MINNEAPOLIS – The Environmental Working Group has tapped two staff members for promotions to key leadership positions in the organization’s Midwest office, in Minneapolis.
Anne Schechinger is now EWG’s Midwest director, spearheading a team of four. She is a leading national expert on farm subsidies, nitrate pollution of tap water, toxic algae blooms, and federal policies related to agricultural conservation and impacts on the climate crisis, among other topics.
A prominent spokesperson for EWG, Schechinger is regularly quoted in preeminent media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, NPR, Bloomberg and The Guardian.
Schechinger has been a senior analyst at EWG for more than seven years, focusing on agricultural and environmental economics and the ways industrial agriculture harms the environment and fouls drinking and recreational water.
She holds a M.S. in agricultural, food and resource economics from Michigan State University and a B.A. in economics from Kalamazoo College, in Michigan. Before joining EWG, Schechinger worked at Corteva Agriscience.
Sarah Porter is now EWG’s geospatial director, steering the organization’s groundbreaking efforts to map the environmental damage caused by agricultural and industrial pollution.
Her work as a senior analyst over the past three years has helped make EWG the leading national environmental nonprofit organization on the serious threats to human health and the environment caused by industrial animal agriculture operations.
Porter also serves as a regular spokesperson for EWG on several issues and has been quoted in national and local media outlets, including The Guardian and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Before joining EWG, Porter spent six years at the Department of Agriculture, conducting agricultural research and developing precision conservation planning tools. She has a M.A. in geography from the University of Iowa and a B.S. in biology from Southern Illinois University.
“I am thrilled that my talented colleagues Anne Schechinger and Sarah Porter have agreed to step into these two critical leadership roles at EWG,” said the group’s President and co-founder Ken Cook.
“Both bring a wealth of experience on issues that form the backbone of our work at the intersection of agriculture and the environment – vital work that policymakers, journalists and key stakeholders have come to rely on from EWG’s Midwest operation,” Cook added.
“I have had the privilege of working alongside both Anne and Sarah for years and have witnessed firsthand their unmatched expertise on the issues and their commitment to the fight to address the environmental harms of industrial agriculture,” said EWG’s Craig Cox, who until recently led the Minneapolis office.
Cox has transitioned out of that role but continues his work at the organization as a senior advisor on agriculture and environmental policy.
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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.
