[Arlington, VA., December 27, 2004] - BBB ARMY LINE, a program to serve the specialized consumer needs of Army personnel and their families, is moving toward implementation. The Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB) announced that it has named Hollister K. Petraeus, the wife and daughter of career Army officers, to serve as senior consultant for the new program.
Mrs. Petraeus graduated summa cum laude from Dickinson College. Since 1982, she has been active in the volunteer arena at Army posts in New York, Belgium, Germany, Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky. Most recently, at Fort Campbell, she served as Senior Family Readiness Group Advisor during a period that included a year-long deployment of the entire 101st Airborne Division. She represented Fort Campbell family members in meetings with visiting dignitaries and interviews with news media, and worked with local, state and national legislators on issues affecting Army families. She also acted as a liaison between Army family members, installation staff and local community leaders.
Mrs. Petraeus is a recipient of the FORSCOM Commander's Award for Public Service, the Boy Scouts of America "Service to Families" Award, the Department of the Army Commander's Award for Public Service and the Department of the Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal.
"We're very fortunate to engage the services of Holly Petraeus, who is uniquely qualified to move BBB ARMY LINE from a design stage to an operational program. She's a devoted Army family member whose leadership skills, extensive volunteer experience and dedication to meeting the needs of military families will help assure an effective program," said Ken Hunter, president and CEO of the CBBB.
Holly Petraeus noted that "It's a sad fact that scam artists and less-than-ethical business people sometimes take advantage of military families. They know that military personnel are gainfully employed, which means steady income. And, it's not uncommon for military families to be under emotional or financial stress when a member is serving abroad, which can make them an easy target.
"I'm delighted to join with the BBB system to provide military families with useful consumer tools to reinforce sound decision-making and help boost their financial security."
The BBB ARMY LINE program will bring the full resources of the Better Business Bureau to the Army consumer, no matter where that person is located, through a custom Web site and targeted education efforts. The program also provides for complaint assistance and precautionary advice on how to avoid being victimized. Further, the CBBB will track complaint data through the BBB Web site to identify trends and emerging issues related to Army personnel. The long-range goal is to extend the BBB ARMY LINE program to all the military services.
The BBB ARMY LINE Web site can be found as a link off the BBB's main page at www.bbb.org and as a separate site at www.army.bbb.org.
The BBB ARMY LINE program grew out of a successful local program at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, pioneered by the President of the BBB of Middle Tennessee, Kathleen Calligan, in partnership with General Richard A. Cody, now Vice Chief of Staff, Army.
Currently, selected BBB offices and local Army installation personnel have developed close working relationships. A goal of BBB ARMY LINE is to build on this foundation by developing more local programs and services that target unique community-based issues affecting Army personnel. Local programs will be piloted at five or six test sites with the goal of extending them to Army posts nationwide.
Funds from the Department of Justice have provided the initial support for the development of BBB ARMY LINE, and the CBBB has partnered with the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America in its initial effort. The CBBB is seeking additional sources of financial support from the private sector to broaden the program's outreach to other branches of the military and to insure its long-term success.
About the BBB
The BBB system is dedicated to fostering fair and honest relationships between businesses and consumers, instilling consumer confidence and contributing to an ethical business environment, in both the traditional and online marketplaces. The first BBB was founded in 1912, and the network of BBBs and the Council of Better Business Bureaus have grown to become the most recognized advocate for promoting ethical business and advertising practices, providing more than 56 million instances of service to consumers and businesses in 2003. The BBB's Internet self-regulation program, BBBOnLine (www.bbbonline.org), helps consumers identify online merchants that meet BBB standards through its Reliability and Privacy "trustmark" programs and the BBB Code of Online Business Practices. BBBs in the U.S. and Canada are supported by 300,000 business members throughout North America.