William McNary

William McNary is the President of USAction, the largest network of progressive grassroots organizations working together to strengthen their political power and fight to win social, racial, economic and environmental justice.

McNary is also Co-Executive Director of Citizen Action/Illinois. The Illinois affiliate of USAction; CitizenAction/Illinois is the state’s largest consumer watchdog group working on an ambitious agenda, which includes health care reform, environmental safety, utility reform, public education funding and campaign finance reform. For twelve years he served as the Legislative Director for the state’s largest public interest organization.

McNary has run Leadership Training forums where he teaches everyday citizens how to effectively lobby the legislature. These groups have included the AARP, the Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities, the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and the NAACP. He has also addressed the African-American Civil Society before the United Nations.

McNary is a board member of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group. As one of the country’s leading advocates for health care reform, McNary has traveled extensively across the country, addressing churches, labor unions, health care providers, senior citizens and community groups. He was appointed by the Illinois Senate President to serve as the Consumer Representative to the Illinois Department on Aging’s Senior Pharmaceutical Review Committee.

McNary is a founding board member of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project, an organization dedicated to redefining campaign finance reform as a civil rights issue. McNary is also a board member of Public Campaign, a Washington, D.C. based organization dedicated to building broad public support for Clean Money Campaign Reform.

He serves on the board of the Illinois Tax Accountability Project, an organization that promotes fair and progressive tax policy. He served as the Vice Chair of Consumer Affairs for Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s transition team. He was a labor union member of UNITE, where he was elected as the president of his local for two years. He was elected as the Parent Representative of the Local School Council of the Chicago Public Schools.

During the last four election cycles, McNary has worked with the Rainbow/Push Coalition, where he co-directed targeted voter registration and “Get Out the Vote” campaign efforts. He has a degree in journalism and communications from the University of Iowa.