Joel Gurin is the author of Open Data Now (McGraw-Hill, January 2014), the first major book on the new information revolution that is transforming business, government, and society. He brings a unique background to his work on Open Data. Gurin began his career as an award-winning science journalist, became a nationally recognized leader in consumer information and website development, led a White House task force on consumer data and information, and now helps lead a foundation-supported program on Open Data and Open Government.

Gurin began his career as a science journalist immediately after graduating from Harvard University in biochemical sciences. He has won the top science-writing awards from the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Association of Science Writers. He is the coauthor with William Bennett of The Dieter’s Dilemma, which introduced the setpoint theory of weight control, and edited the book Mind/Body Medicine with Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence. Gurin was also the editor and co-founder of American Health magazine, the first health publication to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.

Gurin had a long and successful career at Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports, where he began as science editor, soon became editorial director, and then served as executive vice president for almost a decade. As EVP of Consumers Union, Gurin launched and grew Consumer Reports’ website, ConsumerReports.org. Under his leadership it became the world’s largest information-based paid-subscription site: It now has more than three million active paid subscribers.