Lee Ann Shenefiel

Lee Ann Shenefiel is the South Central Regional Director for Best Friends. Through her role with Best Friends, she helps shelters in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Oklahoma become truly lifesaving organizations by implementing proven programs that save more cats and dogs and strengthen shelters' community relationships to improve the quality of life for both people and pets. Lee Ann previously served as the Interim Chief Animal Services Officer at the Austin Animal Center. The Austin city shelter is nationally recognized as a leader in sheltering and has achieved live outcomes for more than 97% of the nearly 17,000 dogs and cats taken in annually. The key is creating systems of programs and processes that work toward live outcomes for all animals. Lee Ann is passionate about problem solving and evolving the role of animal shelters in communities. She frequently speaks and writes about ways to save lives in municipal shelters, engagement-based animal control and community engagement.