Joan Claybrook, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, announced today she will resign after 27 years in the position.

Claybrook will step down Jan. 31 but said she will help Public Citizen transition to its new leadership. The group has retained consultant Ted Ford Webb of Boston to conduct a nationwide search for a new president, according to the statement.

"As the winds of change sweep the nation and Washington, D.C., with promises for new policies to help the public, it is a good time for me to move on to other adventures," Claybrook said in her statement.

Claybrook highlighted several of Public Citizen's accomplishments during her tenure, such as making airbags standard equipment in all vehicles and helping to bring about campaign finance reform.

Before serving as president of Public Citizen, Claybrook led the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the Carter administration. Before that, she founded and ran Congress Watch, Public Citizen's congressional watchdog division.

                                                                                             -- Amy Harder