Working to protect our environment for both people and wildlife requires many different skills and talents. Above all it requires a passion for the planet and everyone who calls it home. Our staff are all advocates for our planet and they bring with them a complex mix of skills and experience to help Friends of the Earth achieve its mission.
Erich Pica is president of Friends of the Earth. He has been a member of the Friends of the Earth team for more than a decade—directing its domestic policy programs for the last six years, notably our tax and budget work, including our Green Scissors campaign. He has also led Friends of the Earth’s fight for strong global warming legislation over the past two years. In 2008 he authored the major critique describing the weaknesses of the Lieberman-Warner global warming bill. In 2009, he led a campaign to demand that the House of Representatives pass stronger legislation than the polluter-friendly bill it was considering. This effort has now grown to the point that more than 300 progressive groups are demanding a better climate bill in the Senate. For more information about Erich, please view his extended bio here.
Follow Erich on Twitter: @erichpica
Nick Berning works to educate the public about critical environmental issues and leads campaigns to generate media coverage, mobilize activists, and pressure elected officials to take action. Nick has worked for a variety of other progressive organizations, most recently People For the American Way, where he developed communications strategies and generated media coverage related to Supreme Court nominations, civil rights, youth political engagement and election integrity. He's also served as a presidential campaign spokesperson, congressional campaign communications director, and communications aide for other electoral campaigns. His writing has appeared in media outlets including the Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Washington Post. Nick is a graduate of Macalester College, in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he studied political science and communications.
Michelle Chan coordinates the Friends of the Earth's Green Investments project, which brings environmental advocacy to Wall Street. The Green Investments project engages in shareholder activism, promotes corporate environmental disclosure, provides outreach to financial analysts, and works with major financial institutions to develop environmental management systems. She is the founder of BankTrack, an international NGO network, and is currently coordinating Friends of the Earth's China-related work. Michelle has served on the Board of CERES, an investor-environmentalist alliance for corporate responsibility; the Council for Responsible Public Investment, and the Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment. She is a founding member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index Advisory Committee, and in 2002 received the Social Investment Forum's Service Award for outstanding contributions to the field of socially responsible investing. She graduated from the Division of Honors with degrees in Economics, Development Studies, and Geography from the University of California at Los Angeles.
Tom Clements is the southeastern nuclear campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth. Based in Columbia, he works on issues related to the state’s seven nuclear reactors, four proposed new reactors, the Savannah River Site, and a low-level waste dump. Tom worked for 13 years as a nuclear campaigner with the Greenpeace International nuclear campaign, and for three years was the director of the Nuclear Control Institute in Washington, DC. In addition to a focus on the Department of Energy’s problematic management of 132 million liters of high-level reprocessing waste at SRS and management of surplus weapons plutonium, Tom is leading the fight in his state against four proposed reactors and the Department of Energy’s effort to locate a reprocessing complex at SRS.
Rebecca Connors comes to Friends of the Earth with experience in both marketing communications and web design/development. At Friends of the Earth, she is focused on increasing the visibility of Friends of the Earth’s message and online presence. Before moving to DC from Boston, she designed websites and provided content management as an independent consultant, working primarily with non-profit, academic and creative clients. Specifically, she worked for Action for Boston Community Development doing web design, writing and data analysis and as the IT Coordinator for the Boston Earned Income Tax Credit Campaign. She also has experience in competitive intelligence, event planning, census taking and editing. She graduated from Boston University with a degree in English Literature and continues to hone her creative writing in her spare time.
Will Driscoll comes to Friends of the Earth from a national land conservation organization, where he raised $15 million in grant revenue. Previously, as a project manager with ICF International, he developed economic and technical analyses related to climate change, acid rain, and groundwater pollution for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He has published in Environmental Science and Technology urging developing countries to remove lead from gasoline to prevent mental deficits, and in Pollution Prevention urging developing countries to regulate underground petroleum storage tanks to safeguard drinking water supplies. He also co-authored Nonproliferation Primer (MIT Press). Early in his career he raised $3 million for Hampshire College and for a Boston youth agency. Mr. Driscoll earned a bachelor’s degree at Yale, a master’s degree in economics and policy at Princeton, and a law degree at George Mason.
Caely French comes to Friends of the Earth with a range of development experience, including foundation fundraising, donor databases, and event planning. In her most recent position at a small sustainable economics nonprofit, her work focused on grant writing and database management. She has also managed a chiropractic office, where she customized and implemented a new client database, and she has assisted in faculty recruitment and event planning at a national retreat center. Caely holds a B.A. in Economics and International Development from Marlboro College, and she wrote her undergraduate thesis on dairy development and urbanization in Bangladesh. She has lived and studied in Bangladesh, France, and the Findhorn Foundation eco-village in Scotland.
David Hirsch manages the operations of Friends of the Earth. He has oversight over management and personnel functions, and works with the President to help set strategic direction for the organization. His personal focus is on budget and tax matters that impact sustainable transportation policies. He is co-author of Road to Ruin, a report documenting wasteful and environmentally harmful highway projects. David has worked on issues related to the federal gasoline tax and the Highway Trust Fund. He has worked with environmental and community groups around the country to help them in their fights against destructive road projects. David received a B.A. in Political Communication from Ohio University and an M. A. in Environmental Politics and Issues Management from George Washington University.
As the biotechnology policy campaigner, Eric focuses on protecting people and the environment from emerging genetic technologies such as ownership and control of human genes, human genetic engineering, animal cloning, animal genetic engineering and synthetic biology. Originally from Baltimore, Eric earned a degree in political science and a minor in environmental studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. After graduation, Eric was an Emerson National Hunger Fellow with the Congressional Hunger Center. During the year-long fellowship he worked at the Community Food Bank in Tucson, AZ and the National Family Farm Coalition, focusing on the role and viability of local food systems and sustainable agriculture. Since then, he served as a policy assistant for the National Family Farm Coalition and the Community Food Security Coalition where he works on agriculture policy, including efforts to fight the genetic engineering of seeds, farm to school policy, as well as food sovereignty.
Kate Horner is a policy analyst at Friends of the Earth, leading the organization's work on forest protection and trade policy, with a focus on ensuring that emerging climate policies lead to real emissions reductions, the protection of human rights and sustainable development. In her forest protection work, Kate tracks developments in U.S. policy, multilateral environmental agreements and international financial institutions. She has worked closely with indigenous peoples’ organizations, local communities, development organizations and economists to advocate for policies that address the real drivers of deforestation in both developed and developing countries, including demand-side measures, forest governance and land tenure reform, and policy coherence. In her trade work, Kate addresses how investment provisions undermine environmental protection and sustainable development and has delivered trade reform policy recommendations to the U.S. Congress,
Ian Illuminato is the health and environment campaigner at Friends of the Earth. His work focuses on protecting people and the environment from threats posed by nanotechnology. He has worked for Greenpeace Italy, Greenpeace International, and the United Nations Environmental Program in Italy and has extensive experience monitoring the impact of technological change on the environment. At Greenpeace he helped lead an international movement against genetically engineered crops in Europe and the Middle East. He persuaded Europe's largest rice company to stop importing American rice to keep its stock GM-free. He also works closely with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to remove toxins from beauty products. He has authored and edited reports and published essays including, “
John Kaltenstein combines an environmental/natural resources law background with a passionate commitment to advocacy on behalf of the environment and social justice. He has done legal work and analyzed compliance requirements for smelting and metallurgy operations on in Peru, written amicus briefs on impacts of a proposed mariculture operation in Costa Rica as well as a shrimp aquaculture project in Belize, research Endangered Species Act issues and developed conservation recommendations on groundfish bycatch. He has also worked for the SEIU Health Care Workers Union, conducting training and education work, and managed litigation involving complex antitrust, securities and health care issues. While in law-school, he co-chaired his law school’s environmental justice advocacy group. He holds a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, OR and a B.A. from Swarthmore in Political Science.
Marcie Keever has a strong background in campaign implementation, expertise on air issues, and experience in dealing with agency relations and legislative initiatives. Previously, Marcie served as program director for San Francisco Beautiful where she implemented a campaign to stop the proliferation of digital billboards in California and prevented the placement of advertising on the Golden Gate Bridge. Prior to that she was a staff attorney and Equal Justice Works Fellow for Our Children's Earth Foundation, conducting air pollution case work, including lawsuits against the Tennessee Valley Authority for its dirty coal fired power plants. She has also done work for a number of environmental justice organizations including as a staff attorney at the Golden Gate University Environmental Law and Justice Clinic. Marcie holds a J.D. from Golden Gate University School of Law in San Francisco with a certificate in Environmental Law, and a B.A. from U.C. Santa Barbara with a double major in Environmental Studies and Law and Society.
Adina Matisoff brings five years of experience in social justice campaigns and international development. Most recently, she was a researcher with Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research International, helping create the Peacebuilding Initiative, a portal providing timely and quality knowledge to UN policymakers and practitioners working in post-conflict situations. She also pursued her own freelance projects. Adina has authored articles for the Asia Society and various US publications on rural development and environmental issues in China. She field produced two documentary films for All Rise Productions on World Bank-sponsored economic development projects in Africa and Asia. She also developed a curriculum on the environment and corporate social responsibility in China for the cultural exchange company China Prep. In 2005-2006 she was a Fulbright scholar in China, researching civil society participation in China’s rural development. Before going to China she worked with the advocacy groups Human Rights in China and the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign. Adina graduated from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study in 2003, where she designed her own major concentrating on cultural interpretations of human rights, with a particular interest in Chinese perspectives.
Lisa Matthes joined our staff as an executive assistant in 2005 and currently works with Erich Pica. She also serves as the liaison to the board of directors and internship coordinator at Friends of the Earth. In 2007 Lisa took over responsibility for managing our publications, the newsmagazine and annual report. She has traveled, studied and worked abroad. She taught English in Thailand and worked as a journalist in England and Wales. She also has an interest in photography and works part-time as a wedding photographer. Lisa has a B.S. in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University.
Kate McMahon lead’s Friends of the Earth’s campaign focused on curbing the environmental and social costs of harmful biofuels and bioenergy policies. In addition, she helps coordinate the work of a growing coalition of bioenergy advocates from various organizations. Kate has also advocated on a variety other issues during her four years at Friends of the Earth. Kate is a graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, where she studied environmental policy, poverty and anthropology. She has lived in Thailand, where she researched the environment and development, as well as in Sri Lanka, where she worked with the Environmental Foundation Limited. Kate likes biking through traffic, eating tofu, growing things, using oil paints with her fingers and playing with her cats.
Twitter: follow Kate's campaign at @foe_biofuels
Alex Moore runs Friends of the Earth’s campaigns targeting new, dirty fuels that are undermining efforts to combat global warming. Alex is originally from Hillsboro, OR. He studied political science at the
Twitter: follow Alex's campaign at @foe_dirtyfuels
Karen Orenstein comes to Friends of the Earth with more than a decade of grassroots advocacy experience in environmental and international human rights campaigns. Karen worked for 7 years at the East Timor and Indonesia Action Network (ETAN), where she led Washington efforts to support genuine self-determination and justice for the people of East Timor and human rights protections for the peoples of Indonesia and West Papua. Karen continues to serve on ETAN’s board. Prior to joining Friends of the Earth, she was national outreach coordinator at National Audubon Society, where she focused on global warming. Karen has done research and volunteer work for the Maasai Environmental Resource Coalition and has lived in Tanzania. She also serves on the board of Pets DC and has 2 cute cats.
Dan Riedel is Friends of the Earth’s one man IT team, supporting our offices in DC and San Francisco. After over five years supporting Friends of the Earth as a consultant, Dan joined the staff full time in February 2008. Before coming to Friends of the Earth, Dan was a member of the network team at McDermott, Will and Emery, one of the most prestigious law firms in the DC area. In 2000, he was recruited by the law firm Arent Fox as a Network Support Specialist. In 2002, Dan joined a computer consulting company, called Compass Computer Services, where his first assigned client was Friends of the Earth. He graduated from Computer Learning Center as a Network Administrator Summa Cum Laude in 1998.
Sara Schedler's work focuses on ensuring that the legislative and regulatory initiatives in California designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the state's transportation sector are carried out with utmost attention to sustainability principles and standards. Additionally, Sara works to promote plug-in electric vehicles and solar fuel stations, an infrastructure technology which charges electric vehicles from 100% renewable solar power for zero-emissions driving. Sara has also worked on Friends of the Earth’s Safe Kids Campaign and authored a report in 2008 entitled Killer Cribs: Protecting Infants and Children from Toxic Exposure, kicking off national media coverage, including a story on toxic fire retardant chemicals which aired on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. Prior to working with Friends of the Earth, Sara was an instructor, and later program coordinator, of English for Action, a non-profit organization dedicated to participatory community organizing and immigrant rights. Sara is a 2002 graduate of Brown University, where she studied international development.
Benjamin Schreiber is the climate and energy tax analyst at Friends of the Earth. His focus is on the tax code with a goal towards fighting tax incentives to global warming gas intensive technologies and promoting tax incentives for technologies that have greenhouse gas benefits. He also works on stopping subsidies for nuclear reactors, liquid coal and other dirty technologies. Ben came to Friends of the Earth from Environment America where he worked as an energy advocate, fighting subsidies to dirty technologies, increasing fuel economy standards and promoting renewable energy. Ben received a B.A. in sociology from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. He is barred in Maryland.
Severin Skolrud manages and advocates for Friends of the Earth’s transportation campaign. His specific focus is advancing sustainable mobility through light and high speed rail, bicycling and pedestrian planning, and smart growth. Severin received his B.A. from the Edward R. Murrow School of Communication at Washington State University. He then continued his education abroad, receiving his M.S. in Urban Planning and Design from the University of Newcastle in England. There he focused his research on transportation planning and green infrastructure management. While studying abroad, Severin volunteered for Planning AID North which focused on improving the quality of life in urban settings. Additionally, he led a campaign to increase the safety of cycling lanes in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. During his off time Severin enjoys traveling, cycling, and being with friends and family.
Peter Stocker has very good development and in-depth database experience from his work at Youth Radio in Berkeley and from work with the Eviction Defense Collaborative in San Francisco, as well as experience in transferring membership data into new systems. His development background includes strong experience with direct mail and donor communications as well. Peter graduated from U.C. San Diego and studied in England where he did his Master's in Rural Development, and he has worked on women's issues in Nicaragua and on a humanitarian aid project in England, among other diverse interests and talents.
Kelly Trout works with the communications team to get our messages out to the media and keep our members and activists informed about key environmental issues. Before joining Friends of the Earth, Kelly advocated for more just and sustainable U.S. trade policies and mobilized activists to influence legislative debates with NETWORK. She also has experience volunteering for political campaigns and tutoring refugees in English language and job skills. Kelly is a graduate of Brown University, where she studied international development. During college, Kelly spent two semesters at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where she took courses and researched participatory approaches to improving the urban environment.
