Board

Lisa Donner

Lisa Donner is the Executive Director of Americans for Financial Reform (AFR), a coalition that brings together more than 200 national, state and local groups to work together to reform the financial industry. Members of the coalition include consumer, civil rights, labor, community, faith based, and business groups, as well as economists and other experts.  Our goal is a financial system that is fairer for consumers, and that better serves an equitable and sustainable real economy, rather than putting it at risk.

AFR led the efforts of groups on the ground to strengthen and pass the Dodd Frank financial reform legislation, including the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.  Since passage of that legislation AFR has defended the CFPB from continual attacks and pushed for effective consumer protection rules, fought for the public interest perspective as hundreds of crucial regulations shaping the financial system are written, and focused public attention on the need to transform the financial system, help homeowners and communities impacted by the foreclosure crisis and hold Wall Street accountable.

Prior to joining AFR, first as Deputy Director, Lisa was the Executive Director of the Half in Ten Campaign, and the co-director of the Center for Working Families. In these positions she developed and promoted policy on fair taxes, work and family, anti- poverty measures, and green jobs. Before that, Lisa was a union and community organizer and campaign strategist, including fighting big banks and predatory lenders at ACORN as Campaign Director, and Director of the Financial Justice Center. ↑

Ed Mierzwinski

Ed Mierzwinski (Board Chair) is the Consumer Program Director and Senior Director of the Federal Consumer Program at U.S. PIRG. Mierzwinski has worked in the Washing, DC-based federal lobbying office of the Federation of State Public Interest Research Groups (U.S. PIRG) since 1989. He often lectures or testifies before Congress, state legislatures and agencies on a wide range of consumer issues, from credit card rates and privacy to product safety and airline passenger rights. He has been involved in all significant Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) policy amendments since 1989. He has published reports on numerous consumer issues, including Big Data’s impact on financial opportunity, the CFPB Public Consumer Complaint Database, internet privacy, identity theft and credit reporting mistakes. He is the co-author of a Model State Data Breach, Security Freeze and Identity Theft Law, available on SSRN. He has had recent articles in the American Prospect the Journal of Consumer Affairs and the Suffolk University Law Review.

He is a 2003 recipient of Privacy International’s “Brandeis Award” for privacy protection efforts and a 2006 recipient of the Consumer Federation of America’s “Esther Peterson Consumer Service Award.” He is also formerly a member of the Consumer Reports’ Board of Directors.

Mierzwinski sits on the board of directors of the Consumer Federation of America. He chairs the Americans for Financial Reform Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Task Force. Mierzwinski is a founding and current member of the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue (tacd.org), and is on the board of directors of Flyersrights.org. Also, he is a former member of the Federal Reserve Board’s Consumer Advisory Council. Mierzwinski is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (BA, MS) and previously was Executive Director of the Connecticut PIRG. ↑

Damon Silvers

Damon Silvers is the former Director of Policy and Special Counsel for the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and currently serves as special advisor to the AFL-CIO and AFT. He is also a visiting professor at University College London and Newcastle University.

Silvers has served on a pro bono basis as a special assistant attorney general for the state of New York, and as a member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board User Advisory Council, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Corporate Governance Task Force, Investor Advisory Committee of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Treasury Department’s Financial Research Advisory Committee, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board’s Standing Advisory Group and its Investor Advisory Group.

Silvers served as the deputy chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel for the Troubled Asset Relief Program from 2008 to 2011. Also, Silvers served as the chair of the Competition Subcommittee of the U.S. Treasury Department Advisory Committee on the Audition Profession and as a member of the Treasury Depart Investor’s Practice committee of the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. ↑

Terrysa Guerra

Terrysa Guerra is the Co-Executive Director of United for Respect and oversees the development of political power retail workers and people who work low-wage jobs. Terrysa is a former Democratic strategist, and the former campaign manager for Sen. Wendy Davis, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia, and Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair, Rep. Chris Turner. ↑

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