Vice President and Technical Director
Jeff Asher is Vice President and Technical Director of Consumers Union (CU), an expert, independent, nonprofit organization
whose mission is to work for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers. CU publishes Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org.
Dr. Asher is responsible for all consumer-product testing at CU. This testing work includes the evaluations of foods, recreation,
chemical, home improvement, electronics and major appliance products. He also oversees the evaluation of the cars and trucks
rated at the organization's 327-acre auto test facility in East Haddam, Connecticut, the largest independent consumer automobile
testing center in the world. Results from these extensive automotive tests form the basis of Consumer Reports' widely-read April Auto Issue. CU tests products for performance, safety, quality, durability, reliability, and convenience
in its 50 state-of-the-art laboratories in Yonkers, NY.
In his more than 16 years at Consumers Union, Dr. Asher has extended the organization's tradition of excellence as an independent,
unbiased, and expert evaluator of products and services. He has expanded the testing scope of CU's technical division to include
a wide range of products such as auto batteries, after-market auto parts, gardening products, home office products, and alcoholic
beverages while maintaining ratings of standard household staples like small and major appliances and electronic products.
He has also led a major effort to accelerate the pace of testing and the volume of product models tested, while ensuring accuracy
and excellence in quality.
Dr. Asher has overseen the development of new testing systems for rating the durability of products like electric shavers,
knives, and treadmills. He has been instrumental in promoting CU's safety mission through its testing of items high in the
public-interest like condoms, fresh chicken, food irradiation and child safety seats. Dr. Asher has also ensured that readers
receive current information about the marketplace's latest technological innovations through his contribution to developing
continual testing that appears on this site, ConsumerReports.org.
Jeff Asher came to Consumers Union in 1986 as Director of Laboratory Operations and was promoted to Senior Director in 1998.
He brought with him a long history of engineering expertise and experience. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering
at Syracuse University. He then spent more than 13 years at General Electric's (GE) Research and Development Center where
he started out as a Fluid Mechanist involved with jet engine development and high-speed gas dynamic studies. By the time he
left GE, he had been promoted to Manager of the Sodium-Sulfur Battery Program developed for utility load-leveling application.
Asher left GE to join Mechanical Technology Incorporated, and for five years, managed an engineering service organization
involved with electronics, inspection systems development, and various mechanical engineering projects.
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