Emily Abbondanza is a volunteer with Oklahoma Alliance for Animals. In a recent volunteer spotlight, the organization wrote, “Today we’re celebrating one of the incredible people who helps keep Oklahoma Alliance for Animals running behind the scenes. Emily is the definition of selfless. Every Saturday, she tackles one of the biggest jobs at OAA: scooping the yards, washing and disinfecting the concrete, repairing fences, trimming branches, cleaning gutters, organizing supplies, and making sure our dogs get plenty of outside time and enrichment. She also volunteers twice during the week, helping with feeding, medications, cleaning kennels, laundry, dishes, and whatever else needs to be done. She never asks for recognition and always has a smile on her face. She simply shows up because she loves these animals. Animal rescue isn’t easy. It’s physically demanding, emotionally exhausting, and sometimes heartbreaking. It takes a special kind of person to keep showing up with compassion and dedication, and Emily is exactly that person.”

Olivia Addy’s main ambition in life is to make the world a better place. She currently leads the Open Wing Alliance Grant Program, which distributes around $2 million in funding each year to animal advocacy organizations working to end some of the worst forms of abuse on factory farms. Prior to that, Olivia worked as the Open Wing Alliance coordinator, managing several elements of the day-to-day operations of the alliance, which consists of over 90 organizations based around the world. Before joining the Open Wing Alliance team at The Humane League, she held roles in fundraising, communications, and marketing.

Clara Aguilar works as an impact and foundation advisor at Edgard & Cooper, a Belgian pet food brand known for its commitment to animal welfare and sustainability. Since the company’s founding in 2016, Edgard and Cooper has committed 1% of sales (totaling over €4.3 million to date) to help dogs and cats in need through the Edgard & Cooper Foundation.

In his role, Cory Cerussi advises the Shaw Family Charitable Trust on how to have the greatest impact for animals through a strategic mix of grantmaking for animal protection, direct animal care, and novel approaches to animal welfare. This includes grantmaking to support campaign organizations, sanctuaries and shelters, and capacity-building organizations in the animal protection movement.

Matthew Dominguez is the U.S. executive director at Compassion in World Farming, where he leads a team dedicated to improving the welfare of farmed animals and advancing a food system that is better for animals, people, and the planet. With more than 15 years of experience in animal welfare and food policy, he has driven major corporate commitments and public policy reforms for farmed animals and regenerative agriculture. The grandson of a cattle rancher, Matthew brings a unique and grounded perspective to conversations about food, farming, and animal welfare.

Kimberly Downing is a recent graduate of Oklahoma State University (2025), where she attended both undergraduate and veterinary school. Kimberly used opportunities in school to gain exotic animal and wildlife experience, including a fellowship at WildCare Oklahoma and volunteering at the Oklahoma City Zoo in between seasonal work at a small animal emergency clinic. After veterinary school, she completed a mixed animal internship at a high-volume clinic in Alvarado, Texas before returning to Oklahoma as a staff veterinarian at WildCare. Kimberly has always had a passion for wildlife conservation and protection of endangered species with the hope of promoting biodiversity and positive human / animal coexistence. In her free time, Kimberly enjoys spending time with her cats, reading books, and drawing.

During his tenure as Oklahoma's Attorney General, Edmondson advanced animal welfare in Oklahoma primarily through landmark environmental protection, defending anti-cruelty laws, and preventing deregulation. One of his key actions was successfully defending the state’s voter-approved cockfighting ban when the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional. The unanimous decision in Edmondson v. Pearce in 2004 defeated coordinated legal attempts by operators to overturn the state's anti-cruelty statutes. Another was filing a historic lawsuit against major poultry companies over chicken waste pollution in 2005. This effort enforced environmental accountability for factory farms and led to a landmark nearly $44 million settlement agreement in 2026 to clean up the Illinois River watershed.

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.

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 was elected president and CEO of the Alternatives Research & Development Foundation in 2025. Luke holds a BA from Temple University and an MBA in management from Fitchburg State University, and his career has been focused on organizational development, ethical advocacy, and international engagement. Luke has been working for ARDF since 2018 and served as the foundation’s director of operations prior to becoming president. Luke also serves as president of ARDF’s affiliate, American Anti-Vivisection Society. He is executive editor of the organization’s magazine, A-V, and chair of the Coalition for Consumer Information on Cosmetics, which operates the Leaping Bunny Program for companies based in the U.S. and Canada. He has served on several boards, including as a current board member of the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries.

Anna Lampard is an experienced professional in international development, specializing in animal welfare, grant management, strategic programming, and impact. She is currently the grants and programs lead at Battersea. Previously, Anna was head of program quality and impact at SPANA (now known as Working Animals International), which has been dedicated to transforming the lives of working animals and supporting the people who depend on them since 1923. Anna’s background spans both natural and social sciences, holding an MSc in international development (Environment, Climate Change & Development) from the University of Manchester and a BSc (Hons) in zoology. This interdisciplinary foundation gives Anna a unique perspective on global development challenges and the critical intersection between environmental sustainability, human wellbeing and livelihoods, and animal welfare. She is committed to driving holistic, cross-sectoral approaches to sustainable development that recognize the integral role of animals, nature, and people.

Betsy Liley has been a leader in nonprofit philanthropy for more than 25 years and has worked on both sides of the world, as a nonprofit seeking funds to create impact and for philanthropists and philanthropic organizations investing for impact. She leads Grateful Change, which is focused on helping every nonprofit thrive financially so they can focus on changing the world. Formerly, Betsy served as chief development and chief marketing officer of Humane World for Animals.

Kelcey Meadows-Lucas has over two decades of experience helping philanthropists achieve their goals and find their ideal roles in the mission to end animal suffering, and she is excited to continue this work at Senterra Funders. Kelcey worked in major, planned, and principal gift fundraising at Humane World for Animals for 12 years and Mercy For Animals for 10 years. Adopting a feisty terrier after college opened Kelcey’s heart to all animals, and she has dedicated her life to protecting them ever since. At Millikin University, she created her own major of political science, sociology, and business knowing that she wanted to focus her 80,000 hour career on social justice issues in the nonprofit sector. Kelcey has been a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals since 2003, is a Certified Fundraising Executive since 2020, and has served as an advisor on the Nature Defense Foundation since 2023. Born and raised in St. Louis, MO, she now shares her home in Northern California with her husband, son, and rescued dog (another feisty terrier of course).

Cameron Meyer-Shorb is executive director of Wild Animal Initiative, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research on the most critical questions in wild animal welfare science. Cam studied biology at Carleton College, where his research focused on tallgrass prairie ecology. Before Wild Animal Initiative, he worked on the policy and operations teams at the Good Food Institute, where he built coalitions with other nonprofits, lobbied state and federal legislators, and designed hiring and human resource processes. Cam’s expertise in wild animal welfare has been cited in Wild Souls by Emma Marris, Animal Liberation Now by Peter Singer, and Meet the Neighbors by Brandon Keim. Cameron is based in Brooklyn, New York, United States.

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.

June first entered the animal advocacy space in high school when she stepped into grassroots activism for farmed animals through demonstrations and protests. This interest in food systems led her to study public health and nutrition at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. During this time, June continued to deepen her involvement in the animal advocacy space through interning at organizations such as Humane World for Animals and New Roots Institute. She also founded GW Veg Out, a student organization dedicated to plant-based eating and animal rights. June currently serves as fellowship coordinator at the Reducetarian Foundation, where she leads the D.C. cohort of the Reducetarian Fellowship—a program that equips young advocates and innovators with the knowledge needed to transform our food system to be kinder to humans, animals, and the planet. Through this program, she works to bring new voices into food systems and animal advocacy.

Professor Joyce Tischler has been associated with Lewis & Clark Law School since 2011, when she first began serving as a member of the adjunct faculty, before she joined the Center for Animal Law Studies at Lewis & Clark Law School full-time as a professor of practice in May of 2019. She retired on June 30, 2026. During her tenure with Lewis & Clark, she taught Animal Law Fundamentals (survey course), Industrial Animal Agriculture Law (both in-person and online); and co-directed the Animal Law Clinic. She has also served as the faculty advisor for the Lewis & Clark Student Animal Legal Defense Fund and mentored countless aspiring animal lawyers in the Lewis & Clark community and beyond. Affectionately referred to as the “Mother of Animal Law,” Professor Tischler is beloved by the animal law community for the pivotal role she’s played in the movement. She has been a trailblazer in the field of animal law for 47 years and has dedicated her career to improving the lives of nonhuman animals through the legal system. In 1979, she co-founded the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) – the first nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting nonhuman animals through the legal system. There, she conceived of and litigated cutting-edge cases aimed at protecting the interests of animals. Through intelligence, tenacity and vision, Professor Tischler paved the way for change in a legal system that routinely ignored the interests of nonhuman animals. Professor Tischler’s deep experience and shaping of the field of animal law is detailed in her two-part article, A Brief History of Animal Law, Part I (1972-1987) and Part II (1985-2011), published in the Stanford Journal of Animal Law and Policy. She served as ALDF’s executive director for 25 years, and as its general counsel until her retirement from ALDF in the spring of 2019. Professor Tischler was instrumental in CALS’ founding at Lewis & Clark Law School in 2008 through a planning and funding collaboration with ALDF.

Brent Toellner is the senior director, national programs for Best Friends Animal Society. In this role, Brent oversees Best Friends’ regional programming work, strategies, and communications integration. His team provides programmatic support and training for animal shelters across the country to help them increase live outcomes for shelter pets. Prior to joining Best Friends, Brent and his wife Michelle co-founded the Kansas City Pet Project to bid on the contract to run the Kansas City, Missouri pound — a place where, for decades, more animals died than were saved. After KCPP took over in January 2012, adoptions increased by more than 200% and helped KCPP achieve a live release rate of more than 90% for seven consecutive years while remaining an open-admission shelter. Brent has a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of Missouri and a master’s in marketing communication from the University of Kansas. Brent lives in Kansas City with his wife Michelle, and shares his home with dogs and cats.

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.

Jane Velez-Mitchell is a nationally recognized television journalist and bestselling author. With a career spanning decades in mainstream media, Jane has built a reputation for fearless reporting and a relentless commitment to giving voice to the voiceless. After years of covering breaking news on national networks, Jane founded UNCHAINEDTV to bring animal protection issues to wider audiences through free documentaries, cooking shows, news, and original series. Through UNCHAINEDTV, a global, nonprofit streaming network powered by compassion, Jane uses her powerful voice and extensive media experience to tell the stories most mainstream media ignore—those impacting animals, people, and the planet.