Drew Caputo

As NRDC's chief program officer, Drew Caputo is responsible for the overall strategy and operations of the organization's programmatic advocacy to protect public health and the environment. Earlier in his career, from 1993 to 2006, Caputo served as a senior attorney at NRDC. During that time, he successfully worked to reform federal management of overfished fisheries; force revocation of the largest source of permitted wetlands loss in the United States; block legislative attacks on the Clean Water Act; and advance air quality protections.

Before rejoining NRDC as chief program officer in October 2022, Caputo served as vice president of litigation at Earthjustice, where he led its advocacy to defend public lands, wildlife, and oceans. He mounted challenges to fossil fuel development on public lands and waters, defended the Endangered Species Act and its implementing regulations, and created new initiatives to protect biodiversity and partner with Indigenous communities. Before his tenure at Earthjustice, Caputo served as an assistant U.S. attorney in San Francisco, where he prosecuted federal civil rights, public corruption, and national security crimes.

A graduate of Brown University and Yale Law School, Caputo is based in NRDC’s San Francisco office.