Gary Shapiro is president and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the U. S. trade association representing over 1000 companies in the consumer electronics industry and owning and producing the continent’s largest annual trade show, the International CES. With more than 1.2 million net square feet, the 2003 CES attracted over 115,000 trade attendees.

Mr. Shapiro has been an active leader in the development and launch of HDTV. He co-founded and chaired the HDTV Model Station and has served on the Board and Executive Committee of the Advanced Television Test Center (ATTC). He is also a charter inductee to the Academy of Digital Television Pioneers, and in 2003 received its highest award as the industry leader most influential in advancing HDTV.

Mr. Shapiro led the manufacturers’ battle to preserve the legality of recording equipment and the consumer battle to protect video rental rights and the right to record. As Chairman of the Home Recording Rights Coalition, Mr. Shapiro has testified often before Congress and has helped ensure the growth of the video rental market, VCRs, home computers and audio recording equipment, including MP3 technology.

Mr. Shapiro is also a leader in the exposition industry. He has held many exhibition industry leadership posts and now chairs the Exhibition Industry Foundation. In 2002, Mr. Shapiro received the exhibition industry’s highest award, the Pinnacle Award.

Mr. Shapiro also serves on the Board of Visitors of George Mason University, Virginia’s second largest university. He also served as a member of the Commonwealth of Virginia's Commission on Information Technology. This Commission proposed, and the Commonwealth passed legislation allowing commerce on the Internet. Since then, over 17 states and several countries have passed legislation based on the Virginia model.

He has also been recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a “mastermind” for his initiative in helping to create the Industry Cooperative for Ozone Layer Protection (ICOLP), founded to create industry cooperation in eliminating ozone-depleting solvents.

As President and CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association, Mr. Shapiro leads a staff of 130 employees and thousands of industry volunteers. The CEA has won many awards; including several for its magazine, Vision and the 2002 CARE award, as the most family friendly employer in its category.

Prior to joining the association, Mr. Shapiro was an associate at the law firm of Squire, Sanders and Dempsey. He has also worked on Capitol Hill, as an assistant to a Member of Congress.

Mr. Shapiro received a juris doctor degree from Georgetown University Law Center and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate with a double major in Economics and Psychology from the State University of New York, Binghamton.