Kitty Block

Kitty Block is the president and chief executive officer of the Humane Society of the United States and also chief executive officer of Humane Society International.

Kitty Block was named president and CEO of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) in January 2019, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the organization’s history. She is also CEO of Humane Society International (HSI), an affiliate of the HSUS.

Block joined the HSUS in 1992 as a legal investigator, became vice president of HSI in 2007 and president of HSI in 2017. She first joined the organization as a legal investigator and was instrumental in bringing cruelties such as horse slaughter and the killing of dogs and cats for their fur in China to light. Her efforts led to major policy reforms in those realms, including European Union and U.S. bans on imports of dog and cat fur and bans on slaughtering horses for human consumption.

The protection of whales, dolphins and other wildlife has also been a major area of focus for Block. She has represented the HSUS and its affiliates in numerous meetings of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the International Whaling Commission and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, where her efforts helped secure and strengthen protections for animals. Block led the HSUS’s efforts to secure protections for dolphins with successful litigation and landmark dolphin-safe tuna legislation. In addition, she was one of the architects of a successful lawsuit over commercial whaling brought against Japan by Australia in the International Court of Justice.

Block has testified before the U.S. Congress, worked with international governments and agencies to draft and enforce conservation and animal protection laws and built coalitions with nongovernmental organizations and industry. She is serving her second term as an adviser to the White House on Trade and the Environment and has served multiple elected terms on the International Dolphin Conservation Agreement International Review Panel, which works with governments on enforcing violations of the agreement.

Block received a law degree from The George Washington University in 1990 and a Bachelor’s degree in communications and philosophy from the University of New Hampshire in 1986.