2023 American Council on Consumer Interests (ACCI) Distinguished Fellow: Irene Ellis Leech

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Brenda J. Cude
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12545

COMMENTARY

2023 American Council on Consumer Interests

(ACCI) Distinguished Fellow: Irene Ellis Leech

Brenda J. Cude

Financial Counseling, Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Correspondence

Brenda J. Cude, Financial Counseling, Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia, 205 Dawson Hall,

305 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA, USA.

Email: bcude@uga.edu

Notes by Elizabeth Dolan, Robin Henager, and Brenda Cude

The purpose of the ACCI Distinguished Fellow designation is to honor individuals who

have made significant contributions to ACCI over a long period of time and are widely recog-

nized as leaders in the consumer field. The award honors an individual who (1) has been a

member of ACCI for at least 20 years; (2) has provided outstanding service to ACCI; (3) is rec-

ognized as a leader in the consumer field; and (4) has displayed high standards of professional

and ethical conduct throughout her/his career.

This year's Distinguished Fellow—Irene Ellis Leech—amply meets these qualifications.

Irene has contributed to the profession in every possible way over more than four decades. Her

service to ACCI is extraordinary. In addition to serving as ACCI's President, she has been a pro-

gram chair for an ACCI annual conference and a regular presenter at those conferences.

Unofficially, she is ACCI's photographer, capturing many important moments in the lives of

conference participants that otherwise would have been lost. Most significantly, Irene's passion

for both ACCI and its work is evident in all of her interactions with the organization and its

members.

Received: 27 May 2023 Accepted: 1 June 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12545

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distrib ution and

reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2023 The Author. Journal of Consumer Affairs published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Council on Consumer

Interests.

J Consum Aff. 2023;57:983–984. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca 983