Dr. Jennifer Bennett is the current Director of Shelter Medicine Access to Care at the University of California-Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program where she works with an outreach team to support shelter veterinarians and access to care programming. She has been a shelter veterinarian and administrator for the majority of her career, with a focus on developing shelter medicine programs, leadership-veterinarian dynamics, shelter and general practitioner partnerships, and lower barrier operational processes. She has worked with multiple municipal and private animal welfare organizations to provide training in HQHVSN, forensic and large-scale legal case management, and context-centered care and communication.

Kim Brown has been working in animal welfare for over 15 years and is the COO of APA of Missouri. Kim has a MA in Non-profit Administration, a BA in Human Resource Management, and is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator. She spent eight years in the US Army Reserves as a Combat Medic. 

Katie has worked in the animal sheltering industry for more than 18 years, serving previously as the Assistant Director at OC Animal Care in Orange County, CA. Beginning in 2016, Katie joined Placer County as the Animal Services Manager at Placer County Animal Services in Auburn. Since joining the team, she has been responsible for the opening of the new, state-of-the-art animal shelter, increasing community engagement, and developing new and progressive shelter programs. These programs have not only been recognized repeatedly, they have proved incredibly successful for lifesaving, allowing Placer County Animal Services to achieve a live release rate of more than 90% since 2017! 

Katie Parker, CAWA, is the Chief Operating Officer for Humane Colorado. In 2006, Katie joined our organization as our Customer Care Manager, a position she held for three years. Over the next decade, she filled a variety of leadership roles, including Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act inspector for the Colorado Department of Agriculture, and Executive Director of the Animal Assistance Foundation. During this time, she also served on the boards of the Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund and the Grey Muzzle Organization. In 2020, returned to Humane Colorado, first serving as our Vice President of Sheltering before becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2024. In addition to her work at Humane Colorado, she is a board member for the Denver Animal Foundation and will soon be rejoining the board of the Animal Welfare Association of Colorado.

Valerie Sheppard has spent more than 25 years helping professionalize animal welfare staff, first as the head of HSUS' Humane Society University, the first online learning program in animal welfare, and then managing the ASPCApro's elearning and webinar program.

Valerie has been with The Association since 2018. She leads the CAWA credential program, The Association's Conference Committee, and our online professional development site, The Learning Center. She has hosted more than 500 webinars, and counting.

Valerie has a Bachelor's degree in Theatre from Smith College, and a Masters in Counseling plus a Post-Masters Certificate in Career Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.