Ryanne Olsen is the Judicial Campaign Director at the National Association of Consumer Advocates. In that role, she works to fill judicial vacancies with lawyers with a background in economic justice and experience representing individuals against powerful corporate interests.

Prior to NACA, she served as the Training and Curriculum Director at Emerge. In that role, she spearheaded the creation and implementation of "Gavel In," a Judicial Candidate Training Program designed to address the unique needs and challenges faced by judicial candidates, particularly from underrepresented groups. She has personally trained nearly 5,000 people to win electoral campaigns, on topics including campaign strategy, field, messaging, fundraising, and preparing oneself to run. She also served as the Executive Director of Emerge Massachusetts, where she trained more leaders in three years than had been trained in the previous eight. She left the organization with a record-high financial surplus.

Prior to her time at Emerge Massachusetts, Ryanne worked the Public Policy Field Organizer for Massachusetts Coalition for Adult Education. Ryanne also has a deep history in political campaigns, serving on races from City Alderman to U.S. Senate. Ryanne graduated from Northeastern University, summa cum laude with a dual degree in Political Science and Communications.

Janet Varnell, Varnell & Warwick, PA, is a consumer class action expert leading over 60 cases and serving on plaintiff steering committees in MDL litigation, but also handles a variety of other high-impact public interest litigation. Her firm has won a multitude of appellate victories in state and federal courts, including a 2019 United Supreme Court win in a consumer class action. Varnell was awarded “Consumer Lawyer of the Year” in 2019 by the Florida Bar, 2009 “Consumer Advocate of the Year” by NACA and 2018 “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by Public Justice.  She is the President Elect of Public Justice’s Board of Directors, serves on the Partners Council of the National Consumer Law Center and is the past co-chair of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. She is an adjunct Professor at Stetson College of Law teaching Consumer Class Actions. She has chaired State Bar committees and served as a mediator and arbitrator for attorney fee disputes.

Ed Normand created Normand PLLC to concentrate his practice in complex litigation, primarily consumer class actions. He likes to look at Normand PLLC as the Robin Hood of law firms, sharing Robin Hood’s fervor to right wrongs and give back to the people that which is unjustly taken or owed to them by the powerful. For the past seven years, Ed has won multi-million dollar recoveries from large corporations who have violated the rights of consumers. He has gone to battle against some of the largest corporations in the world and has litigated extensively in both U.S. and international claims. By way of example, in just the last two years Ed was lead counsel in cases securing over 100 million dollars in insurance benefits for consumer shorted payments on total loss vehicles in Florida and across the United States. Ed has not only secured money for past benefits due, but he has also forced some of the biggest insurance companies in the world to change their business practices. Ed and his team at Normand PLLC derive great pleasure from correcting the wrongdoings of those corporations who mistreat consumers: doing their part to make the world a better and safer place. 

Nicholas Mattison is a partner at Feferman, Warren & Mattison, where he has worked since 2013.  His practice includes individual cases and class actions against fraudulent car dealers, predatory lenders, abusive debt collectors, and other businesses that rip off consumers.  He litigates in state and federal court.  Mr. Mattison has won numerous judgments for his clients at trial and in arbitration, including the jury verdict against Reliable Chevrolet, a jury verdict in a Human Rights Act jury trial, and judgment against payday lenders and  abusive debt collector.  He currently serves as the NACA New Mexico State Chair and is the recipient of the NCLC’s prestigious 2020 Rising Star Award.  Mr. Mattison is a 2008 graduate of Harvard Law School.  Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Mattison worked for four years in the DNA-People’s Legal Services.  Before working for DNA, Mr. Mattison served as a law clerk for the Honorable Edward L. Chavez on the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Susan Warren is a partner at Feferman, Warren & Mattison, a consumer fraud law firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she has worked since 1996.  Her practice includes individual and class action cases brought against pawnbrokers, predatory lenders, credit reporting agencies, and mortgage servicing companies, but her real, true love is suing car dealers. After graduating from Harvard law School in 1990, Ms. Warren did legal aid work for six years on the Navajo Nation, where she learned first-hand how car dealers can defraud unsophisticated consumers.  Ms. Warren recently got a jury verdict against Reliable Chevrolet.  Past successes include a federal court jury verdict on behalf of a Navajo couple, who had purchased a used vehicle, and verdict in New Mexico state court, for the sale of a used, damaged vehicle, as new. 

Angel Rose Kwaterski is the Consumer Law Priority Coordinator at Legal Action of Wisconsin and is currently based in their Oshkosh, Wisconsin office. Angel provides oversight, mentorship and training related to all consumer matters that the firm assists with. In addition to her role as Priority Coordinator, she is a staff attorney within the Elder Rights Project where she provides legal representation to Wisconsin residents aged 60 or older who are victims of crimes as it relates to housing, family, and consumer law issues. Angel specializes in consumer related issues such as auto fraud, financial exploitation, debt collection matters and bankruptcy. Angel received her Bachelor of Arts from Marquette University in 2013 and her Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School, now known as UIC John Marshall Law School in 2016.

Hilary Nat is the Assistant Managing Attorney of the Consumer Unit at Northeast NJ Legal Services.   She helps oversee the attorneys and paralegals in the unit.  Ms. Nat regularly practices in the area of Automobile Fraud.  She has created lectures on this topic for the public and for her organization to help everyone understand the issues involved in this area.   Ms. Nat also assists clients with debt collection, credit reporting, breach of contract, consumer fraud, and bankruptcy issues. Ms. Nat obtained her law degree at Thomas Cooley Law School and her undergraduate degree at State University of New York at Stony Brook.  

James A. Kowalski, Jr. has served as the President and CEO of Jacksonville Area Legal Aid since December 2012. A graduate of UC Berkeley and the University of San Francisco School of Law, Jim served as an Assistant State Attorney in the Fourth Judicial Circuit from 1989-1996 before moving into a civil trial practice; he has tried more than 60 civil and criminal jury trials to verdict. Jim was one of the first consumer lawyers in the nation to uncover the mortgage banking practice of “robo-signing” (the Wall Street Journal blamed him for causing the housing crisis) and in December 2010, he testified before the United States House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary on the topic of “Foreclosed Justice: Causes and Effects of the Foreclosure Crisis.” Jim was named “Consumer Protection Lawyer of the Year” in 2011 by the Consumer Protection Law Committee of the Florida Bar. He is the recipient of the 2014 Haas Public Service Award from UC Berkeley and in June 2016, Jim received the Florida Bar Foundation President’s Award for Excellence. In October 2018, Jim was named the “Consumer Advocate of the Year” by the National Association of Consumer Advocates. 

Larry P. Smith is a consumer attorney, handling matters involving the FCRA, FDCPA, and EFTA, as well as state consumer fraud/UDAP matters for over eighteen years. He is the managing partner at SmithMarco, P.C., which he established in 2005. Mr. Smith has tried dozens of consumer rights cases to verdict in the state and federal courts of Illinois, Georgia, and Wisconsin and has arbitrated over 700 cases. Additionally, he has amicably resolved over 4,000 consumer fraud, FCRA, and FDCPA cases via settlement. Mr. Smith earned his Juris Doctor from The John Marshall Law School in 1993. He earned his B.A. degree in Political Science from the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana in 1990. Mr. Smith has been a member of NACA for the past twelve years and has served as Illinois state chair

Janet Varnell, Varnell & Warwick, PA, is a consumer class action expert leading over 60 cases and serving on plaintiff steering committees in MDL litigation, but also handles a variety of other high-impact public interest litigation. Her firm has won a multitude of appellate victories in state and federal courts, including a 2019 United Supreme Court win in a consumer class action. Varnell was awarded “Consumer Lawyer of the Year” in 2019 by the Florida Bar, 2009 “Consumer Advocate of the Year” by NACA and 2018 “Trial Lawyer of the Year” by Public Justice.  She is the President Elect of Public Justice’s Board of Directors, serves on the Partners Council of the National Consumer Law Center and is the past co-chair of the National Association of Consumer Advocates. She is an adjunct Professor at Stetson College of Law teaching Consumer Class Actions. She has chaired State Bar committees and served as a mediator and arbitrator for attorney fee disputes.

Cathy Lesser Mansfield is a law professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Prior to joining the CWRU faculty she was a Professor of Law at Drake University Law School, served as a Policy Analyst with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and was a Visiting Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School.  Professor Mansfield teaches a variety of consumer, payments and commercial law courses, is a co-author of the National Consumer Law Center’s Consumer Banking and Payments Law manual, and speaks nationally about consumer protection issues.  Professor Mansfield also teaches a course called “Holocaust and the Law.”  She is a Distinguished Fellow at The Consortium for the Research and Study of Holocaust and the Law at Chicago-Kent College of Law’s Center for National Security and Human Rights Law.  She is the composer and librettist of an opera, entitled The Sparks Fly Upward, that follows three German families in Berlin, two Jewish and one Christian, through the Holocaust, and she is founder and Executive Director of The Sparks Fly Upward Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to educating people about the Holocaust, genocide and tolerance through presentations of Sparks, and ancillary activities.  

Nandan Joshi is an appellate attorney in the Litigation Group at Public Citizen, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization located in Washington, D.C. Before joining Public Citizen, he spent seven years at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he defended the agency in various judicial proceedings and served as the director of its amicus program. He previously worked as an appellate attorney at the Federal Communications Commission and at a D.C.-based law firm. He was lead counsel for the consumer in Kirtz in the court of appeals and at the Supreme Court.

Kristin Kemnitzer is a managing partner at Kemnitzer Barron & Krieg, LLP. The firm’s practice focuses on protecting consumers from economic injustice through both individual cases and class actions. Kristin brings cases involving solar panel fraud, lemon law, auto fraud, unfair debt collection, illegal repossessions, motorcycle finance, elder abuse, door-to-door sales scams, and California’s mortgage anti-deficiency statutes. KBK has represented thousands of consumers in individual cases, and hundreds of thousands of consumers in class actions. KBK attorneys have been appointed lead counsel over 250 class actions. They have represented over half a million class members, have obtained recovery of over $500 million for California consumers, and have extinguished over $3 billion in alleged deficiency balances following the sale of repossessed vehicles. Kristin graduated with honors from Stanford University in 2006 and obtained her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law in 2011.

Andy Milz is a trial lawyer at Flitter Milz, PC with offices in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York (www.consumerslaw.com).  Andy represents victims of consumer finance fraud, inaccurate credit reporting, wrongful repossessions, and civil rights abuses in individual and class action matters.  Andy is a contributing author to Carter, et al., Pennsylvania Consumer Law (Bisel Pub. Co., Supp. 2023) and treatises published by National Consumer Law Center (“NCLC”) including Repossessions (NCLC 2021), the foremost treatise on the subject.  He has lectured nationally on consumer law, and is an active member of the National Association of Consumer Advocates (“NACA”).  In 2022, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia awarded Andy and his firm an Equal Justice Award recognizing their excellence in consumer protection law and history of assistance given to low-income consumers.  Andy is a graduate of King’s College (BA), the University of Scranton (MA), Temple University School of Law (JD), and the Gerry Spence Trial Lawyers College in Wyoming.  He teaches Consumer Law and Litigation at Temple Law School.   

Brian Shearer is the Assistant Director of Policy Planning and Strategy at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. He oversees the CFPB’s policy work, including regulations and guidance on federal consumer financial protection law. He is also the CFPB’s delegee on the White House’s Competition Council, which coordinates federal policy on fair competition. Brian previously served as the founding Legal Director of Justice Catalyst Law, a non-profit impact litigation law firm that uses litigation to advance economic justice. Across his career, Brian has worked to advance corporate accountability and economic justice for workers and consumers.