director of the Center for Consumer Financial Services at Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Manning's research has influenced public policy debate on the statutory regulation of retail banking and consumer debt in the United States and other countries. A frequently invited expert before U.S. Congressional committees, in January 2007 Dr. Manning testified at the Senate Banking committee's hearing on "Examining the Billing, Marketing, and Disclosure Practices of the Credit Card Industry and Their Impact on Consumers." He has also served as an expert witness in numerous class-action lawsuits against the credit card industry.

A documentary based on his research, "In Debt We Trust: America Before the Bubble Bursts", was released in March 2007. Dr. Manning's popular web site Credit Card Nation includes research, public policy analyses and educational programs.

Dr. Manning's research has been widely reported in the U.S. and international media including Sixty Minutes II, ABC World News, ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings, ABC's Good Morning America (Diane Sawyer), Bloomberg Financial News, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, CNBC, CNN Headline News, CNN Morning News, CNN Evening News (Lou Dobbs), CNN Burden of Proof, C-SPAN, FOX Evening News, O'Reilly Factor, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, MSNBC with Brian Williams, Jim Lehrer News Hour (PBS), National Public Radio (All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Talk of the Nation, Weekend Edition), Voice of America, Jim Bohannon Show, Australian Public Radio, British Broadcast Corporation, Canadian Public Radio, Reuters International, and Swedish Public Radio.

Dr. Manning's latest work has been focused on Responsible Debt Relief, a nonprofit organization helping debt distressed households by guiding them into the most appropriate debt resolution program based on an empirical, objective assessment of debt repayment. More information on this organization can be found at www.responsibledebtrelief.org

Ed Koziol - VP of Business Development

Interests: Running, golfing.
Resides: Orlando, FL

Molly Weimer - VP

Education: University of Rochester, BA; Cornell MBS.
Interests: Raising orchids, hiking, reading, gardening and sailing when I have time
Resides: Pittsford, NY

Charles Baldo - Director of Information Services

Education: AAS degree from MCC
Interests: Spending time with his family, exploring new technologies and reading
Resides: Rochester, NY

Thomas Upchurch - Director of Education

Education: MBA in Finance from the Rochester Institute of Technology and a Bachelors of Science in Business Management from Niagara University.
Interests: Golfing, traveling and playing music.
Resides: Farmington, N.Y., with his wife Angie.

Donna Slavin - Director of Special Programs

Interests: Hiking, being outdoors, reading, spending time with my family.
Resides: Rochester, N.Y.

Anita C. Butera, PhD - Director of Bankruptcy Education

Education: Ph.D. in Sociology from American University (1999) and J.D. from SUNY-Buffalo (2001), NACBA member
Interests: Spending time with family, reading.
Resides: Poughkeepsie, NY

Donald R. Adair - Corporate Counsel

Mr. Adair was born and raised in Rochester, New York. He graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in 1965 with honors. He graduated from Cornell Law School with a J.D. in 1968 (with honors, including Order of the Coif, and Articles Editor of the Cornell Law Review 1967-1968).

Mr. Adair worked with Nixon, Hargrave, Devans & Doyle (now Nixon Peabody LLP), Rochester, New York, from 1968 to 1988, first as an employee associate and then was elected a partner. He primarily practiced corporate and securities law throughout those years. He represented and advised many major business corporations in the Rochester area, as well as many small and mid-sized businesses. Mr. Adair’s services covered a very wide range of projects, including public offerings and securities law compliance, acquisitions and dispositions of businesses, compliance with a wide range of regulatory requirements, negotiations with respect to a wide range of business relationships, development of employee benefit programs including executive compensation, management of disputes, and a wide range of day-to-day matters, including corporate housekeeping.

Since 1988 Mr. Adair has been with Adair Law Firm, LLP and its predecessors in Rochester, New York. He has continued his business law practice, with a focus on small and mid-sized businesses. The Adair Law Firm web site is: www.adairlaw.com.

Chris Dutcher - Attorney Relations Manager

Interests: Spending time with friends and family, going to see concerts, golfing.
Resides: Geneva, NY

Alex Wright - Creative Director

Education: Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from Rochester Institute of Technology, concentration in Web and Graphic Design, minor in Psychology.
Interests: Spending time with his wife Jane, movies, music, sports, learning about the web.
Resides: Brighton, NY

Evan Paris - Product Development Specialist

Education: Currently pursuing a BS in management with a concentration in personal finance. Plans on pursuing his MBA.
Interests: Playing golf, the drums and guitar.
Resides: Victor, NY

Francisco Fuentes - Project Specialist

Education: 4th year student at Rochester Institute of Technology pursuing BS in Finance with minors in Economics and Management.
Interests: Sports, cars, music, art, going out with friends.
Resides: Rochester, NY

Curtis Arnold - CEO of CardRatings.com

Curtis is regularly featured by national media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, The Today Show (NBC), Good Morning America, The Early Show (CBS), USA Today, PBS, Money and SmartMoney Magazines, MSNBC, NPR, The New York Times, Fox Business, Oprah and Friends and The Washington Post for his expertise in the credit industry.

In 1998 he founded the for-profit consumer organization U.S. Citizens for Fair Credit Card Terms, Inc. (CFCCT) and in June 2008 published How You Can Profit from Credit Cards: Using Credit to Improve Your Financial Life and Bottom Line with FT Press. Arnold is also co-authoring a book on person-to-person lending entitled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Person-to-Person Lending (Alpha Books/Penguin Group USA, April 2009), which will be part of the "The Complete Idiot's Guide to"... series of reference books. Finally, Arnold is also a contributor to The Ultimate Allowance (InnerWealth Publishing, 2008).

Arnold is also co-chair of the Arkansas chapter of the Jump$tart Coalition for Financial Literacy, a national non-profit organization that seeks to improve the personal financial literacy of young adults.

Eulas Gene Boyd - Present Assistant to the Senior Vice President, Enrollment Management and Career Services

- Assistant Provost for Diversity, Rochester Institute of Technology - Rochester, NY
- Director, Center for Academic Success & Cultural Affairs, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
- Assistant to the Provost/Director of SEEK (Search for Education, Elevation, and Knowledge), City University of New York, Queens College, Flushing, NY
- Assistant to the Dean of Arts & Sciences. California State University Dominguez Hills, Carson, CA
- Assistant Academic Vice President, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY
- Associate Academic Dean, Le Moyne College, Syracuse, NY
- Director, Higher Education Preparation Program, Le Moyne College Syracuse, NY
- Academic Coordinator. Educational Opportunity Program, State University of New York at Cortland

Education:
- State University of New York at Educational Policy & Philosophy, B.S., magna cum laude Buffalo, Buffalo, NY
- African American and African Latin , Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Family Studies, M.A., 1985
- Human Development , Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY Higher Education Administration

Presentations:
- Language Acquisition of ESL Students, presented at:
  - New York City Office of Bilingual Education, 2000
  - New York State Bilingual Teachers Conference, 2000
  - University of Beijing, China, 2000
  - Sankofan Way, City College of New York, 1992
  - African Heritage Studies Association, New Orleans, May 1989
  - Diversity at a Small Liberal Arts College, Middle States Association, December 1988

Max Fraad-Wolff - Currently an economist at the New School University Graduate Program in International Affairs, New York, NY

- Senior economist at Beryl Consulting Group LLC,Jersey City NJ

Education
- BA Economics,1996, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
- ABD Econ. PHD to be awarded Spring 2010, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

Publications
- The House that Debt Built, Verso 2010
- Max is a regular for the Huffington Post and appears on BBC, NPR,Bloomberg, Financial Times, Al Jazeera English and other outlets.

Charles R. Lowery, Jr. - Director of Fair Lending and Inclusion at NAACP Financial Freedom Center

Previous Work
- Mr. Lowery previously served as the Acting Director of Military Saves, a social marketing campaign co-sponsored by the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Consumer Federation of America.
- He served as a Policy Counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), a nonprofit policy organization that promotes responsible lending practices and access to fair terms of credit for low-wealth families. During his 5 years at CRL, Mr. Lowery organized, developed, and maintained military outreach activities with the Department of Defense and the Departments of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force in the areas of predatory mortgage lending, payday lending, and other abusive consumer financial services practices and products.
- He also served as a state coordinator in states targeted for legislative initiatives in the areas of predatory mortgage lending and payday lending.

His key accomplishments at CRL include working with a unique coalition comprised of the Department of Defense and consumer advocates that obtained passage of Congressional legislation and enactment of the Military Lending Act, a federal law that places a 36% interest rate cap on consumer loans made to military members and their families; and developing and managing a coalition of groups and organizations that successfully persuaded the Council of the District of Columbia to pass a 24% interest rate cap for consumer loans made to District residents.

Prior to working at CRL, Mr. Lowery spent 7 years as General Counsel and Deputy General Counsel for the D.C. Department of Banking and Financial Institutions where he drafted and helped pass legislation on predatory mortgage lending, mortgage lenders and brokers, financial modernization, international banking, money transmitters, check cashing, and opportunity accounts. In addition, he served as the department’s Ombudsman and worked to help District residents with their mortgage and foreclosure problems.

Mr. Lowery’s career includes 30 years of public service including positions with D.C. Government, federal government, and legal services. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School and Stanford University (A.B. Economics with Honors) and has been a resident of the District for over 20 years.

Robert Nathan Mayer - Professor, Family and Consumer Studies - University of Utah

Dr. Robert N. Mayer is a professor in the Department of Family and Consumer Studies at the University of Utah (U of U). He received his PhD in sociology from the University of California-Berkeley in 1978 and joined the U of U faculty at that time.

Dr. Mayer's research has exposed consumer problems, evaluated consumer policy interventions, and examined the U.S. and global consumer movements. His current research focuses on retirement planning in the aftermath of the Great Recession and the role of consumer advocates in the successful campaign to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Dr. Mayer is the author of the book, The Consumer Movement: Guardians of the Marketplace , and was associate editor (with Stephen Brobeck and Robert Herrmann) of the landmark Encyclopedia of the Consumer Movement. His research has also appeared in numerous journals covering consumer topics.

Dr. Mayer has been a board member of the American Council on Consumer Interests, the National Consumers League, the Direct Selling Education Foundation, and Consumer Reports WebWatch (a project of Consumers Union). Currently, he is a board member of the Consumer Federation of America. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Consumer Affairs, Journal of Consumer Policy, and Journal of Public Policy & Marketing.

As a teacher, his courses within the Department of Family and Consumer Studies cover consumer policy and family finance. He also teaches in the U of U Honors Program. Dr Mayer has won the University of Utah Distinguished Teaching Award and the College of Social and Behavioral Science Superior Teaching Award.