The People Behind Tarbell

Wendell Potter 

Wendell is an author, former corporate public relations executive and a journalist. He began his career as a reporter in his home state of Tennessee back in the 1970s, covering local and state politics for The Memphis Press-Scimitar and eventually U.S. Congress and the White House for Scripps-Howard newspapers. After a few years in DC, he was enticed into PR and spent more than two decades in the health insurance industry, first at Humana and then at Cigna. Wendell was serving as head of corporate communications for Cigna when he left after a crisis of conscience in 2008.

Since then Wendell has written three books: Deadly Spin: An Insurance Company Insider Speaks Out on How Corporate PR Is Killing Health Care and Deceiving Americans (a New York Times bestseller and winner of the Ridenhour Book Prize in 2011); Obamacare: What’s In It for Me/What Everyone Needs to Know about the Affordable Care Act (an ebook); and Nation on the Take: How Big Money Corrupts Our Democracy and What We Can Do About It (published by Bloomsbury USA in March 2016). He also writes numerous commentaries and analysis pieces for a broad range of media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek, the Guardian, the Nation, and the Center for Public Integrity.

In July 2016, he launched a new nonprofit, To Be Fair, Inc., and Tarbell.org to expand investigative, in-depth and explanatory coverage of health care, environment, defense and money in the U.S., and how influential individuals and organizations try to control these issues.

You can reach Wendell at

Scott Terry | Executive Director

Scott currently serves as the Executive Director and a Member of the Board of Directors of To Be Fair, Inc; the registered 501c3 organization that publishes Tarbell.  Scott has 35 years experience leading government, corporate and nonprofit organizations in various industries including aerospace, publishing, and natural resource management.  Throughout his accumulated experience in public and private sectors, Scott developed a conviction for truth and transparency in media, as well as a desire to increase Americans’ understanding of the government and society they occupy.

Most recently, Scott founded and led Tempus Jets, a family of aerospace companies providing aviation logistics support for US government activities overseas, which recorded nearly $1 billion in sales between 2007-2019.  From 2013-2016, Scott developed and published Tempus magazine, a quarterly publication that was distributed to 15,000 readers in the private aviation community. Tempus magazine won two ADDY awards in 2014 and published numerous articles by noted authors such as Winston Groom.  The magazine featured stories on well-known public figures such as Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Darius Rucker, and the musical group, Rascal Flatts, detailing their charitable contributions to society.

In 2011, Scott formed Global Flight Relief, LLC, a 501c3 that provides aviation resources to assist in disaster relief and the delivery of remote medical services.  Global Flight Relief has worked closely with organizations such as Eastern Congo Initiative, Howard G. Buffett Foundation, New Venture Fund, World Pediatric Program, and HEAL Africa.

From 1997-2001, Scott was the Executive Vice President of Flight International, Inc., a publicly held US defense contracting company and eventually directed the sale of the company to Veritas Capital in 2001.  After the sale of Flight International, Mr. Terry managed a public/private venture at Clemson University while waiting out a non-compete agreement associated with the Flight International transaction. This project focused on the use of airborne remote sensing technology to identify environmental threats to natural resources, particularly water and timber.

In 2001, Scott became the Director of Government Programs for Bombardier Aerospace, the world’s third largest aircraft manufacturer. Scott served as a US Naval Aviator for nearly eleven years, leaving in 1995 to pursue a career in commercial aviation.  He has an undergraduate degree from the State University of New York and a Masters degree in Business Administration from Boston University.  Mr. Terry also completed a post-graduate diploma program at the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies.

You can reach him at

Joey Rettino | Multimedia Manager 

Joey creates the graphics — both beautiful and biting — for Tarbell.org. He is also working with Wendell Potter on a new public relations initiative to inform Americans about the reality of health care in America.

You can reach him at