Eilene Cohhn
Key Player
Secretary/Treasurer, Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine Foundation; Special Events Director, In Defense of Animals; former Director of Special Events & Projects, The PETA Foundation; former event organizer, Humane USA Political Action CommitteeEilene Cohhn, a resident of Bethesda, Maryland, was described in 1996 by The Virginian-Pilot as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ “director of special events and projects.” Cohhn retained her position after PETA moved south to Norfolk, Virginia, drawing a salary as a “Special Event” coordinator at the PETA Foundation, which is run by PCRM president Neal Barnard. More recently, Cohhn was described by the California-based In Defense of Animals as its Special Events Director (she telecommutes). Cohhn was brought back inside the PETA/PCRM orbit in 2004 with an appointment to the board of the new PCRM Foundation.
Cohhn’s expertise is in wrangling celebrity support for major fundraising initiatives. In 2003, she organized a Ringo Starr benefit concert for the “Humane USA” political action committee, which is run by Humane Society of the United States president Wayne Pacelle. Donors were directed to mail checks to Cohhn at her Maryland home. Similarly, she was listed (along with celebrity wives Mary Max and Linda Nealon) as an organizer of Humane USA’s annual New York gala.