An experienced companion animal management professional with over 15 years of experience, Matt Backhouse has expert knowledge of the dog and cat meat trade, rabies control, and humane population management. He cares deeply about diversity, equality, and inclusivity, social justice and compassion fatigue, and strives to advocate for these issues within the work on animal welfare.

Alexandria Beck is an independent consultant with expertise in coalition building and grant program management. She leverages her global programs expertise to help non-profits amplify their impact, and she provides grant writing and organizational development services to charities.

As director of the Open Wing Alliance at The Humane League, Alexandria led a coalition of over 80 animal protection organizations worldwide to ban battery cages for egg-laying hens, providing resources, grants, and training to secure corporate cage-free commitments.

Recently, Alexandria provided consulting services to Ethical Seafood Research, an organization advocating for improved farmed fish welfare in low- and middle-income countries where aquaculture is rapidly expanding. Alexandria serves as a member on the board of Animal Advocacy Careers.

Clare Callison brings 16 years of animal welfare experience to Austin Pets Alive!. In 2018, she joined APA in a national-facing role in which she provides guidance and support to help organizations build robust lifesaving programs and improve operations to better serve people and pets. Clare specializes in helping organizations grow their transport relationships and increase their lifesaving through rescue partnerships, and inclusive adoption and foster practices.

Before joining Austin Pets Alive!, Clare was the director of operations for San Antonio Pets Alive for five years where she helped the city go from a 28% to 90% live release rate in three years. Clare is a frequent conference speaker, and enjoys supporting others to implement lifesaving solutions to common challenges that exist in the animal wellbeing space.

Monica Chen is the executive director of New Roots Institute, a non-profit organization empowering the next generation with knowledge and training to end factory farming. New Roots Institute provides in-depth leadership training to high school and college students, and partners with mission-aligned organizations to drive behavioral and structural changes in local communities. This positions students as lifelong advocates with the skills to influence organizations, governments, and corporations.

Nelda Corbell is a seasoned animal welfare leader with over 20 years of experience and a lifelong commitment to lifesaving work. Her journey in animal welfare began in 2008 in the adoptions department of the largest non-profit animal shelter in North Texas.

Over the years, Nelda rose through the ranks to become vice president of lifesaving initiatives, where she leads one of the most remarkable transformations in the state. Under her leadership, the shelter’s live-release rate climbed from the low 40s to an impressive 97 percent. Nelda builds vital partnerships with municipalities across Texas, advocates for systems-level change, and works daily to end euthanasia-for-space and create better outcomes for pets statewide.

In 2018, she discovered her true passion for transport rescue through her volunteer work with Wings of Rescue, a national non-profit that flies at-risk pets from overcrowded shelters and disaster zones to safety across North America. Today, she serves as co-president of Wings of Rescue, continuing to lead national efforts to save lives through strategic transport and relocation programs.

Laura Cox began her animal welfare journey around 12 years old volunteering at her local shelter. Her animal welfare career really began when she began working at what is now known as Care Humane Society in Auburn, AL. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in animal sciences from Auburn University, she worked at a zoo and a few vet clinics, and ultimately landed at Best Friends Atlanta in 2022.

Laura worked her way up to lifesaving programs manager of the Atlanta team during her tenure there. Laura’s most recent work involved piloting the transition of the Best Friends Atlanta Lifesaving Center team to being a fully remote “hubless” transport hub. They rely on local medical partners, boarding facilities, and their Atlanta-based drivers to help get cats and dogs from shelters in the Southeast adoption-ready and then transported to rescues up north who have the capacity for them. One of Laura’s favorite parts of building this program was forming the relationships with the various external partners and that’s what led her to the Shelter Collaborative team. Laura is excited to now be a part of the Shelter Collaborative Program at Best Friends and be in a position that will help shelters, specifically in Texas (where she was born)! Laura resides in Alabama with one dog and an 80-pound Sulcata tortoise.

Mike Dower is the co-founder and director of Jai Dog Rescue, a charitable organization dedicated to improving the lives of stray dogs in Thailand. Originally from London, Mike worked in the IT sector before a 2008 trip to Thailand profoundly impacted him. Witnessing the suffering of street dogs inspired him to act.

In 2017, Mike co-founded Jai Dog Rescue, based on a farm at the edge of Khao Yai National Park. Under his leadership, the organization has grown into a fully-equipped veterinary facility with a team of 60+ professionals, including vets, nurses, and caregivers. Jai Dog Rescue has helped over 35,000 dogs through rescue, sterilization, adoption, and community outreach programs. The organization also formed a strategic partnership with Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to sterilize and vaccinate around 70,000 dogs in Nakhon Nayok province by 2026, tackling overpopulation and improving canine welfare on a large scale.

Mike continues to lead the charity with passion and dedication, transforming the future of street dogs across Thailand.

Kelli Eaves recently joined the team at the Humane Society of North Texas as the director of foundations and corporate development, utilizing her 20 years of hands-on operational experience in animal welfare. Kelli began her animal welfare career as a volunteer and leading volunteer-run non-profits before transitioning full-time as the director of lifesaving initiatives at the SPCA of Texas, creating and growing programs to produce positive outcomes for the organization and the entire community. Kelli has a passion for building strategic partnerships and collaborating with local and national organizations and stakeholders to better the North Texas community for animals and people.

Bob Fischer is a professor of philosophy at Texas State University, a senior researcher at Rethink Priorities, and the director of both the Arthropoda Foundation and the Animal Welfare Economics Working Group. He’s written and edited a dozen books, and over 100 articles and chapters. His most recent volume is Weighing Animal Welfare: Comparing Well-being Across Species (Oxford University Press, 2024). Some of Bob’s other recent projects include Animal Ethics: A Contemporary Introduction (2021) and Wildlife Ethics: Animal Ethics in Wildlife Management and Conservation (2023). Most recently, Bob has been working on ways of integrating animal welfare into public decision-making tools, like benefit-cost analysis and life-cycle assessments.

Patrick Gerard leads global advocacy for the International Companion Animal Management (ICAM) coalition, where he works to transform how communities worldwide care for stray animals. The coalition unites leading animal welfare NGOs around a shared vision: creating communities where animals and people thrive together.

In this role, Patrick spearheads innovative initiatives including “Positive Cities,” a program that celebrates and recognizes municipalities making meaningful progress in humane stray animal management. His advocacy extends from grassroots community engagement to high-level policy influence; he has advised on animal welfare policy at Westminster and brings extensive leadership experience across the public, private, and third sectors. As former CEO of an education charity, he developed and implemented policy initiatives that created lasting change.

Patrick’s work combines strategic policy influence with practical, community-based solutions to improve the lives of stray dogs and cats globally, fostering more compassionate relationships between people and animals in communities worldwide.

Rebecca (Bec) Gooley is a wildlife biologist at Wisdom Good Works, a non-profit developing rodent contraceptives as a more humane option for commensal rodent management. Her hope is for peaceful human-rodent coexistence, and to ensure rodent welfare and rights are centered in emerging research. She is concurrently investigating how rat poisons are impacting red-tailed hawks (gene expression profiles) and gray foxes (infectious disease prevalence), working in partnership with wildlife rehabilitation centers and policymakers. She holds a Bachelor of Science in genetics and zoology (University of Queensland) and a Ph.D. in life and environmental science (University of Sydney). Bec is a lifelong animal rights activist and runs a small animal rescue from her apartment for street kittens, and rats and mice liberated from laboratories.

Heather Hall was born into a family of farmers and educators in rural central New York. She spent more than 20 years working on social justice issues with the ACLU, Louisiana Justice Coalition, and National Association for Public Defense. Heather moved to Big Bend National Park in 2010. Alarmed by the number of animals in shelters and on the streets of West Texas, she started The Underground Dog in 2019, which she ran as a volunteer for five years before it graduated to become One Tail at a Time – West Texas. Heather loves wild places and wildlife, and lives off the grid at the end of a dirt road in Terlingua, TX with her partner Mark, their many pets, and an incredible view. In her free time, Heather is working to learn Spanish (figures that the language she already studied is French!). She rarely goes anywhere without a dog or three.

As the director of the National Shelter Collaborative at Best Friends Animal Society, the largest peer to peer grantmaking program in animal welfare, Bethany Heins supports a team working to activate already no-kill organizations in supporting shelters that are not yet no-kill. This role marries Bethany’s diverse programmatic and shelter operations background, partnership-building capacity, and knack for strategic planning.

Prior to this role, Bethany served as the director of operations and strategic projects for national programs, where she led the execution of strategic projects associated with Best Friends' national program. Before that, Bethany served as the director of network and strategy, where she oversaw the team supporting the Best Friends Network, a partnership of over 4,200 organizations around the country supporting lifesaving in shelters. Before that, she served as the senior manager of regional programs with a focus on developing Best Friends' lifesaving programs in Atlanta, Georgia; Nashville, Tennessee; and Houston, Texas. Through Best Friends, in 2012, Bethany launched an innovative program in San Antonio, Texas, that focuses on partnerships and grassroots public engagement to save community cats. Bethany then served as the live release manager for the City of San Antonio Animal Care Services from 2013 through early 2015.

Bethany has also worked as the executive director of Vernon County Humane Society in Wisconsin. She began her career in shelter operations working as an animal care specialist for Central Illinois Humane Society while obtaining her bachelor's degree in natural resources and environmental sciences at the University of Illinois.

Bethany lives in Illinois with her husband and daughter, and an ever-changing number of cats and dogs.

Jill Hoffman is an award-winning communications professional with two decades of big agency experience working with well-known brands like General Motors, Nike, Allergan, and Blue Shield. She spent nearly a decade working with her father at Clive Hoffman Associates, where she helped the boutique firm maintain a thriving real estate practice. She has also helped several start-ups and smaller organizations raise their profiles.

Jill derives the greatest sense of professional satisfaction working with non-profit organizations. A native Angeleno, she has worked with several “hometown” charities, including A Place Called Home and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. Currently, Jill is a consultant to Animal Grantmakers, where she is involved with member engagement and outreach, member and external communications, programs like the Annual Animal Grantmakers Conference, and more. She played an active role in planning and marketing this year’s conference in Fort Worth.

Jill is also actively involved in animal protection in her personal life. Since 2014, she has participated in several half marathons to raise funds for the ASPCA (and was honored as a top fundraiser each time) and several (nine and counting!) Los Angeles Marathons in support of Angel City Pit Bulls (ACPB), one of Los Angeles’ most trusted rescue partners serving large-breed dogs with medical needs, as well as unweaned kittens. She has also volunteered as Team ACPB’s LA Big 5K lead coach and team coordinator for the past five years.

Jill graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in psychology.

Luke Klein joined the American Anti-Vivisection Society (AAVS) and the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation (ARDF) staff in 2018 on the operations side, bringing his experience in management and organizational systems. As director of operations, he successfully led upgrades in a range of operations and information technology systems at AAVS and ARDF. As executive vice president of AAVS, Luke has expanded his role, bringing his experience in communications and marketing to the organizations' program and fundraising activities, as well. Luke’s lifelong pursuit of ethics and his belief in animal rights are aligned completely with his work at AAVS and ARDF, and he also serves on the boards of both organizations.

Carol Kline is a professor and the director of the Hospitality and Tourism Management program at Appalachian State University. Her teaching and research interests have historically focused broadly on tourism sustainability, including topics such as foodie segmentation, craft beverages, agritourism, tourism entrepreneurship, and tourism in developing economies. However, she now gears her research solely on animal ethics within tourism and she teaches a course called Animals, Tourism, and Sustainability. She is part of the Race, Ethnicity, and Social Equity in Tourism (RESET) initiative, which includes animals in the study of social equity. Carol is the founder of Fanimal Inc., an international non-profit that helps individuals find animal-focused and environmentally-focused careers. She is currently working with the UPLIFT program, which supports community-driven tourism in rural North Carolina.

Stacy LeBaron has worked in animal welfare for over 30 years and is a dedicated feline advocate. She hosts the Community Cats Podcast, with more than 500 episodes featuring experts on cat welfare and overpopulation. Stacy also organizes virtual education events—including the Online Cat Conference, United Spay Alliance Conference, and Online Kitten Conference—and offers certification programs in Trap-Neuter-Return, Surrender Prevention, and Return-to-Home.

Through the Community Cats Grants Program, now part of the United Spay Alliance, she has helped over 200 grassroots groups build fundraising skills to expand spay/neuter efforts. Stacy’s mission is to inspire people to “turn their passion for cats into action.”

In addition to her podcast work, Stacy holds leadership roles with multiple organizations, including the Community Cat Clinic, PAWSitive Pantry, Vermont Humane Federation, Merrimack River Feline Rescue Society, Community Cat Champions, and United Spay Alliance. She previously served as president of MRFRS for 16 years.

Stacy graduated from Vassar College with a degree in urban studies, and currently lives in Vermont and Switzerland with her husband.

Amanda Lollar has worked daily at Bat World Sanctuary in an unpaid position since 1994. She is an author of both scientific and popular literature about bats, including her most recent work, “The Captive Care and Rehabilitation of Insectivorous Bats.” Amanda has twice been nominated for the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading prize for conservation. In 2010, Amanda was a top 10 finalist in the Animal Planet Hero of the Year Award, and in August of 2016 Amanda received The Carol Noon Award for Sanctuary Excellence.

David Maldonado is the senior manager of lifesaving partnerships at Operation Kindness. Over the last decade, David has worked in various roles in animal welfare, overseeing county shelters, community outreach, and transport programs. His passion for animal care and community engagement drives his commitment to creating sustainable solutions for pets and the people who love them. In his current role, he oversees Operation Kindness's shelter partnership program where he leads initiatives to enhance animal welfare through strategic partnerships and innovative programs. David currently resides in Dallas with his partner, Oliver, and their two dogs, Skye and Harley Quinn, and cat, Athena.

Katie Miller has nearly two decades of experience in animal welfare, conservation, and non-profit leadership. Katie’s journey has taken her from fundraising in higher education to working directly on behalf of animals in need. She is passionate about advocating for those who cannot speak for themselves. Growing up year-round on Cape Cod, Katie spent countless hours exploring nature with her beloved pets, which instilled in her a deep love for animals and a commitment to their wellbeing. From witnessing the majesty of elephants in the wild across Africa to supporting local shelters and wildlife rescues, Katie’s experiences have shaped her dedication to animal welfare.

Roxanne brings extensive grantmaking experience to Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, having led global portfolios of work at the Open Society Foundations. During this time, she was based in London, Barcelona, and New York, covering a wide variety of social, economic and political issues, leading grantmaking practice and actively shaping projects, movements, campaigns, policy, and research, alongside partners across the public, private, and non-profit sectors. Roxanne joined Battersea Dogs and Cats Home in 2021 as head of grants and programs, working with stakeholders to design and deliver systemic change interventions to improve the health and welfare of dogs and cats. Roxanne joined the board of Animal Grantmakers in 2025.

Sharon Núñez is the co-founder and president of Animal Equality, an international animal protection organization she established in 2006. Born in Madrid, Spain, she has dedicated over two decades to animal protection, and under her leadership, Animal Equality has grown into a global force with offices in eight countries and that impacts many millions of animals annually. Sharon has personally gone undercover to film inside 51 factory farms worldwide, and has spoken about animal rights at prestigious institutions, including Harvard Law School and MIT.

An Arkansas native, Nikki Elms-Nuttall graduated from Arkansas Tech University with a Bachelor of Science in parks administration. Nikki has served in multiple leadership positions in her 29-year career. Since 2018, Nikki has served as the park complex superintendent at Lake Mineral Wells State Park and Trailway, with a team of 15 employees and two concessionaires. The park has approximately 160,000 visitors a year and over $1 million in revenue. Nikki is a founding member of Texas State Parks – Women in LeadHERship Development and currently serves as a mentor.

Jay Odenbaugh’s research is in the philosophy of science (especially ecology and conservation biology) and environmental philosophy. Most recently, he has been writing on the conflict between the northern spotted owl and the barred owl in the Pacific Northwest. As one example, he recently co-authored a Guest Essay in the New York Times in which he and his colleagues discuss their concerns about the proposal to save northern spotted owls by killing barred owls. Jay is the James F. Miller Professor of Humanities and professor of philosophy at Lewis & Clark College, where he specializes in philosophy of science and environmental philosophy.

David Owens is a park specialist and interpreter at Lake Mineral Wells State Park. In this role, David is responsible for planning, scheduling, and presenting interpretive programs, administrative management, and park purchasing. In the past year, he is proud to have organized and led birding walks as a winter activity for park visitors, as well as working with volunteers, co-workers, and an intern in developing a highly successful butterfly garden at the park headquarters. He has been with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for 25 years, and at Lake Mineral Wells State Park for the past nine years.

Natalie Perez is a graphic artist, a certified yoga instructor, and a volunteer with The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. She was born and raised in Texas, but never stayed in one place for too long. She has traveled the world, including Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France. She had her first real experience with bats in Europe, when a colony of bats flew around her as she enjoyed an evening picnic. Natalie has been an animal lover since childhood, but her favorite animal has always been bats. Her role model growing up was Jane Goodall, and when she had an opportunity to work alongside the “Jane Goodall of bats”, she accepted it in a heartbeat. Natalie has now settled down in Texas with her loving husband and two cats, and has decided to dedicate her life to caring for bats.

Melissa Rubin has dedicated over 30 years to advancing the mission of non-profit organizations that protect people, pets, and animals. She currently serves as executive vice president of advancement at Greater Good Charities, where she leads the advancement team and oversees major gifts, grants, and strategic donor engagement to expand the organization’s global impact.

Previously, Melissa spent three decades at Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), where she served as senior vice president of animal response, care, and sanctuary. In that role, she oversaw the organization's animal care centers, animal rescue operations, Pets for Life, and Rural Area Veterinary Services. She also guided the organization’s responses to numerous cruelty cases and natural disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina, mobilizing large-scale relief efforts for animals and communities in crisis. Previously, Melissa spent three decades at Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States), where she served as senior vice president of animal response, care, and sanctuary. In that role, she oversaw the organization's animal care centers, animal rescue operations, Pets for Life, and Rural Area Veterinary Services. She also guided the organization’s responses to numerous cruelty cases and natural disasters, including Hurricanes Katrina, mobilizing large-scale relief efforts for animals and communities in crisis.

In addition to her leadership at Humane World for Animals, Melissa served as president of The Fund for Animals, where she was responsible for all aspects of non-profit management. She strengthened fundraising, built a high-performing leadership team, and fostered collaborations with internal and external partners to expand the organization’s reach and sustainability.

Throughout her career, Melissa has been recognized for her ability to build programs from the ground up, lead complex disaster responses, and inspire philanthropy that drives lasting change.

Jeff Sebo's research focuses on animal minds, ethics, and policy; AI minds, ethics, and policy; and global health and climate ethics and policy. He is the author of "The Moral Circle" and "Saving Animals, Saving Ourselves," and co-author of "Chimpanzee Rights" and "Food, Animals, and the Environment." Jeff is also an advisory board member at the Jeremy Coller Centre for Animal Sentience, an advisory board member at the Insect Welfare Research Society, an advisor at Eleos AI, and a senior affiliate at the Institute for Law & AI. In 2024, Vox included him on its Future Perfect 50 list of "thinkers, innovators, and changemakers who are working to make the future a better place."

As equine director at the Humane Society of North Texas Equine Ranch, Steve Stevens leads efforts to rescue and rehabilitate horses from cruelty cases and critical owner surrenders. With over 25 years as a professional trainer and clinician, Steve brings unmatched expertise and genuine compassion to every horse he works with, helping each one reach its full potential. Steve’s passion for equine rescue began during his time as equine manager at Lollypop Farm in New York, where he dedicated himself to training, rehabilitation, and compassionate care. Steve and his team specialize in the rehabilitation and promotion of companion horses and matching them with new adoptive homes.

Max Taylor is a senior researcher at Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE). Alongside his ACE work, Max focuses on mitigating AI safety risks and leveraging AI as a positive force for animal welfare. He is writing a book on the topic and creates content for Sentient Futures (previously AI for Animals). Prior to these roles, Max was employed by the U.K. Civil Service, where he led the government’s Animal Welfare Market Interventions team investigating welfare labeling options. He holds a master’s degree in translation (English, German, and Spanish).

Liz Tyson did not begin her career working with animals, but found her way to her life's passion all the same! Early in her career, Liz earned a degree in law, while also working full-time at a financial PR firm in London. Realizing that the corporate world was not for her, she began to look around for opportunities that would allow her to fulfill her true life’s ambition – to work with animals. Liz was offered the role of education officer and primate keeper at a monkey sanctuary on the south coast of England. She jumped at the chance and never looked back!

Since that time, Liz has worked in the UK, Colombia, Spain, the Middle East, Bolivia, Ethiopia, and Peru. She helped to establish the very first locally-run sterilization program for street dogs in the Middle East, worked with local indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon to bring an end to the hunting of wild primates, ran a UK charity campaigning to end the exploitation of animals in circuses and zoos and, more recently, helped to design and plan a new rehabilitation complex for rescued monkeys at Born Free’s Ethiopian Sanctuary, Ensessa Kotteh. She also continued to study while working and earned her doctorate in animal welfare law in 2018.

In August 2020, Liz published her book, “Licensing Laws and Animal Welfare: The Legal Protection of Wild Animals,” with Palgrave MacMillan/Springer Nature. The book outlines the findings of her doctoral research, which is the most comprehensive study of the legal protection of wild animals in English zoos carried out to date.

Stien has 20 years of experience using her leadership, strategy, and philanthropy skills to support various causes in multiple countries. In the four years before joining Animal Charity Evaluators, Stien worked pro bono for several effective animal advocacy organizations, including ACE Recommended Charities and Movement Grant recipients. She is also a board member of Animal Grantmakers and a member of Charity Navigator’s Expert Group for Non-profit Ratings.

Mary Wakeham is the founder and CEO of Refuge4Pets, a charity providing a specialist, accredited animal fostering service to victim-survivors of domestic abuse in Devon and Cornwall in the U.K. She has over 15 years of practice experience working in the domestic abuse sector, including as an independent domestic violence advocate (IDVA). Mary is also a senior research associate at the University of Bristol with a specialty in the dynamics and implications of the use and abuse of animals in the context of domestic abuse, particularly animal abuse as a strategy of coercive control. She is currently researching the use and abuse of animals and domestic abuse-related homicide and suicide, which is a course of study hosted at the University of Bristol and funded by Defra. Mary is a trustee of the Links Group (U.K.), a national charity that raises awareness about the link between the abuse of people and animals through collaboration, research, training, and advocacy.

Delcianna (Delci) J. Winders is an associate professor of law and director of the Animal Law and Policy Institute at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Delci previously taught at Lewis & Clark Law School, where she directed the world’s first law school clinic dedicated to farmed animal advocacy. She served as vice president and deputy general counsel at the PETA Foundation, was the first Academic Fellow of the Harvard Animal Law & Policy Program, and was a visiting scholar at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University. Delci’s primary interests are in animal law and administrative law. She has also taught animal law at Tulane University School of Law and Loyola University New Orleans College of Law.

Andrés Jiménez Zorrilla is philanthropic consultant at Open Philanthropy. He connects donors with evidence-based opportunities to reduce animal suffering and mitigate global catastrophic risks from advanced technologies. He designs strategic funding approaches that maximize impact in neglected cause areas and builds partnerships between philanthropists and innovative organizations tackling the most pressing challenges. Andrés is also the chairman of the board and co-founder of Shrimp Welfare Project (SWP), an organization dedicated to improving the welfare of farmed shrimp. Prior, he worked for more than 15 years in investment banking and private equity for firms such as Morgan Stanley and Aermont Capital in the U.K., Spain, Portugal, Mexico, and Qatar.