What We Do

Frontier Group produces ideas and research to promote a cleaner environment and a fairer and more democratic society. We are issue experts, writers and analysts who recognize that good ideas must be coupled with organizing, advocacy and effective communication if they are to make a difference. We partner with organizations on the ground in states across the country and in Washington, D.C., to disseminate our work and improve public policy.

Since 1996, Frontier Group has produced more than 200 reports, white papers, fact sheets, op-eds and testimonies that document social problems and propose powerful solutions. Our work has helped pave the way for policy changes to expand America's use of renewable energy, reduce our contribution to global warming, and protect the public from dangerous chemicals, among other advances.

Who We Are

Susan Rakov  

Frontier Group Director Susan Rakov has spent the past two decades working to build the organizational and intellectual infrastructure of the public interest movement. A graduate of Harvard University, Susan worked during the 1980s to develop and oversee the national staff recruitment program and coordinated grant-seeking efforts of the federation of state Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), U.S. PIRG. Later, she served as executive assistant to the chair of the Fund for Public Interest Research, where she helped guide the Fund's growth as a national organization working to increase the visibility, membership and political power of social change groups.

In 1996, Susan became the founding director of Frontier Group. Initially launched to conduct research and policy analysis during the 1996 campaign for a cutting-edge California campaign finance reform initiative, Frontier Group was transformed under Susan's leadership into a multi-issue think tank providing research and policy development support to U.S. PIRG, Environment America and their respective state affiliates, as well as other public interest organizations. Over the past decade, Susan has worked to expand Frontier Group's research staff and the range of issue areas the group addresses. Susan's current priorities include overseeing Frontier Group's operations, guiding the group's program and policy development work, and spearheading efforts to build alliances with like-minded research, policy and advocacy organizations. Susan is based in Santa Barbara, California, where she lives with her husband and two children.

Tony Dutzik

Tony Dutzik is senior policy analyst with Frontier Group. A specialist in energy, transportation and climate policy, Tony's research has helped build the case for state adoption of the Clean Cars Program, highlight state-based solutions to reduce global warming pollution, and educate the public and decision-makers about issues ranging from the impacts of electricity deregulation to the workings of global warming cap-and-trade systems. Tony is the author of more than three dozen Frontier Group reports, and his research has received national media attention, gaining coverage in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Inquirer and other major newspapers.

Prior to joining Frontier Group in 2001, Tony worked as an education reporter for the Eagle-Tribune newspaper of Lawrence, Mass. He also worked for six years as a political writer with the Fund for the Public Interest and for two years organizing college students with New Jersey PIRG at Rutgers University in Newark, N.J. and Temple University in Philadelphia. Tony holds a Master's degree in print journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Science degree in public service from Penn State University. A native of Pittsburgh, he now resides in Massachusetts with his wife and two children.

Travis Madsen

Travis Madsen is a policy analyst based in Frontier Group's Santa Barbara office. He has authored more than three dozen reports covering issues including global warming, energy, land preservation and environmental health. In 2007, Travis researched and wrote When It Rains, It Pours, which found that storms with extreme amounts of rain or snowfall are happening more often across most of America, consistent with the predicted impact of global warming. In 2008, he authored Toxic Baby Furniture, finding high levels of formaldehyde emissions from cribs and changing tables, which led to action by the Attorney General of California and calls for reform of chemical regulation. Travis's work has won coverage in a wide variety of local and national media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Newark Star-Ledger, Detroit News, and the Denver Post. Prior to joining Frontier Group in 2002, he was a leader in a successful campaign for tougher limits on automobile air pollution at the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group. Travis graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado in 1998.

Elizabeth Ridlington

Elizabeth Ridlington works as a policy analyst with Frontier Group based in Baltimore, Maryland. She focuses primarily on global warming and clean vehicles, and has written dozens of reports on these and other subjects. Her work includes Global Warming Solutions: A Progress Report, which evaluated policies that Oregon has already adopted to cut global warming emissions and proposed additional policies to help the state reduce emissions further; Too Much Pollution, assessing state and national trends in global warming emissions; and numerous reports on the benefits of state adoption of stronger vehicle emission standards. Before joining the Frontier Group in 2002, Elizabeth worked as an assistant to the director of the Fund for the Public Interest and U.S. PIRG. She graduated with honors from Harvard with a degree in government.

Kari Wohlschlegel

Kari Wohlschlegel is an associate in Frontier Group's Santa Barbara office, and is currently focusing on government transparency and transportation issues. Kari is a 2008 graduate of Pomona College, where she studied public policy analysis with a focus in economics. At Pomona, she was involved in competitive debate, attending tournaments around the world and coaching middle and high school students in Southern California.

Rob Kerth

Rob Kerth is an associate in Frontier Group's Boston office, where he has focused mainly on energy issues. Before joining Frontier Group in 2009, Rob spent a year with Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, where he worked on grassroots environmental campaigns in the New England states. Rob is a 2008 graduate of Yale University, where he received a B.A. in history, was active in political discussion groups and led outdoor trips.

Benjamin Davis

Benjamin Davis is an associate in Frontier Group's Santa Barbara office. He graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a degree in International Development and an emphasis on the geography and politics of sub-Saharan Africa. Benjamin studied a year abroad in Ghana conducting research on the country’s recently discovered oil.