Meet the Learning Advancement Team

Aimee Charlton, National Director of Learning Advancement

Aimee Charlton, National Director of Learning Advancement at Best Friends Animal Society utilizes her advanced degree in education and her corporate experience to create and facilitate educational programs like the Best Friends Animal Services Executive Leadership program and now many more which are all backed with university credit.

Aimee is a learner who promotes curiosity and building trust relationships as the foundation for change, both personally and professionally. She has a background in education, leadership studies, emotional intelligence, and online engagement strategies. Aimee is known for being a trailblazer and creating new teams and programs where they didn’t exist before is her love language. She was honored with the Transformational Leader Award at the One Utah Summit in 2022.

Aimee has a bachelor’s degree in Spanish/English with an emphasis in Secondary Education, as well as her master’s degree in education. She has been teaching in some capacity for nearly 30 years. She’s thrilled to bring this background to the table in her current role at Best Friends. She is energized by the opportunity to meld industry expertise with higher education to innovate and create new offerings and pathways for animal services professionals or those interested in learning more about and entering this evolving field of contemporary animal services. Her current role is the perfect way to infuse her background and skills into her love for people and animals.

Aimee resides in Utah and enjoys the outdoors, where there are plenty of beautiful options to choose from. She has three children, two rescue dogs of her own, and dogs and cats in the homes of her adult children as well. Melding support for the animals and their humans who love them is at the crux of everything that matters most to her.

Tawny Hammond, Facilitator

A graduate of the Masters in Interdisciplinary Studies program at Southern Utah University, Tawny has more than 30 years of experience in the public service arena, creating and implementing programs and services, working effectively with appointed and elected officials, creating and leading teams focused on professional excellence and best practices.

Tawny has a proven track record of success, serving for more than 25 years in municipal government in Fairfax County, Virginia. She brought the Fairfax County Animal Shelter to a 90 percent save rate in less than two years by removing ineffective breed restrictions, growing a robust volunteer program, establishing a cutting-edge foster program for the dogs losing their lives, strengthening community cat programs, and establishing the animal shelter as a community center for residents of Fairfax.

Tawny is also the former chief of animal services for Austin, Texas. Under Tawny’s leadership, Austin and Travis County, Texas, reached a new milestone in 2017, achieving a save rate of 98% of the more than 17,000 animals who came through the doors.

Tawny is devoted to ending the killing of pets in shelters and believes that how we treat pets, and their people is connected to social justice, community wellness and our compassion as a society.

As the current Director of No Kill Advancement at Best Friends Animal Society, Tawny’s role is to communicate and advocate for what No Kill animal services are and their connectivity to better government and compassionate communities. She writes and speaks on all topics related to ending the killing of companion animals in our nation’s shelters.

April Moore, Senior Manager and Facilitator

April Moore is the Senior Manager on the Learning Advancement team with Best Friends Animal Society. Throughout her two-decade long career April has played an integral role in helping communities develop policies and programs that promote lifesaving, enhance public safety, and connect people with the resources needed to keep their pets and neighborhoods safe and healthy.

April has worked in and supported many communities across the nation implementing progressive programing, proven lifesaving practices, and the latest in data technology to address animal-related community concerns, enhance public health and safety, and create a more livable city all while honoring the human-animal bond.

Julie Guerra, Project and Communications Lead

Julie Guerra joined Best Friends Animal Society in 2018 after a successful career in hospitality, where she honed her skills in project management and relationship-building. Her lifelong love for animals made the transition to animal welfare a natural one, and she quickly became an integral part of the Learning Advancement team.

As Project and Communications Lead, Julie supports initiatives that strengthen education and leadership development in the field, including scholarship programs, certification pathways, and collaborative academic partnerships with Southern Utah University. She is especially passionate about designing systems that empower people and communities to protect pets, ensuring that lifesaving progress is accessible, sustainable, and rooted in shared learning.

Julie holds a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies degree with an emphasis in Contemporary Animal Services Leadership and Leadership Studies, where her capstone project focused on the future of animal services as an academic discipline. She lives in New York with her partner, their son, and their dog, Luna.

Tina Overgaard, Manager, Instructional Design

Tina is the Manager of Instructional Design and leads the creation of innovative, data-driven learning experiences that advance meaningful change. With over a decade of experience in education and instructional design, she combines creativity, resourcefulness, and technical expertise in every project. She holds degrees in special education and instructional design and is a Certified Associate in Project Management (CAPM).

For more than 20 years, Tina has also volunteered with municipal shelters and rescue organizations, deepening her expertise in animal welfare, outreach, and nonprofit management. Since joining Best Friends Animal Society as its first instructional designer in 2019, she has built a thriving instructional design function, co-developed the flagship program, and expanded a portfolio of engaging, accessible learning opportunities for current and aspiring animal services professionals. Tina ensures each learning experience drives real-world application while staying true to instructional design principles and Best Friends’ mission to bring about a time when there are No More Homeless Pets®.

Caitlin Gill, Senior Instructional Designer

Caitlin is a senior instructional designer in the Best Friends Learning Advancement department. Her work includes instructional design and course creation for certification programs run in collaboration with Southern Utah University.

Caitlin's background is in education, conservation and over 15 years of experience in the broader field of animal welfare. She has worked with both domestic pets and wildlife in rescue, rehabilitation and sheltering settings. Caitlin's professional experience also encompasses the fields of humane education, volunteer engagement and human-animal bond studies.

A favorite accomplishment while working in a shelter was launching one of the first day trip and sleepover programs in her state for dogs and the community's enthusiastic response to this new program. She is passionate about initiatives and programs that combine the community's desire to help pets and people with the goals and needs of animal services organizations.

Don Jennings, Senior Strategist and Facilitator

Over the course of 13 years as a Montessori teacher and trainer, a decade with the YMCA, and 12 years in animal welfare, Don has made a specialty of creating environments where communities of consensus are able to realize their best potential.

He’s an unflappable problem-solver with a passion for details, data, and observation, all in the service of “making things work.” His skillset makes him ideally suited for Best Friends’ Learning Advancement department, crafting and implementing lifesaving education programs for adult learners.

Meaghan Colville, Facilitator

Meaghan Colville is the Shelter Director and a founder of Cincinnati Animal CARE, a humane society contracted to provide animal control and animal services for Hamilton County, Ohio. Meaghan's background in education led her to a career in animal services that has lasted 15 years. She holds bachelor and master degrees in education and taught elementary school for 3 years. While teaching, Meaghan began volunteering at a local shelter and with a greyhound rescue group.

A passion for animal welfare quickly developed and led Meaghan to Los Angeles where she took her first job at an animal shelter as a Humane Educator. For three years, Meaghan was part of a team who taught positive reinforcement dog training and life skills to middle school students in at-risk neighborhoods of south central Los Angeles.

In addition to formally teaching in a classroom, Meaghan has been a high performance tennis coach for 15 years. Teaching and coaching have been the cornerstone of Meaghan's leadership style and the foundation of the approach she brings to the over 100 employees at Cincinnati Animal CARE.

Lee Ann Shenefiel, Facilitator

Lee Ann Shenefiel is the Senior Director of Community Programs for Austin Pets Alive! in Austin, Texas. She is currently working to build a comprehensive community safety net for pets that focuses on keeping people and pets together and out of the shelter. With nearly two decades of experience in local government, Lee Ann has worked with municipal and non-profit shelters, rescue groups, and stakeholders to overcome barriers to lifesaving with Best Friends Animal Society.

From 2017 to 2019, she served as Interim Chief Animal Services Officer for the City of Austin, where the shelter achieved over 95% live outcomes for nearly 16,000 annual intakes. Her team piloted neighborhood-level programs to boost community engagement. Previously, as Deputy Chief, she oversaw Animal Protection, Outreach, and volunteer programs.

Before Texas, Lee Ann was assistant director at Fairfax County Animal Shelter in Virginia, achieving a save rate over 90%. She also teaches Finding Success in Animal Services as an adjunct professor at Southern Utah University.

Taylor Lefebvre, Facilitator

Taylor Lefebvre joined the Best Friends team in March of 2023. She is currently Senior Manager of the Eastern Region. Prior, she was a Manager of Operations on the Best Friends Embed Team where she worked at high volume shelters in the south. She completed a 13-month project in Brownsville, Texas. The shelter experienced a 53% increase to their annual save rate over the course of the project and reached a monthly 90% save rate for the first time in their history. Before joining Best Friends, her experience in animal welfare included being the Program Manager of the Baltimore Animal Rescue & Care Shelter (BARCS), Director of Operations for the Charlottesville SPCA, and Program Director for PetConnect Rescue.

Taylor is dedicated to developing, implementing, and measuring programs designed to better support both animals and humans. She is committed to using a community-based approach of offering whole health resources to help pet owners keep animals out of the shelter system. Taylor also served on the board of My Pitbull is Family, a nonprofit geared at ending breed discrimination in the housing and insurance sectors and is a certified Animal Control Officer.

She loves to foster and will often bring home senior dogs with medical needs, bottle babies puppies, and spicy kittens.

Jana de Peyer, Co-founder and Facilitator

Jana de Peyer is one of the co-founders of Best Friends Animal Society and has held many functions over the years, including developing the sanctuary’s first adoption and membership programs. She has been involved with a version of the Running a Lifesaving Animal Sanctuary course/workshop since 1998.

Jana has many years of fundraising experience and helped develop the major gift program for Best Friends. She is currently working with the philanthropy team.

Jana was born in New York City and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a degree in fine arts. She lives at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary with her husband and four rescued dogs.

Silva Battista, Co-founder and Facilitator

Silva Battista is one of the co-founders of Best Friends Animal Society. In the 1980s, the early days of Best Friends, Silva was primarily involved in grassroots fundraising and program development. She went on to work with her husband, Francis Battista, on initiating and running the various events and outreach programs of Best Friends in the Los Angeles area. During that time, she was key in building enduring relationships within the entertainment industry and she created Best Friends’ celebrity relations department.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Silva was part of the support team managing the flow of staff, rescuers and volunteers at the Best Friends rescue shelter in Tylertown, Mississippi.

Currently, Silva helps the human resources department which includes onboarding new staff and focusing on introducing them to the history and guiding principles of Best Friends. In addition, she co-facilitates the Running a Lifesaving Animal Sanctuary course, run in collaboration with Southern Utah University and held online and at the Sanctuary.

At home, Silva and Francis always have a full household of rescued pets. In her life before Best Friends, Silva earned a degree in fine art from Bristol College of Art and worked as a graphic artist and horticulturalist, including a stint in the gardens of Buckingham Palace.

Stacie Voss, Senior Strategist

Stacie Voss is a Senior Strategist on the Learning Advancement team at Best Friends Animal Society. She has worked in both non-profit and municipal shelters across rural and urban communities, bringing a broad perspective to the challenges of animal welfare. With a background in animal ecology, she has applied population-management principles to shelter environments, strengthening operations and supporting lifesaving outcomes. Stacie’s expertise includes shelter operations, data-driven strategy, and the development and implementation of impactful programming.

She earned her bachelor’s degree from Iowa State University and her Master of Science from Northern Illinois University, where she also discovered a passion for teaching as a teaching assistant in biology labs and as an instructor for summer nature camps. After more than 15 years in hands-on shelter operations, Stacie joined the Learning Advancement team to help create accessible and effective learning opportunities for animal welfare professionals and volunteers. She currently lives in New Mexico and spends as much of her free time as possible outdoors.

Tahmarah Otoo, Marketing Specialist

Tahmarah Otoo joined Best Friends in 2024 as the Marketing Specialist on the Learning Advancement Team, where she leads all marketing strategy, content development, design and outreach for the team’s full portfolio of programs. She supports marketing efforts for everything from professional development courses and learning resources to student storytelling, national promotions, and internal communications ensuring each program reaches the audiences who can benefit from it most.

Prior to joining Best Friends, she managed social media and events for multiple animal care businesses of all backgrounds. During Tahmarah’s carer she has worked with animals in every capacity, beginning in hands-on animal care and volunteering to research and behavior work before moving into the world of social media management and marketing. Because of her wide-ranging experience, she contributes skills and insights that reach well beyond a typical marketer and strives to continue support the team in meaningful ways.

Jess Roper, Sanctuary Operations Support Coordinator

Jess’ career began in higher education as a lecturer at Rice University, but when an old stray dog crossed her path in 2013, she devoted herself to helping animals and the people who love them. After spending several years leading lifesaving operations to support large, open-intake municipal shelters in Houston, Texas, Jess moved to Kanab, Utah to connect to the heart of Best Friends— our Sanctuary. She has retained a passion for education throughout her career and completed a Master of Interdisciplinary Studies degree with focuses in contemporary animal services leadership and instruction design at Southern Utah University in 2022.

Today Jess works in Sanctuary operations, collaborating across animal care, strategic lifesaving, and visitor experience departments. She wears many hats in her role, including co-facilitating the Running a Lifesaving Animal Sanctuary course, which connects dedicated individuals to opportunities to make the world a better place for both animals and people.

Leah Long, Facilitator

Leah Long is the South Central Regional Manager with Best Friends Animal Society, bringing more than a decade of animal welfare experience to her role. She is committed to building sustainable, data-informed programming at shelters and developing innovative lifesaving initiatives that strengthen communities.

Leah began her career at age 13 while interning with a Chicago rescue organization, sparking a lifelong devotion to animal welfare. She later honed her skills in Atlanta as a volunteer coordinator, program coordinator, and foster director, gaining extensive experience in volunteer engagement and foster program development. In New Orleans, she expanded her knowledge further as a community cat coordinator embedded within a municipal shelter. In her current role, she collaborates and mentors shelters across the South Central region to provide customized coaching and training in community cat programs, foster programming, pathway planning, adoptions and other key lifesaving strategies.

Leah is a seasoned speaker and mentor, she has presented regionally and nationally on animal welfare proven practices. She is widely recognized for her depth of experience in feline programming and overarching lifesaving strategies. Her expertise has supported organizations across the country in implementing impactful, community-centered solutions.