Jack Gillis is author of The Car Book, The Used Car Book, The Truck, Van and 4×4 Book, The Car Repair Book, How to Make Your Car Last Almost Forever, and The Armchair Mechanic. In total, he has authored 67 auto-related books published by E.P. Dutton, HarperCollins, Putnam and the Center for Auto Safety. Madison Avenue Magazine said, “Gillis was out to change the way American’s buy their cars, and he has.”

He is also the author, co-author or editor of eight consumer books including The Social Security Book for Women (AARP), The Childwise Catalog: A Complete Guide to Buying the Safest and Best Products for Your Children, The Product Safety Book (ed.), How to Fly: Consumer Federation of America’s Airline Survival Guide (ed.), The Bank Book and Money in the Bank (ed.). He was a financial columnist for Good Housekeeping Magazine and contributing editor at Child Magazine. His articles have appeared in Consumers Digest and Parade and he was a contributor to Paramount TV’s America. He was cited by the National Press Club as one of the best in consumer journalism. Two of his books were among Money magazine’s annual “10 Best Personal Finance Books,” and Sylvia Porter’s Personal Finance Magazine selected him as one of America’s personal finance heroes. In 1994, he joined NBC where for ten years he was a contributing consumer correspondent for The Today Show.

Gillis served as CEO and executive director of the Consumer Federation of America from 2018 to 2022. He joined CFA in 1983 as Director of Public Affairs and served in that role until becoming CEO. During his career he was frequently called upon by the national media to comment on consumer and public policy issues. He has appeared on all three network evening news programs as well as 20/20, Donahue, Oprah, Nightline, Good Morning America, and The Larry King Show. Newsday called Gillis “one of the best and the brightest in Washington’s bureaucracy,” and The New York Times featured Gillis as a leader in a new breed of consumer advocates. He was frequently quoted in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Business Week, Money, The Washington Post, USA Today and Associated Press articles.

Gillis served under the Carter Administration at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as part of the team that implemented NHTSA’s crash test program. He has testified before both the Senate and the House at the invitation of Republicans and Democrats, and he is a former adjunct professor at The George Washington University, where he taught in the Graduate School of Government and Business Administration and on the undergraduate level at Mt. Vernon College (now a part of GWU). He is currently President of the Board of the Center for Auto Safety, Co-Chair of the board of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety and member of the boards of the Center for the Study of Services and the Certified Auto Parts Association.

Gillis has focused much of his efforts on the concept of “regulation by information.” He believes that when consumers can comparatively judge the safety, reliability and performance of the products they buy, they will gravitate toward the better performers. That action puts enormous market pressure on producers and sellers to improve their offerings.

He received his MBA from The George Washington University as a Teaching Fellow and his BA from the University of Notre Dame.