Erik D. Olson (he/him)

With 40 years of experience working at the intersection of public policy and consumer advocacy, Erik D. Olson currently is a senior strategist and advocate for NRDC’s initiatives on health, including campaigns on drinking water protection and toxics in products and the environment. For 15 years, he worked as a senior attorney at NRDC and as the director of its Advocacy Center and Public Health program before leaving to serve as general counsel and deputy staff director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Later, he oversaw food safety and other food-related work at The Pew Charitable Trusts; he rejoined NRDC in 2013. Olson's work has led to the first major overhaul of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s food safety laws in more than 70 years, as well as revamped laws protecting the nation’s drinking water from contamination and its food supply from pesticides. He holds degrees from Columbia University and the University of Virginia School of Law. He is based in Washington, D.C.