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.