Sheryl Charleston, president and CEO of the San Diego Better Business Bureau

When Sheryl Charleston found from research that the vast majority of San Diego consumers believe local companies are only “somewhat ethical” — a reflection of the post-Enron era — she vowed to do something about it. As president and chief executive of the San Diego Better Business Bureau, a job she’s held since July 26, she led efforts to develop a strategic plan for the next three years to get more consumers to use the BBB to learn more about businesses before making buying decisions.

Charleston, 39, hired Steve Castle, formerly with Adelphia, as director of information, and charged him with improving the agency’s Web site sdbbb.org and bettering the delivery of information. “The Web site is really a place for consumers to inquire about a company,” says Charleston, who previously was general manager of advertising sales at Time Warner Cable San Diego. “We provide information on more than 100,000 businesses in San Diego County, whether or not they are a member. We name the owner of the business, how long in business and rate them satisfactory or unsatisfactory based on the number of complaints we’ve received and how they’ve handled the complaints.” The BBB calls these “reliability reports.”

Charleston says the nonprofit agency will get about 1 million inquiries from consumers this year from telephone contacts and through the Web site. “Less than 2 percent of those will be complaints,” she says. “Mostly, people are checking out companies.”

The San Diego BBB, the sixth largest in the nation, says consumers who first inquire with the agency before buying products or services represent about $4 billion a year in local purchases.