- drinking water - superfund - campaign to make polluters pay - budget riders - energy policy - environmental defense - nuclear policy
Anna Aurilio is the Legislative Director for U.S. PIRG responsible for policy development, research and advocacy on energy issues and anti-environmental subsidies. She has testified numerous times before House and Senate Science, Energy and Appropriations committees. Ms. Aurilio received a bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst in 1986 and a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. Prior to receiving her Master's degree, Ms. Aurilio was a Staff Scientist with the National Environmental Law Center, and the PIRGs' National Litigation Project for three years. ( )

clean air -power plants - cars & trucks
Emily Figdor directs U.S. PIRG's clean air and global warming programs. In 2005, she was a leader in the successful campaign to stop the Bush administration's air pollution bill, which would have substantially weakened Clean Air Act protections. Ms. Figdor has authored numerous reports on air quality, mercury contamination, power plant pollution, diesel pollution and global warming, including Reel Danger: Power Plant Mercury Pollution and the Fish We Eat, which analyzed EPA test data on fish caught from U.S. lakes and found that 55 percent of the fish samples contained unsafe levels of mercury for women of childbearing age. Ms. Figdor has appeared on ABC's World News Tonight and in the New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, Associated Press, and Los Angeles Times. Prior to joining the PIRGs, she worked as a senior policy analyst at the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association and on state-level policy at the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a health advocacy group. Ms. Figdor received her Masters in Public Health from Columbia University in 2001 and her BA from Stanford University in 1996. ( )

- consumer protection - banking & ATMs - health care - financial institutions - insurance - playground safety - privacy - prescription drugs -product safety - toy safety -
Ed Mierzwinski is the consumer program director for U.S. PIRG. He often testifies before Congress and state legislatures and has authored numerous reports on consumer and financial issues, from credit bureau errors to skyrocketing ATM and bank fees, as well as on dangerous products, from toys and playgrounds to tobacco. He is often quoted in the national press, has been profiled in The New York Times and has appeared on numerous network news shows. He edited the 1993 edition of AARP's "Your Credit," a guidebook focused on the credit needs of older women. From 1993-1995 he was a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors Consumer Advisory Council. Before joining the U.S. PIRG staff in 1989, he was Executive Director of Connecticut PIRG. He is a graduate of the University of Connecticut (BA, MS). ( )

campaign finance reform - election reform - media and democracy
Gary Kalman is U.S. PIRG's Democracy Advocate. He writes and advocates on campaign finance and election reform. Gary returned to the PIRGs in 2005, having started his career as a field organizer for the state PIRGs. He served for several years as Deputy Director for the ACLU of Pennsylvania and worked with a team of producers to develop the nationally syndicated NPR program, Justice Talking. In partnership with the New York Times Learning Network, he launched Justice Learning, an award-winning Internet-based civics program. He is a co-editor of The U.S. Constitution: What is Says, What it Means and a co-author of his most recent report, Raising the Limits: A Bad Bet for Campaign Financing. Mr. Kalman has also served as a campaign consultant and fundraiser for several political candidates and statewide ballot initiatives and as an instructor on nonprofit advocacy and development at LaSalle University. He is a graduate of Clark University. ( )

Christy Leavitt is the Clean Water Advocate for U.S. PIRG. She researches and advocates on clean water and safe drinking water issues, specializing in the protection of U.S. waterways from pollution and the enforcement of environmental laws. Before joining the U.S. PIRG staff, Ms. Leavitt directed Free The Planet!, a national student environment organization, for four years. Between 1995 and 1999, she worked for CALPIRG, organizing college students at the University of California campuses around environmental, consumer and good government issues. Ms. Leavitt is a 1995 graduate of Occidental College. ( )

Justin Tatham is the Preservation Advocate for U.S. PIRG. Justin has been working for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, the Washington, DC office for the state PIRGs, since early 2003. late 2004, Justin took over the Endangered Species Campaign for U.S. PIRG. Justin spends most of his time working build support in Congress for protecting the Endangered Species Act. He is also involved in efforts to protect and recover Pacific Northwest Salmon, and he currently holds a seat on the Board of Directors for the Save Our Wild Salmon Coalition. Prior to working on endangered species issues, Justin worked on U.S. PIRG’s campaign to protect the Arctic Refuge from oil and gas drilling. Justin has also spent two summers managing the citizen outreach office for ConnPIRG in New Haven, Connecticut. A Maine native, Justin worked as a whitewater rafting guide on the Kennebec River before graduating with a degree in Political Science from The George Washington University in 2002. ( )

Alison Cassady is the Research Director for U.S. PIRG and the U.S. PIRG Education Fund. Before assuming this position, Ms. Cassady worked for three years as the PIRGs' Associate Director of Development, helping state PIRGs and affiliated organizations raise grant money to fund public interest campaigns. Before joining the PIRGs in February 1998, Ms. Cassady worked as a Research Assistant for the Environmental Information Service at the Investor Responsibility Research Center in Washington, D.C. Ms. Cassady graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1996 with a degree in International Diplomacy. ( )

Steven Biel is the National Field Director for U.S. PIRG. Mr. Biel began his career with the PIRGs as a field associate from 1997-2000. In 2000, he worked on the media staff at Population Action International, an international family planning group, before rejoining U.S. PIRG in 2001. Mr. Biel graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1997. ( )

Elizabeth Hitchcock is Communications Director for U.S. PIRG. Before joining the U.S. PIRG staff in 1990, she worked on a number of environmental campaigns with PIRGs in Massachusetts, New Jersey and Florida. Ms. Hitchcock has worked with the program and field staffs of the PIRGs to release several reports to the national and local media on such issues as product safety, financial consumer rip-offs, enforcement of the Clean Water Act, toxic chemical accidents and air pollution. She is a 1982 graduate of Mount Holyoke College. ( )

Michael Gravitz is an oceans advocate with U.S. PIRG in Washington, D.C. He focuses on federal oceans policy and especially the nation's laws regulating marine fisheries and ocean environment. In this role, he formulates U.S. PIRG's ocean policies, advocates before Congress, and coordinates state PIRG efforts on ocean issues. Mr. Gravitz is leading U.S. PIRG's efforts on updating and improving the primary law that regulates fishing off our coasts, the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act. ( )

Alex Fidis is an Environmental Health Advocate and staff attorney with U.S. PIRG specializing in the cleanup and remediation of toxic waste sites. Based in Washington, D.C., he leads the organization's efforts to support and advance the cleanup goals of the federal Superfund and Brownfields programs. Mr. Fidis helped to defend Superfund from rollbacks to undermine the application of the program, and is currently engaged in legislative efforts to strengthen federal toxic cleanup programs by advocating for proper enforcement and funding. Recently, he authored a report titled "Empty Pockets, Facing Hurricane Katrina Cleanup With a Bankrupt Superfund," describing the toxic cleanup challenges presented by Hurricane Katrina. ( )

Paul Brown is a consumer advocate with U.S. PIRG and works on a variety of issues with an emphasis on health care, including prescription drug safety and availability, preserving consumer legal rights and other issues. Paul joined U.S. PIRG in January 2006. Prior to that, he served as the Southern Nevada Director of the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN) for 11 years. He worked on successful campaigns on issues including health care, voting rights, campaign finance reform, and increasing the state budget for education and social safety net programs. ( )

Douglas H. Phelps is Chairman of the Board. Mr. Phelps is also Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Fund for Public Interest Research, which raises money for and provides technical assistance to nonprofits such as the PIRGs, Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, and Environmental Action. Mr. Phelps chairs the board of Green Corps, the environmental leadership training school, and serves on the Boards of Green Century Funds, the nation's first environmentally responsible mutual fund family, and the National Environmental Law Center. He lives in Colorado and is a graduate of Colorado State University and the Harvard Law School. He previously directed Harvard Law School's public interest and public service careers program.