Mr. Cole was elected President and CEO of the Council of Better Business Bureaus, effective October 1, 2005. The Council, located in Arlington, VA., is the international organization representing 115 Better Business Bureaus in the United States and 14 in Canada. It is the premiere organization providing self-regulation and dispute resolution services for the consumer marketplace.

Mr. Cole has been with the Council since 1987, and prior to his new position he was Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Cole was also General Counsel to the National Advertising Review Board, the U.S. advertising industry's voluntary self-regulation program. He co-founded BBBOnLine, the Council's online trustmark division.

Mr. Cole also coordinates the Council's international activities. Through his efforts, the CBBB granted an operating license to Romania's Better Business Bureau, which is expected to become operational later this year, and he is involved in ongoing discussions to license use of the BBB name in other countries.

Mr. Cole is a frequent speaker at international conferences on Internet consumer confidence and privacy issues, and he is the founder of the Global Trustmark Alliance, an emerging network of online trustmark programs in the North America, Europe, Asia and South America. Mr. Cole co-chairs the US delegation to the International Standards Organization work group developing standards for codes of conduct and dispute resolution, and he has also served on Federal Trade Commission advisory committees on dispute resolution and Internet privacy and security, and as a private sector ecommerce expert to free trade negotiations.

From 1983-1987, Mr. Cole was Director of Consumer and Investor Affairs in the Maryland Attorney General's Office where he was responsible for both the Consumer Protection and Securities Divisions. These offices conducted law enforcement investigations and litigation, education, mediation and arbitration activities, as well as the registration of securities offerings and broker dealers and agents throughout the State of Maryland.

Mr. Cole also held positions with the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare and the Center on Social Welfare Policy and Law. He was in private practice in Washington, DC, and he has taught at Columbia Law School, in New York City.

Mr. Cole graduated with honors from Columbia Law School in 1967, where he was an editor of the Law Review, and he clerked for a federal judge in New York. He is a member of the New York, Maryland and District of Columbia Bars, as well as the U.S. Supreme Court and numerous federal court Bars.

Mr. Cole serves on the Board of the American National Standards Institute and the Hyde Public Charter Leadership School. He is married to Adele Blong and has one child, Bobby.