Robert S. Adler has served as a Commissioner at the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) since August 18, 2009. He was renominated by President Obama on May 14, 2014 and confirmed by the Senate on December 2, 2014. His term runs through October 2021. He was named Acting Chairman of the agency on October 1, 2019.

Prior to his appointment, he served on the Obama Transition Team and co-authored a report on the CPSC for the Obama administration.

Prior to assuming office, Adler served as a professor of Legal Studies at the University of North Carolina as the Luther Hodges Jr., Scholar in Ethics and Law at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. At the University of North Carolina, he served as the Associate Dean of the MBA Program and as Associate Dean for the School’s Bachelor of Science in Business Administration Program. As a professor, he taught courses in business law, business ethics, business-government relations and negotiation. Bob won a university-wide teaching award, the Tanner Award, in 1996 and the undergraduate program's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1990. In 2004, he received the Gerald Barrett Faculty Award for outstanding teaching and service to the MBA Program.

Bob's academic research interests included product safety, product liability, regulation, commercial law, medical malpractice, and negotiation. His article, When David Meets Goliath: Dealing With Power Differentials in Negotiation, in the Spring 2000 issue of the Harvard Negotiation Law Review (co-authored with Elliot Silverstein) received the annual best article award by the CPR Institute for Dispute Resolution.

Prior to his service at UNC, he spent nine years as an attorney-advisor to two commissioners at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C. Subsequently, he served as counsel to the Subcommittee on Health and the Environment of the Committee on Energy and Commerce in the U.S. House of Representatives. While on the subcommittee, he worked on legislation relating to product liability, childhood vaccines, the Food and Drug Administration, medical malpractice, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.

Before his service at the CPSC, Bob served as a deputy attorney general for the Pennsylvania Justice Department, where he headed the southwest regional office of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection.

Bob has been involved in numerous consumer protection and education activities for many years. He was elected six times to the board of directors of Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.

Bob graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 1966 with a major in political science. He received a JD from the University of Michigan Law School in 1969.

Andy Blahnik is the quality and compliance manager at Gemline, a premier supplier in the promotional products industry. In his role he is responsible for ensure the quality and compliance of products and ensuring the factories used meet local and international standards. Andy travels to overseas factories frequently to review processes and products and also work closely with local teams.

Prior to his role at Gemline, Andy was stationed in China working for a provider of inspection, audits and testing and before that for a company providing sourcing solutions. Andy has experience on the ground working with factories both on the quality of the product and compliance of their facilities.

Dr. Anne Bonhoff is a recognized expert on restricted substances, toxicology, environmental issues, ecological trends and legislation. She designs and develops tailor-made chemical management and sustainability solutions across the entire supply chain including detox and zero discharge.

Anne collaborated on a read-across based quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) tool that can predict the toxicity of substances in consumer products and will provide accurate data on potential health effects of chemicals, helping companies meet REACH compliance deadlines, reducing the need for animal testing, and could help identifying safer alternatives to develop greener chemicals. She is a member of Swiss, European and International Standardization committees as well as technical advisory committees for American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA), Zero Discharge of Hazardous Chemicals (ZDHC) and serves as an advisory board member of the European branch of Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT-Europe). Anne holds a Ph.D. in plant biochemistry from Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg, Germany. Anne is a Corporate Fellow of UL’s William Henry Merrill Society.

Rick Brenner, MAS+, is president/CEO of Logical Advisors which provides advisory services to leading industry distributors and suppliers. This year marks the twelfth year Rick has co-chaired PPAI’s Product Responsibility Summit. A 19-year veteran of the promotional products industry, 12 as president and CEO of industry supplier Prime Resources, he has long history of industry leadership as well as advocacy for product safety and responsible sourcing. He is a former chairman of PPAI. He was a founder of the Quality Certification Alliance (QCA), a member of QCA’s governance committee and served for seven years as chair of QCA’s compliance committee. Rick has also served as president of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization, the preeminent global product safety organization.

Brian Campbell is the director of supply chain compliance at 4imprint and is responsible for product safety, regulatory compliance and social accountability for 4imprint’s supply chain.  He leads the compliance team which verifies 4imprint expectations to supplier partners are met, collaborates with suppliers to meet evolving requirements and initiatives for the business, and the team communicates with customers regarding compliance-related inquiries.  His professional experience includes co-managing an importing company that sold private-label baby products in the retail and was an operations manager for a distributor in the CNC machine tool industry.  Brian is a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and is the chair of the PPAI Product Responsibility Action Group, and is a member of ICPHSO and the Society of Product Safety Professionals. 

Neal Cohen, an experienced and well-respected product safety attorney and consultant, advises consumer product manufacturers, brands, importers, and retailers around the globe in bringing new, innovative consumer products to market.  A former attorney and senior official at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), Neal provides strategic insight, counsel and guidance to his clients whose brands may be at risk when managing sensitive, high-stakes investigations and recalls. 

While at CPSC, Neal eventually led the CPSC’s largest investigation in its history, ultimately testifying on behalf of the CPSC before a U.S. Senate Committee overseeing the investigation. Neal also served as the senior legal advisor in CPSC’s Office of Compliance.

Appointed to be the CPSC’s Small Business Ombudsman, Neal is the lead author and designer of CPSC’s Regulatory Robot. The innovative Robot, which catalogs and guides businesses through every regulation that the CPSC enforces, is recognized as one of Neal’s key accomplishments and has served to assist thousands of businesses worldwide.     

A recipient of the CPSC’s prestigious Chairman’s Award, Neal is also widely known for his public speaking and leadership as a member of the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO). A native of South Florida, Neal earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction from Swarthmore College and obtained his law degree from the Emory University School of Law.  He is a member of the bar in New York and resides in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and three children.  Neal tweets product safety related news and insights @NealCohenLaw on Twitter and on www.NealCohenLaw.com

Nathan Cotter is the vice president of compliance at Hit Promotional Products, Inc., ranked among the top 5 promotional product suppliers in the nation.  The compliance team at Hit is comprised of 5 full-time members responsible for product safety, regulatory compliance, and social responsibility throughout a diverse supply chain.  Nathan holds a BA from Monmouth College, is a member of PPAI’s Product Responsibility Action Group and also serves on the QCA Compliance Committee. 

Susan DeRagon is Senior Technical Consultant at QIMA.  With over 30 years of experience, she is a leading quality and safety expert on various consumer products including children’s products, apparel, food contact items and the unique challenges of promotional and licensed goods.  Susan has conducted numerous technical seminars and webinars globally and works closely with companies to provide the highest level of quality service in the areas of regulatory compliance, product testing, safety assessments, production quality control and assurance, and product inspections.

Ms. DeRagon is an active member of The Toy Association and ASTM International, participating on several consumer product standards committees.  She is also a member of PPAI’s Product Responsibility Action Group (PRAG) and a previous member of the Board of Directors for ICPHSO, the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization.

Ms. DeRagon received a B.S degree in business administration from Bay Path College, Magna Cum Laude.

Hilde Gunn Vestad is a Norwegian national with a Bachelor’s in Social Anthropology from Norwegian University of Science and Technology. She has lived and traveled around in Asia Pacific for more than two decades, working for Hennes & Mauritz, the adidas Group, Lidl Hong Kong and ELEVATE Limited.

Hilde is one of the original founders of the H&M compliance program and started intensive supply chain mapping already in 1998. And in a period of 4 years, she created the foundation of a program that made H&M the Global leader in Sustainability we know today.

In 2003, she was headhunted into the adidas Groups, Social & Environmental Affairs Department where she joined a team of 65 people based around the world becoming one of the key architects of their program.

At adidas Hilde contributed to the CSR Reports, ran supply chain mapping projects, capacity building and training programs related to worker rights, health and safety and the protection of the environment. Notably, she spearheaded a pioneering work on prevention of Modern-Day Slavery in the adidas supply chain mobilizing the sporting good and fast fashion industry to collaborate together with grass roots organization, NGOs, and Governments to develop policies and work on prevention.

Hilde was headhunted into Lidl Hong Kong in 2015 as Director for Compliance and Sustainability where she was placed with the Execute Leadership Team, reporting to the CEO, building up a team of 43 CSR professionals around Asia Pacific and a group wide CSR strategy.

Due to downsizing of the Lidl office in Hong Kong, Hilde joined ELEVATE in November 2020 as their Vice President, Programs, where she managed the outsourced Responsible Sourcing portfolio (Programs) for strategic customers and led the Worker Engagement Team, consisting of three teams focusing on eLearning, Worker Engagement and Factory services.

In the spring of 2021 Hilde got headhunted to become Head of Sustainability for the Diary Farm Group, one of Asia’s largest retailer, that includes supermarkets, chemist, beauty, restaurants (including Starbucks), and furniture stores (IKEA). She will start 2^nd August 2021.

Hilde’s Board member experience includes:

Board of Director for the Mekong Club, an association fighting Modern Day Slavery, September 2016 -September 2018.

Board of Director of Amfori (BSCI), June 2018 - September 2020. Amfori is a leading global business association, with 2200 members that promotes open and sustainable trade.

In addition to her love of running and hiking she have also authored two novels based on her work experience and is currently looking for a publisher.

Relevant links:

https://www.amfori.org/amfori-board-directors

https://themekongclub.org/people/hilde-gunn-vestad/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hilde-gunn-vestad-1b82bb14/?originalSubdomain=hk

Cory Halliburton is an attorney with the law firm of Weycer, Kaplan, Pulaski & Zuber. He has served as General Counsel for PPAI since May 2014 and since that time he has participated in just about every PPAI Board meeting and strategic planning session and has reviewed hundreds of contracts for PPAI. He also supports in-house counsel of publicly traded companies and executives in the tax-exempt organizations space in their drafting and negotiation of substantial vendor agreements. 

Cory Halliburton graduated Magna Cum Laude from Texas Tech University School of Law in 2003 and, among other accolades, was the recipient of the 2013 Outstanding Young Lawyer Award from the Fort Worth-Tarrant County Young Lawyers Association.

Karolyn Helda is the managing director of AsiaInspection’s Laboratory in Buffalo, New York.  She has worked in the consumer products safety, compliance and quality assurance industry for almost 30 years. Her knowledge and direct experience span the categories of toys and children’s products, softlines, general merchandise as well as consumable consumer goods such as food, over-the-counter drugs, health and beauty care items.  Prior to assuming responsibility for the Buffalo lab operations, Karolyn held various roles at independent consumer products testing laboratories including laboratory and client services management, business development, global compliance program development and management, as well as technical consulting, training and protocol development.

Dan’s practice is focused on product liability issues relating to consumer products. 

Specific to consumer class action lawsuits, Dan has successfully defended clients in class actions alleging false or misleading labeling or advertising of foods, cosmetics, hand-tools, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, and homeopathic products. These claims have involved probiotics, “natural” ingredients, “clinically-proven” results, lack of efficacy, lack of substantiation, and failure to disclose. Representative statutes addressed include:

• California’s Unfair Competition Law (Business & Professions Code § 17200) and similar unfair competition statutes in every state and the District of Columbia based on allegations of unfair competition or false advertising actions.
• California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (Proposition 65)
• Deceptive, False, and Misleading Advertising laws, such as California’s Business & Professions Code § 17500, and similar statutes proscribing advertising that contains false, deceptive, or misleading statements related to the sale of goods.
• Consumer Legal Remedies Act (CLRA), California Civil Code § 1750, which establishes a remedy for unfair methods of competition and unfair or deceptive acts in the sale of goods to a consumer. CLRA violations commonly alleged against food and drug companies include “representing goods that have characteristics, ingredients, benefits or qualities that they do not have,” and “representing that goods are of a particular standard, quality, or grade.”
• Breach of Express and Implied Warranties under state and federal laws, including the Magnuson-Moss Act.

His trial work also encompasses defense of pharmaceuticals & medical devices, commercial litigation and privacy and data security. Dan advises international companies in the pharmaceutical, medical device, food, over-the-counter drugs, homeopathic remedies, and dietary supplement industries. He has served as defense counsel in over 3,000 product liability cases and represented companies in both state and federal courts in California and the US. Dan routinely advises clients on regulatory matters as well as the selection of local counsel and lead trial attorneys. His commercial litigation practice has covered a wide spectrum of issues and included representation of several international companies based in Italy, Mexico, India, United Kingdom, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Germany, Australia, and Switzerland.

Representative Matters

• Successfully resolved California Unfair Competition claims (17200) against manufacturers of dietary supplements, foods, cosmetics, and homeopathic medicine products.
• Successfully represented a semiconductor equipment supplier against allegations of breach of contract, lack of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, and unfair competition. The plaintiff had sought approximately $200 million in damages. The defense verdict was selected as one of the Top Defense Verdicts of 2010 by the San Francisco Daily Journal and was upheld on Appeal.
• Obtained complete dismissal of product liability, RICO action relating to medical devices through a motion to dismiss in the Southern District of Ohio.
• Successfully defended a California grocery retailer in a state court lawsuit and on appeal. The lawsuit was filed by three Union for Food and Commercial Worker-employed plaintiffs alleging that the retailer violated the Rosenthal Roberti Item Pricing Act.
• Obtained a summary judgment in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in a medical device action.
• Successfully represented in Arbitration a supplier of component parts for a consumer product in breach of contract and breach of warranty claims arising from a nationwide CPSC recall.
• Successfully obtained a pre-judgment attachment in the amount of $45 million in breach of contract action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of a non-US based technology company.
• Successfully obtained summary judgment in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in a business defamation claim that led to new management obtaining control of a non-US based software company.
• Favorably settled action in the US District Court for the Northern District of California alleging breach of earnout provision of stock purchase agreement after preliminary injunction hearing.
• Favorably settled purported three state class actions alleging product liability and contract claims in state court.
• Obtained defense verdict in a state superior court action alleging product liability and breach of contract claims.

Recognitions & Awards

• Best Lawyers in America: 2021 "Lawyer of the Year" Mass Tort Litigation / Class Actions - Defendants in San Francisco.

• Expert Guides: Product Liability Litigation (2014-present)
• Northern California Super Lawyers: Business Litigation/Class Action Defense (2004 – present)
• Best Lawyers in America: Product Liability Litigation (2012 –present)
• Lead trial counsel in breach of contract/indemnity action case selected as a “Top 10 Defense Verdict” by The Daily Journal (2010)
• Martindale-Hubbell AV Preeminent

Professional & Community Involvement

• Fellow, American Bar Foundation
• Member, Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel
• Member, Drug and Medical Device Committee of the Defense Research Institute
• Board of Editors, Law Journal Newsletter, Products Liability Law and Strategy
• Chair, International Committee, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors
• Arbitrator, San Francisco Municipal and Superior Courts
• Member, University of Dayton School of Law Advisory Counsel
• Delegate, Northern California KOTRA APEC Investment Mart in Seoul, Korea
• Delegate, San Francisco Mayor’s Trade Commission to Mexico
• Board Member, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
• Member, San Francisco Chamber of Commerce Leadership Program Alumni Council
• Past Board Member, San Francisco School Volunteers

Amanda Levitt is a senior associate with Sandler, Travis & Rosenberg, resident in the New York office. Her practice is focused on international trade and customs law, particularly relating to classification and marking / country of origin issues. She has advised clients on a broad range of matters including customs audits, penalties, first sale valuation, and product eligibility under trade preference programs including the Israel Free Trade Agreement and the Qualified Industrial Zone program. 

Prior to joining ST&R, Ms. Levitt served as an associate with an international trade law firm and dealt with issues such as trademark enforcement, antidumping duties, and regulatory matters involving the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission.   

Ms. Levitt is a member of the bar in the state of New York. She holds a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law and a B.S. from Cornell University.

Robert (Bob) McLean, CPA, is PPAI's executive vice president. He was hired in June 2008 as chief financial officer and is responsible for finance and administration, information technology and the Promotional Products Education Foundation. In October 2011, Bob was promoted to EVP.

Bob has an MBA in finance from the University of Miami in Florida and a bachelor's degree in accounting from Drexel University in Philadelphia. He is a member of the International Association of Exhibitions and Events and serves on its budget and finance committee. He is also a member of the American and Florida Institutes of Certified Public Accountants.

Katie Motta works with companies to leverage the business benefits of sustainability. She founded Shift Circular to accelerate and advise businesses to develop circular and inclusive solutions. Katie has spent half her career in environmental consulting, spanning metal recovery from waste and climate advisory to sustainability reporting. She has also led a non-profit developing inclusive procurement partnerships and programs to enhance innovation and economic empowerment. Katie holds a graduate diploma in social innovation from the University of Waterloo and a bachelors degree in chemical engineering from Queen’s University.

Maurice Norris is the public affairs manager for Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). Currently, Maurice manages the government relations and product responsibility programs at PPAI. In these roles, he monitors legislative and regulatory developments affecting the promotional products industry. Maurice also assists members with compliance challenges facing their businesses and helps them advocate for their companies with various aspects and levels of government. Maurice also serves on the board of the Graphic Communications Workforce Coalition.

Chris Pearson is the director of compliance for Spector & Co. Chris joined Spector 2017 after a long career in the highly regulated juvenile products industry. 

Throughout his 20-year career within the Juvenile products industry, Chris specialized in infant safety and security, and in the development and certification of infant restraints. He worked closely with regulatory bodies, manufacturers,  sales and marketing teams, as well as directly with clients—giving him exposure and an in-depth understanding of many facets of the business.  

In August 2018, Spector appointed Chris as director of compliance and overseas operations—adding oversight of the company’s China operations to his portfolio. Chris travels abroad several times a year to personally review procedures with manufacture owners, local government and the Spector team to ensure that compliance standards are met and maintained.

Shamini Peter serves as Halo COO and Head of Compliance and has worked with Halo for 14 years. She oversees the vetting of suppliers, product safety and the logistics of our company’s custom and import orders.  Shamini interfaces directly with clients as needed, throughout the production cycle, including pre and post-delivery. 

She attended The University of Western Australia where she graduated with a bachelor of commerce in accounting and finance and a minor in law.  After graduation she returned to Malaysia where she worked for a large Australian manufacturer and then joined the family’s freight forwarding business in New York gaining her first hands-on experience in international commerce and logistics.  She currently is a member of PPAI’s Product Responsibility Action Group (PRAG)

Barbara Schweidenback is a technical support specialist for North America and has worked in the Household, Health, Beauty, and Food (HBHF) group of Bureau Veritas Consumer Product Services for over 10 years. Specializing in cosmetics, over-the-counter drugs, dietary supplements, food, medical devices, and household cleaning products, she is responsible for reviewing, implementing, and providing technical interpretations on US and Canadian regulations.

Anne Stone, CAE, is the director of advocacy, member engagement and education for Promotional Products Association International (PPAI). In this role, she is responsible for guiding PPAI’s legislative and government relations efforts—including taking a contingent of PPAI members to Washington, D.C. to advocate directly to U.S. lawmakers on issues important to the promotional products industry. Anne also oversees the Association’s product responsibility programs including the development of industry best practices and the PPAI Product Safety Summit—a two-day education event focused specifically on product responsibility issues. Anne oversees PPAI’s volunteer engagement efforts as well as the Associations awards program. Additionally, Anne manages the professional development efforts for the Association. A frequent speaker on the topics of product responsibility and legislative advocacy, Anne also serves on the board of directors for the International Consumer Product Health and Safety Organization (ICPHSO).

Laura serves as the director for the Recycled Material Standard (RMS) a new certification program being launched by GreenBlue – the parent organization of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and How2Recycle.   Laura spent the bulk of her career in the pulp and paper industry in various roles including R&D, product development and over 10 years as director of sustainability for a global paper company.  Laura also operates an independent sustainability consultancy, 4Minutes LLC, and has worked for other non-profits including The Recycling Partnership, The Sustainable Forestry Initiative and the Sustainable Biomass Program. She also serves on the Advisory Board for the Ratio Institute.  When not at work, Laura might be spotted on a pickleball court or paddling a kayak.

Heather Wunderlich holds a bachelor of science degree in finance, from Missouri State University, and is the compliance manager at Staples Promotional Products where she supports product safety, CSR and contract compliance.  She has been with Staples for 14 years and spent 8 of those years in compliance, after making the move from special order management in 2013.  Heather supports Staples’ and client specific compliance initiatives in the US, Canada, and around the globe.  She enjoys researching regulations and applying the findings to products and the industry.  Heather works closely with procurement and legal as well as suppliers, lab partners, and industry groups.