Regulation and Consumer Protection

Kenneth J. Meier is the Charles H. Gregory Chair in Liberal Arts and Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Texas A&M University. He is also Professor of Public Management in the Cardiff School of Business, Cardiff University (Wales). He is a former editor of the AMERICAN JOURNAL OF POLITICAL SCIENCE (1994-1997), a former associate editor of THE JOURNAL OF POLITICS (1991-1994), and the JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION RESEARCH AND THEORY (2000-2009). He served as the president of the Southwest Political Science Association; the American Political Science Associations sections on State Politics and Policy, Public Policy, and Public Administration; the Public Management Research Association; and the Midwest Political Science Association. In 2006, he received the John Gaus Award for career contributions to public administration scholarship; and in 2010, the C. Dwight Waldo Award from the American Society for Public Administration. He currently lives with the love of his life, Diane Jones Meier, in Bryan, Texas, and spends his free time comparing the merits of California zinfandels with Australian Shirazes.

A renowned author, advisor, and academic, Garman is a Fellow and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Virginia Tech University, where he directed the National Institute for Personal Finance Employee Education. He subsequently founded the Personal Finance Employee Education Foundation. Author of 40 book's and 200 academic research articles, Garman directed several award-winning research studies that link the financial fortunes of employers with the financial health of their employees. Research consistently shows that decreasing employee financial distress and improving personal financial well-being creates better workers. Garman's research has been the most cited in the field for over 20 years. He has worked for a U.S. senator in Washington, D.C., in economic development in West Africa, and for a national non-profit credit counseling organization. He is an elected Distinguished Fellow of both the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education and the American Council on Consumer Interests. Garman has served on advisory boards for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, International Board of Standards and Practices for Certified Financial Planners, American National Standards Institute, National Foundation for Credit Counseling, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and National Advertising Review Board. His consulting includes work for Profit Sharing/401(k) Council of America, Manulife Financial, AT&T, U.S. Navy, U.S. Army, and U.S. Department of Defense. His work has been featured in hundreds of publications, including USA Today, New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, and U.S. News & World Report, and he has appeared on National Public Radio and NBC Nightly News.

Lael R. Keiser Lael R. Keiser is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Administration at the University of Missouri-Columbia. She received her BA from Lawrence University and her MA and PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to entering academics, she worked as a staff member for Senator Paul Simon of Illinois. Her research focuses on the role of bureaucracy in public policy with special emphasis on social welfare bureaucracies. She has published articles in the British Journal of Political Science, The Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory and the Public Administration Review. Currently she is working on a book on child support enforcement. At the University of Missouri, she teaches classes on regulatory policy, social welfare policy, gender politics and policy evaluation at the undergraduate and graduate level.