Who

Frances Beinecke is president of the National Resources Defense Council, the nation's most vocal environmental action organization.

Backstory

Frances is the third generation of wealthy Beineckes who have taken to giving away the family fortune: Her grandfather Frederick was an engineer and major patron of Yale, and her father William Sperry Beinecke, the former chairman of Sperry and Hutchinson, founded The Sperry Fund. Frances has spent her entire working life at the NRDC, starting as an intern in 1973, three years after the group was founded. She ended up leaving after a decade to be at home with her kids. But she was summoned back in 1990 by founder John Adams, and was named executive director in 1998. She took the reins from Adams and became the NRDC's second president in 2006.

Of note

With 1.2 million members and more than 300 people on staff, the NRDC is now one of the premier environmental groups in the country; that the environment has become the charitable cause de jour has been a huge boon for the group. (In 2003, they had just 500,000 members.) Over the past few years, the NRDC has been busy battling the Bush Administration, which (obviously) hasn't been particularly friendly toward either the environment or environmental advocacy groups. Although the NRDC has been fighting—and often losing—battles at the national level, of late it's turned more of its attention to pushing through programs at the state level and has been particularly successful in California and New York.

Namedrop

NRDC trustees include Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurie David (ex-wife of Seinfeld creator Larry David), Bob Kerrey, James Taylor, Warner Bros.'s Alan Horn, Peter Morton, Pete Ruegger, Laurence Rockefeller, and Robert Redford. Longtime board member Dan Tishman was made chairman in 2007.

On the side

Beinecke, her similarly environmentally minded-husband Paul Elston, and Laurence Rockefeller co-founded the New York League of Conservation Voters in 1989. Beinecke and Elston have given the organization a considerable amount of money over the years. She's also active with her alma mater, and sits on Yale's board.

Personal

She and Elston have three children, including a set of twins. They live in Riverdale.