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City Club of Cleveland - Wayne Pacelle President & CEO, HSUS
 
 
 
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 11 million members and constituents, annual revenue of $135 million, and assets of more than $200 million. Pacelle took office in June 1, 2004 after serving for nearly 10 years as the organization's chief lobbyist and spokesperson.

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. Pacelle blogs daily at Wayne Pacelle: A Humane Nation. Pacelle is the author of the book "The Bond: Our Kinship with Animals, Our Call to Defend Them," which was published in April 2011.

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 turbocharged the farm animal welfare movement and gave it a sheen of respectability." 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.
June 10, 2011