C.A.R.E. Board of Directors

PRESIDENT

Holly has been volunteering with C.A.R.E. since 2021. She is a Kennel Captain and is on the Fundraising and Events Committee. She has three dogs, including one C.A.R.E. dog that happened to be the first dog she walked as a volunteer. Holly has over 25 years of experience in fundraising and management, primarily with nonprofit organizations. Under her fundraising leadership for recent work with an international association management firm in Chicago, she helped nonprofit clients strengthen their major gifts program and expand corporate support for their annual conference and programs. Highlights of additional work include: As Development Director for the Southeast Region of Canine Companions for Independence, a national organization that provides highly-trained assistance dogs to people with disabilities, created and executed fundraising strategies that increased fundraising revenue annually by 6%-8%; transformed a Carnegie Library building into an active community cultural center; and served as an arts consultant to performing arts centers in Australia, including the internationally known Sydney Opera House.

VICE PRESIDENT

Gail started volunteering at C.A.R.E. more than 25 years ago—working in the kennel and walking dogs and then became a C.A.R.E. adoption counselor. She has taken great joy in finding loving forever homes for homeless dogs and puppies and bringing happiness to adopters. She previously served on the C.A.R.E. board with responsibility for community outreach, dog adoptions, and capital fundraising. Her full-time job is at a large nonprofit association, where she is in charge of governance and the board of trustees. Gail hopes to be able to use her skills and knowledge to contribute to the further growth and development of C.A.R.E.

SECRETARY

Diane is a retired chemist and proud guardian of two C.A.R.E cats. She has been a cat volunteer with C.A.R.E. since 2002 and an adoption counselor for 18 years. She has also served as a co-feline medical director, shift leader, and secretary on the board. She is currently on the Fundraising Event Committee. Diane loves to do research and attend seminars to keep up with the best practices in shelter animal care. She applied for, and C.A.R.E. was accepted in the Jackson Galaxy Cat Pawsitive program, using clicker training as enrichment and a way to socialize cats. Diane wants to help C.A.R.E. continue to move forward, keep up with the most current innovations in animal care and be a positive force in the community.

TREASURER

Mark has been a volunteer since 2012. He and his wife Barb have been involved in most facets of C.A.R.E. His professional background is in Financial Management (reporting, analysis, forecasting, budgeting, performance metrics, etc). Mark would like to continue to move C.A.R.E. forward as an organization.

BOARD MEMBER

Ruth has been a volunteer for over 16 years. Upon retiring from teaching in 2004, Ruth began volunteering with C.A.R.E. in Evanston and working in the pet care service industry since that has always been her major love and joy, working with animals. She has always had a pitbull and is a huge advocate for the breed. Ruth hopes to help shape direction for rescuing animals.

BOARD MEMBER

Kristina has been a C.A.R.E. volunteer since 2022. She is a Cat Adoption Counselor and currently serves on the Cat Care Committee and Marketing Committee. A native of Boston, she moved to Chicago in 2022 where she now lives with her husband and 3 cats. When Kristina isn’t volunteering at C.A.R.E., she works as a Senior Technical Product Manager for McGraw Hill where she is focused on building E-learning products for higher education. Kristina is committed to the continual improvement of the quality of life of all animals and hopes to have a meaningful and lasting positive impact for as many companion animals as possible.

BOARD MEMBER

Lexy joined C.A.R.E. as a volunteer receptionist last year. She participated on the Pet Food Pantry team as well as the Fundraising Events Committee. She is now Chair of the Community Outreach committee. Lexy is dog mom to her Chewy, a rescue hound/pit mix. In addition to C.A.R.E., Lexy volunteers with Building Peaceful Bridges, an organization that supports newcomers in our community. She enjoys yoga, walking outside, travel and time with loved ones.

BOARD MEMBER

Matt volunteers on the Tuesday morning dog team: walking dogs, cleaning kennels, and basically anything they ask him to do. He has a 7-year-old goldendoodle at home, who thinks that every time he leaves the house for C.A.R.E. it's to hold auditions for a companion for her. Matt started volunteering at C.A.R.E. in August 2022 and has been enjoying the animals and the people who make the place work -- helping them find good homes and taking care of them until they do. If there's a better feeling than that, Matt hasn't found it.

BOARD MEMBER

Cindy has been a dog volunteer at C.A.R.E. since 2023 and loves working with the volunteers and being with the animals. Her family has an 11-year-old terrier/lab at home named Peaches who they got as a rescue when she was a puppy. Cindy has always had dogs in her life. In her day job, Cindy works with groups and teams on communication and teamwork to build better relationships. Cindy wants to continue to help the dogs and cats every day as C.A.R.E. continues to grow and moves forward.

BOARD MEMBER

Karin has been a volunteer since 2010 serving in a variety of roles, notably as the Volunteer Coordinator since 2016. She has also fostered many cats and kittens, even two small dogs, and has served as a cat shift lead for many years and more recently as a dog shift team member. Her cats are C.A.R.E. alumni, one who was formerly a little feisty at our Adoption Center who quickly turned into a sweet lap cat in her home, earning the affectionate name “Sweetie Pie.” She is looking forward to expanding the work currently being done in volunteer management and working toward improving areas including volunteer recruitment, the onboarding process, ongoing volunteer training, volunteer recognition, and other aspects to enhance our volunteer program.

BOARD MEMBER

Born and raised on the North Shore, Angelica has always had a love for animals and community.  After trading city life for the suburbs with her husband and two dogs in April 2024, it didn’t take long for them to adopt a third pup, thanks to her time volunteering at C.A.R.E.

Angelica is the HR Director for a cannabis consulting company by day, overseeing around 200 employees.  She also brings nearly seven years of management experience from her time at Nordstrom.

A two-time (soon to be three-time!) half marathon runner, Angelica enjoys spending her free time with her dogs and tending to her growing houseplant collection.