Mara Einstein has been working in or writing about the media industry for the past 20 years. She has enjoyed stints as an executive at NBC, MTV Networks, and at major advertising agencies working on such accounts as Miller Lite, Uncle Ben’s and Dole Foods. Dr. Einstein is the author of a number of books, most recently Compassion, Inc.: How Corporate America blurs the line between what we buy, who we are and those we help (University of California Press, 2012). This work examines the growing trend of promoting and selling consumer products as a means to fund social causes and effective social change. It builds on her continuing research into the effects of consumerism on social and cultural institutions, ideas considered at length in her last book, Brands of faith: Marketing religion in a commercial age (Routledge, 2007), a critique of promoting religion in today’s consumer-oriented culture. Dr. Einstein has written for Newsday and Broadcasting & Cable as well as having her work appear in numerous academic journals and edited texts. Most recently, she was a Mellon Fellow at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City. Today, her work continues to focus on cause marketing, CSR and social innovation as well as research into the marketing of higher education. Dr. Einstein is a Professor at Queens College and an independent marketing consultant.