Request a Best Friends expert speaker on animal issues
Here at Best Friends, we are incredibly fortunate to have on staff some of the brightest minds in animal welfare, and some of them may be available to share their expertise with your conference attendees or group.
These animal welfare experts can speak on a variety of topics, so we’ve assembled the following links to help you get to know them a little better.
To begin the process of requesting an animal welfare expert, start with the guest speaker form below. (If you’re not sure which speaker you’d like, that’s OK. Complete the form, and we’ll look to see if a good fit is available.)
Once we receive your information, we’ll be in touch with you to learn more about your event.
When requesting a guest speaker via the form below, you are not obligated to book, nor is there a guarantee that your chosen speaker will be available. There may or may not be associated costs, which will be determined on a case-by-case basis.
Amy Starnes — Chief Innovation Officer
Speaker's topics: Digital transformation, technology solutions, data-driven strategy
Arlyn Bradshaw — Senior Advisor for Community Relations
Speaker’s topics: Coalition engagement, public policy, community relations
Barbara Camick — Director of Annual Giving
Speaker's topics: Donor acquisition, direct mail, mid-level giving, general fundraising
Beth Wolfer - Planned Giving Officer
Speaker's topics: Development, stewardship, planned giving, public speaking/improving presentation skills
Brent Toellner — Senior Director, Lifesaving Programs
Speaker's topics: Best Friends' Roadmap to 2025, trends in national shelter data,
increasing adoptions, reducing shelter animal length of stay
Carrie Ducote — National Director, Shelter Collaborative Program
Speaker's topics: Community cat programs, coalition building, best practices to achieve no-kill, and open adoptions/client service
Dr. Carley Faughn — Senior Strategist, Lifesaving Research
Speaker's topics: Dog behavior, cat behavior, dog training and behavior modification, applied animal behavior research, animal rescue operations, emergency response, change management
Destiny Haney — National Embed Program Manager
Speaker's topics: General cat lifesaving programming, community cat programs, kitten nurseries, bottle-feeding, community outreach & engagement programs, shelter/rescue collaboration, coalition-building
Elizabeth Doyle — Senior Writing Mentor and Style Editor
Speaker's topic: Writing
Elizabeth Jensen — Northeast Senior Strategist
Speaker’s topics: Client service, conflict resolution
Elizabeth Oreck — National Manager of Puppy Mill Initiatives
Speaker's topics: Puppy mills, commercial dog breeding, retail pet sales ordinances, pet stores that sell animals or offer rescued pets for adoption, advocacy
Eric Rayvid — Director of Public Relations
Speaker's topics: Social media, marketing, crisis PR, crisis marketing
Holly Sizemore — Chief Mission Officer
Speaker’s topics: Nonprofit leadership, change management, leading toward no-kill, spay/neuter, community cats, government policy and no-kill communities, collaboration and networking to increase lifesaving, strategic planning, engaging and empowering staff and volunteers, data-driven approaches and standards in animal sheltering
Jen Reid — Manager of Horse Haven
Speaker's topics: Rehabilitating horses (both behaviorally and physically), farrier work, relating to special needs in horses
Karen Gallardo — Sr. Director, Major Gifts and Planned Giving
Speaker's topics: Planned giving, asset giving, campaigns, general fundraising, fundraising leadership
Kari Hartkorn — Director, Brand Experience and Hospitality
Speaker's topics: Marketing, branding
Kate Moore — Director of Digital Engagement
Speaker's topic: Online fundraising, email fundraising, recurring giving
Kaylee Hawkins — Pacific regional director
Speaker's topics: Shelter operations, lifesaving programs, navigating change in animal welfare, community engagement, rescue/shelter relationships, sustainability, data-driven decision making & planning
Kimberly Elman — Senior Strategist, Shelter Data Collection & Volunteer Outreach
Speaker's topic: Volunteer engagement
Ledy VanKavage — Senior Legislative Attorney
Speaker's topics: Doggie due process, why breed restrictions don't work, community cat legislation, advocacy for animals, lobbying
Liz Finch — Senior Writer, Best Friends Network
Speaker's topics: Community cat programs, breed labels and DNA testing, hoarding, Best Friends Network, progressive sheltering concepts, blog/editorial writing, roadblocks to lifesaving
Makena Yarbrough — Senior Director of Regional Programs
Speaker’s topics: Creating culture, board development/management, team building and management, community engagement, marketing and branding, crisis management, campaign fundraising, customer service 101
Marc Peralta — Chief Program Officer
Speaker’s topics: Nonprofit leadership, nonprofit management, shelter operations, collective impact and Coalition building, open adoptions, impactful returned to home (owner) programming, no kill language, using data for impact performance, cat life-saving, dog life-saving, performance management
Michael Hand — Producer, New Digital Media and Special Projects
Speaker's topic: Imagery
Michelle Logan — Director, National Shelter Embed Programming
Speaker's topic: Community cat programming and cat lifesaving, shelter operations, managed intake, animal enrichment
Michelle Sathe — Public Relations Manager
Speaker's topic: PR
Pat Guerrero — Director - National Volunteer Engagement
Speaker's topic: Volunteer engagement
Peter Wolf — Research and Policy Analyst
Speaker's topics: Anything related to community cats (except veterinary medicine), focus on public policy and science surrounding community cat and trap-neuter-return (TNR) issues
Richard Angelo, Jr. — Legislative Attorney
Speaker's topics: Community cat legal matters, shelter transparency laws, companion animal legislation, legislative advocacy for animals, lobbying, general animal shelter laws and regulations (state and local), dangerous dog laws, breed restrictions
Scott Giacoppo — Director, National Municipal and Shelter Support
Speaker’s topics: Animal care and control management, community cats, animal cruelty investigations, field operations, community-based programming, lost pet services, wildlife conflict resolution and wildlife protection
Tawny Hammond — Director of National No Kill Leadership Advancement
Speaker's topics: Leadership, getting political support for animal services, leading and managing lifesaving changes in the municipal setting, succession planning for animal services, community engagement in animal services, professional excellence in animal services, animal services and social justice (why animals matter), animal services as part of community wellness and lifesaving before the animal shelter doors
Tierney Sain — National Mentorship Program Specialist
Speaker’s topics: Canine behavior, enrichment, and training