Kelly Peterson | Board Chair, Client Outreach Director, Co-Founder — Kelly is the Oregon State Director for the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). As an accomplished advocate, Kelly has worked successfully in the Oregon legislature to pass a raft of bills to protect animals, ranging from wildlife and exotics to farm and companion animals. Kelly previously served as the Senior Vice President of State Affairs where she worked with HSUS state directors throughout the country championing animal welfare legislation and engaging like-hearted citizens to promote the protection of all animals.
Patti Loverink | Board Vice Chair, Fundraising Director — Patti joined the Fences For Fido board in 2011, focusing on marketing and fundraising for the organization and serving today as board fundraising director and gala chair. As the owner of a marketing communications agency, Patti applies her professional experience and expertise to help support and grow non-profit organizations. Patti is co-founder of Fences For Fido’s Unchained Planet project, dedicated to accelerating the unchaining movement by providing grants and mentorship to start-up unchaining organizations around the country.
Michelle Blake | Executive Director — Michelle has been with Fences For Fido since its founding in 2009, serving as a board member, board co-chair, and as the Client Outreach Coordinator and Crew Leader who established our presence in Marion and Polk Counties. More recently, she's served as FFF's grant writer. As a longtime advocate and nonprofit leader, she's worked to pass federal and state laws to protect animals and helped establish Salem's first high-volume spay/neuter clinic. Drawing on her background in news media, fundraising, and public policy, Michelle develops and coordinates FFF's public messaging, ensuring that we grow strategically to meet the ever-changing needs of our clients, volunteers, donors, and the dogs who bring us all together in this labor of love.
Karen Van Winkle | Board Member, Treasurer — Karen first joined Fences For Fido as a volunteer fence builder in Central Oregon and after relocating to the Willamette Valley, she expanded her volunteer involvement by overseeing the cat food distribution and delivery of our organization’s monthly pet food bank on the Warm Springs Reservation. Soon after, Karen combined her love of Fences For Fido with her professional skills, by assuming the role of bookkeeper and just recently was elected to serve as Fences For Fido Treasurer, bringing 20+ years of accounting experience and expertise. Karen has been involved with animal related nonprofits for over 15 years and has served as a Board member at other nonprofits, as well as holding the role of Treasurer/Bookkeeper.
Jennifer Rackstraw | Board Secretary — For more than 20 years, Jeni has been involved in animal advocacy at the local, state, and federal levels. Since 2003, she has worked as an administrative law judge for the State of Oregon, conducting administrative hearings for agencies, boards, and commissions. Since 2007, she has also served on an Appellate Panel for City of Portland police and firefighter disability benefit cases. She has extensive experience training and mentoring administrative law judges and has presented at multiple conferences regarding administrative law practice. She has a J.D. from Lewis & Clark Law School, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Animal Law Review, the nation’s oldest law journal devoted exclusively to animal legal issues.
Vince Baker | Board Member, Co-Founder, Information Systems — As one of the original co-founders and earliest volunteers of Fences For Fido, Vince serves as crew chief and information systems committee lead. As an engineer for a high-tech company, Vince is able to lead the information systems for Fences For Fido by overseeing the website, volunteer sign up systems, contact management systems, and fundraising software system. His roles for Fences For Fido bring together his key passions of animal welfare, love for building, and service to community.
Telma Pombrol | Board Member, Chief Materials Officer — Telma was born in Connecticut to Cuban parents and lived in Venezuela for about 20 years. She has always had a passion for animal welfare and while in Venezuela helped rehab injured wildlife, from an Ocelot kitten that was caught in a barbed wire fencing to squirrels, parrots, fawns and even a trio of baby caimans. Telma earned her degree in Tourism Business Administration and moved back to the U.S. where she started a professional career. She has since left the private sector and now works for the State of Oregon Department of Justice Child Support Division in Salem. She devotes her free time caring for her furry family and volunteering for Fences For Fido where she serves as a client outreach coordinator and the chief materials officer.
Gina Clemmer | Board Member — Founder and architect of Clinic HQ software. HQ is a specialized veterinary software for high-volume spay/neuter clinics. She spends her days working with clinics to support their clinic management. She holds a Masters of Science Degree from the University of Iowa where she focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS). She was a consultant for PetSmart Charities for ten years and launched Clinic HQ in 2011. She is deeply committed to making the world a better place for animals using technology. For the past five years, she’s volunteered for, and coordinated, high volume clinics on Native American reservations (Laguna and Hopi). This is her hobby and passion. Recently, she secured a surgical mobile rig, First Nations Veterinary, through her charity, Charity HQ, to bring high volume spay and neuter clinics to the Warm Springs Reservation and Navajo Nation. Gina is a mom to an amazing daughter and a committed foster mama through One Tail at a Time. Gina lives in Portland and is an enrolled tribal member in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.
Eileen Dennis | Board Member — After a career in public accounting, Eileen spent many years doing accounting for the movie industry. Fast forward over three decades, Eileen felt compelled to help animals. She began volunteering with various animal welfare organizations, including shelters and transport organizations, which often took her to the Portland, Oregon area. Combined with being able to work on several movies in Portland convinced her and her husband to relocate to the Rose City. A graduate in finance from the University of Wisconsin, she has worked as a CPA in several states and several industries. Eileen and her husband live with their dog Sophie and cat Smokey.
Chelsea Lane | Board Member — Dedicated both her professional and personal life to animal advocacy by choosing a career in veterinary medicine and spends her free time fostering and volunteering with animal centered orgs, having previously acted as volunteer medical coordinator for a local dog rescue. Chelsea has worked in veterinary medicine as a veterinary assistant on and off since 2007. In 2018, after years of working on the clinical team, she took on the role of Practice Manager at her veterinary clinic in Portland. Overall, her favorite part of veterinary medicine is working with the special needs of senior dogs and cats. Chelsea began volunteering with Fences for Fido through their wellness and spay/neuter clinics, and loves assisting with such a meaningful cause. She shares her home in Portland with 1 lovably imperfect rescue pibble, 1 very bossy cat, and a recent adoption of a puppy from Warm Springs who is quickly outgrowing her older brother!
Theo Perez | Board Member — A Warm Springs tribal member and director of Warm Springs Commodities, embodies the definition of a heart of service and compassion, contributing to his community on behalf of Warm Springs Community Action Team, Reservation Impact, Neighbor Impact, and a commitment to overall community health. He is also a small business owner, artist and much more. Theo is also a proud and devoted father of an incredible son. Theo raises the bar when it comes to positive impact and is deeply grounded to his community and offering solutions and resources in everything he does. Fences For Fido is so honored to have Theo as part of our Board. He is truly the very spirit of love in action.
Becky Robbins | Board Member — First joined Fences for Fido in 2009 as a fence-building volunteer. In addition, for the past 16 years she serves as a foster team lead for the Family Dogs New Life Shelter Foster Dog Program in Portland, OR. With Family Dogs she focuses on adoptions, securing foster families, fundraising and media outreach. Professionally, Becky has a 25-year career in partnership marketing and PR with a focus on leveraging corporate and small business relationships to support the needs of the community. Becky loves to travel the world and run her refurbished furniture store space that supports animals. She shares her home with Henry and Blossom, her rescue pit bulls.
Shauna Sherick, CVT | Board Member — Shauna earned her degree in animal science and veterinary technology in 1994 and since then has worked at a local veterinary hospital. She specializes in surgical procedure assisting, anesthesia, dentistry, and farm animal veterinary medicine nursing care. In 1996, she began volunteering as a veterinary technician at the Portland Audubon Society Wildlife Care Center and earned certification through the International Wildlife Rehabilitation Council to become licensed in wildlife rehabilitation for the state of Oregon. In 2012, wanting to combine her love of veterinary medicine with her passion for helping farm animals, wildlife, and nature, she founded Wildwood Farm Sanctuary & Preserve. Shauna also works closely with the Yamhill County Soil & Water Conservation District and has received grants to restore and preserve the white oak prairie ecosystem at Wildwood Farm Sanctuary & Preserve.