Burke Center and downtown Silver Spring. ERICH PICA President, Friends of the Earth Friends of the Earth, led by Erich Pica, is pushing the bounds of advocacy and succeeding across multiple fronts. In the fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground, the organization was instrumental in stopping the Keystone XL pipeline. By investigating and publicly exposing conflicts of interest, it was able to undermine the credibility of the State Department’s environmental review of Keystone, leading to the delay and eventual denial of its permit by President Obama. The organization is redefining fossil fuel public lands advocacy by leading the “Keep it in the Ground” movement, contributing to a moratorium on coal permitted on federal lands. Advocating for safer, healthier food, Friends of the Earth’s corporate campaigning tactics persuaded Lowe’s and Home Depot, the two largest garden retailers, to remove bee-killing pesticides from shelves. It is also blocking the sale of GMO salmon by convincing 60-plus grocery store chains in more than 9,000 stores (including Safeway, Kroger, Target, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods) across the U.S., not to sell it. Internationally, Friends of the Earth is tracking financial flows and fighting to ensure that new global financial players such as China, Brazil and India are incorporating environmental and social standards into their financing practices. Furthermore, the organization is leading the environmental effort to stop the Trans Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership in both the U. S. and with sister groups in Europe. Pica recently served as chairman of the Green Group and is board chairman of the Partnership Project. JOHN PODESTA Chairman, Hillary Clinton’s Presidential Campaign When Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton appointed Clinton and Obama Administration veteran John Podesta as her campaign chairman, The New York Times called him her “right hand with a punch”
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Hilary Rosen, Managing Director, SKDKnickerbocker. Photographed at Cafe Milano.
while crediting him with saving Bill Clinton’s presidency “from the fires of scandal” and salvaging Barack Obama’s presidency “from gridlock and malaise.” In his chairman’s role for Hillary, he has eliminated problems of organizational disarray that lingered from her 2008 campaign and helped propel the former secretary of state to a commanding lead in the Democratic primaries over challenger-from-the-left Sen. Bernie Sanders. Numerous publications have called for Podesta’s dismissal — a sure sign of power wielded — but he seems to have a hold on the reins. And, if his tweets are any indication, he still has a quirky penchant for discovering the real truth about UFOs.
TONY PODESTA Founder & Chairman, Podesta Group More than a year after a much-reported divorce from his wife, lobbyist Heather Podesta, this Podesta Group founder and chairman is still leveraging the narrative for clients of the global public affairs powerhouse that bears his name. “As the playbook for moving an advocacy agenda continues to change, we continue to bolster ours,” Podesta CEO Kimberley Fritts told Politico. According to watchdog site OpenSecrets, the Podesta Group earned more than $23 million in lobbying income
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