Updated: April 2007

Mikael Wagner

Director of Outreach and Training

Mikael Wagner, Director of Outreach and Training, joined Consumer Action in 2000.

Wagner, who is based in San Francisco, heads the organization’s Los Angeles office. He supervises Consumer Action’s outreach and training staff and oversees planning for the organization’s educational events around the country, including train-the-trainer events, regional meetings and community roundtables. He coordinates Consumer Action’s stipend grants for consumer groups working on financial literacy, housing, health insurance and banking.

It has been Wagner’s goal to develop a community grassroots effort to get basic consumer financial information to underserved and low-income communities throughout California and the U.S. During his tenure, he has conducted extensive outreach and provided financial education training on financial literacy through Consumer Action’s innovative and interactive train-the-trainer model.

Prior to his position with Consumer Action, Wagner worked as Regional Marketing Director with Henry J. Kaufman and Hager Sharp Public Relations in Washington, DC working on an EFT 99 US Treasury contract.

He started his early career as a public school teacher in Houston, Texas and in the San Francisco Bay Area. This early career provided Wagner with the expertise of curriculum instructional design. After a career in education, he moved to the field of advertising, working briefly with San Francisco based Young and Rubicam.

Wanting more of a challenge than dog food commercials, Wagner moved to the broadcast industry where he resided for over 12 years making an impact in the market covering the news, hosting public affairs talk shows, conducting media promotions and advertising. He has worked at KSFO Radio, KSOL Radio, KGO Radio and KTLA Television in Los Angeles. He also served as Public Information Officer for the Oakland Unified School District.

Wagner has also served as the Education and Public Information Officer at UC Berkeley’s Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness, a project of the US Homeland Security, designing disaster planning curriculum and training underserved communities and health departments on disaster preparedness.

Wagner also worked over 5 years as a Health Educator with the San Francisco Department of Public Health designing public education and outreach campaigns in the area of HIV/AIDS, infant mortality and cancer prevention.

Wagner holds a Master’s degree from San Francisco State University and a Bachelor’s degree from Texas Southern University. He has taught Public Relations in the School of Business at San Francisco State University and at City College of San Francisco.

Filed Under

Staff   ♦