Wayne Pacelle is the president and chief executive officer of The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization with more than 10.5 million members and constituents, annual revenue of $120 million, and assets of more than $200 million.

Pacelle's work on animal issues has been featured in thousands of newspapers and magazines across the country. He has been profiled in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times, and has appeared on almost all of the major network television programs -– including The Today Show, The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Good Morning America and ABC's Primetime Live.

In 2008, The Los Angeles Times reported, "Pacelle has retooled a venerable organization seen as a mild-mannered protector of dogs and cats into an aggressive interest group flexing muscle in state legislatures and courtrooms." In 2007, The New York Times reported, "The arrival of Wayne Pacelle as head of the Humane Society in 2004 both turbo-charged the farm animal welfare movement and gave it a sheen of respectability." In 2008, Supermarket News included Pacelle on its annual Power 50 list of influential individuals in food marketing, writing that "there's no denying his growing influence on how animal agriculture is practiced in the United States."

Pacelle was named one of NonProfit Times' "Executives of the Year" in 2005 for his leadership in responding to the needs of animals affected by the Gulf hurricanes. In 2008, NonProfit Times named Pacelle to its annual Power and Influence Top 50 nonprofit executives.

Pacelle received his B.A. in History and Studies in the Environment from Yale University in 1987.

Blog Entries by Wayne Pacelle

Pork Industry Bailout Request Full of Fat

2 Comments | Posted September 3, 2009 | 06:53 PM (EST)


So often, we hear government critics decry "pork" projects and "pork" spending. These phrases are figurative, indicating wasteful use of public funds. But never have these phrases had such a literal meaning, as our government actually bails out the pork industry when it overproduces and buys up volumes of surplus...

Read Post

California Leadin'

Posted January 13, 2009 | 06:55 PM (EST)


A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my hope that President-elect Barack Obama would ask his Agriculture Secretary nominee, former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, to break the hold of Big Agribusiness on the U.S. Department of Agriculture and to broaden the agency's outlook and constituency. Following Obama's election,...

Read Post

Help Californians Pass Prop 2, the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act

Posted November 1, 2008 | 12:18 PM (EST)


This piece originally appeared as an Op-ed in the Los Angeles Times Oct 28, 2008

California's farm animals and consumers deserve Proposition 2's protections.

Two weeks ago, video from an undercover investigation at Norco Ranch, owned by Missouri-based Moark, was released to the public showing pitiful images of animals abused...

Read Post