1985 – New York City & Lake Wylie, South Carolina
Meredith Fernstrom was born and raised in Rutherfordton, North Carolina and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (B.S.) and the University of Maryland (M.S.). She was married to Charles Layer, a management consultant. Meredith served as Senior Vice President, Public Responsibility, for American Express Company from 1980- 1995, where she directed the company’s worldwide policies and programs in social responsibility. Previously, she was Director of Consumer Affairs in the U.S. Department of Commerce and Director of Consumer Education for the District of Columbia Office of Consumer Affairs. She began her career as a home economics teacher. She served on the White House Consumer Affairs Council, the Federal Reserve System Consumer Advisory Council, is past president of the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, was a director of the National Consumers League and the Institute for the Future and a Commissioner of the National Commission on Working Women. She was appointed by the Secretary of Commerce to the Board of Overseers, Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Awards, 1987-1990. Her numerous honors included the Matrix Award for Public Relations, New York Women in Communications, Advertising Woman of the Year, Advertising Women of New York, Individual Achievement Award, Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals, Stewart Lee Consumer Education Award and American Council on Consumer Interests. (Deceased 1996)
