As President of U.S. PIRG, Faye is a leading voice for consumer protection and public health in the United States. She has been quoted in major news outlets, including CBS News and the Washington Post, about issues ranging from getting toxic chemicals out of children’s products to protecting Americans from predatory lending practices. Faye also serves as the Executive Vice President for the Public Interest Network, which U.S. PIRG founded. Faye began her public interest career as a student volunteer with MASSPIRG Students at Williams College. After graduating in 1992, she began working with the Student PIRGs in California as a Campus Organizer and Organizing Director, working on campaigns to help students register to vote and to promote recycling. She lives in Denver with her family.
Matt directs U.S. PIRG’s work to address the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant infections by stopping the overuse of antibiotics on factory farms. Matt has directed successful campaigns to convince McDonald’s, Subway and KFC to phase antibiotic use out of their meat supply chains. Matt lives in Maine, is an avid outdoorsman, and loves to play the drums.
Abe is responsible for the program and organizational development of Illinois PIRG. In 2017, he led a coalition to pass legislation to implement automatic voter registration in Illinois, winning unanimous support in the Illinois General Assembly for the bill. Before moving to Illinois, Abe worked as the state director of ConnPIRG. Abe lives in Chicago, where he enjoys biking, cooking and tending his garden.
Emily works nationwide with the state group directors for PIRG to help them build stronger organizations and achieve greater success. Emily was the Executive Director for CALPIRG from 2009-21, overseeing a myriad of CALPIRG campaigns to protect public health, protect consumers in the marketplace, and promote a robust democracy. Emily works in our Oakland, California, office, and loves camping, hiking, gradening and cooking with her family.
R.J. Cross focuses on tax and budget policy as an advocate for U.S. PIRG and policy analyst with Frontier Group. Her other research focuses include on government transparency, consumer protection and democratic reform. She was the lead co-author of 'Driving Into Debt,' which documented the recent rise in indebtedness for cars, earning coverage on American Public Media’s Marketplace and on CNBC. In addition to her current home of Boston, R.J. has lived in Denver and southern California, and will always consider herself a Kansan at heart.
Emma runs campaigns and organizational work in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. She enjoys spending time at the public parks and running trails of her hometown of Philadelphia and going down to the shore with her family.