About the Code Outside Advisory Board
In 2003, DISCUS established an Outside Advisory Board to provide confidential guidance on Code compliance. Members of the Advisory Board have extensive experience related to responsible advertising. The Advisory Board’s main functions are as follows:
Confidential Guidance on Code Compliance. On a voluntary, nonbinding, and confidential basis, beverage alcohol industry member advertisers can seek guidance from the Advisory Board related to any questions about Code compliance.
Complaint Adjudication Guidance. These Outside Advisors also will be contacted for their respective opinion if the Code Review Board cannot arrive at a majority decision about a particular advertisement or marketing material.
DISCUS Code Outside Advisory Board
Lydia Parnes
Former Director of Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection
Lydia Parnes was a partner at Wilson Sonsini where she built and co-chaired the firm’s privacy and data security practice. She regularly represented companies in complex regulatory investigations and advised on complying with federal, state, and global privacy and data protection laws.
Before joining Wilson, Lydia was the Director (2004-2009) of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, where she oversaw a wide range of consumer protection enforcement and policy development including privacy and data security enforcement, the development of the FTC’s approach to online advertising, and efforts that led to the development of industry self-regulation of children’s food and beverage advertising.
Ben Chandler
Former Kentucky Attorney General and U.S. House Representative
Ben Chandler served as Kentucky attorney general from 1996-2004 and the United States representative for Kentucky’s 6th Congressional District from 2004 to 2013. Most recently, he served as the president and chief executive officer of the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, a nonprofit policy advocacy organization working to address unmet health needs of Kentuckians.
Lynne J. Omlie
Former Distilled Spirits Council Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
In 2020, after over 30 years of dedicated service, Ms. Lynne J. Omlie retired from the Distilled Spirits Council having served in various roles, including Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary and Senior Advisor to the President.
During her distinguished career, Ms. Omlie also spent decades as the DISCUS Code Review Board staff liaison. As a result of her leadership and contributions, the DISCUS Code is recognized as a model of effective self-regulation by the government, beverage alcohol industry, and other industries alike.
Prior to joining DISCUS in 1987, Ms. Omlie was in private practice at Howrey & Simon, a Washington, D.C. law firm specializing in business commercial litigation. Before her tenure at Howrey & Simon, she worked at the Federal Trade Commission for FTC Commissioner David A. Clanton.