Ryan “Cowboy” Soulsby, RVT served as the Animal Control Program Manager in Butte County, California and has extensive experience in disaster response. Ryan has been the Animal Incident Commander for events such as the Oroville Spillway, Ponderosa, Wall, and Wind Complex fires in 2017. Most notably, he served in this very important role during the devastating Camp Fire that decimated the town of Paradise in 2018 and most recently, the North Complex fire in 2020. Ryan has experienced first-hand the importance of preparedness and the need for trained personnel within the animal operations. Ryan has specialized experience navigating the state resource request process to procure regional, state, and federal resources to assist the Animal Operations, and understands the importance of collaboration and the need for improvement in resource coordination. Prior to accepting this position with CalAnimals, he led much of our preparedness efforts on the CalAnimals Emergency Management Committee.

Stefanie Geckler is the Supervisor of the Animal Control Division at the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada City, CA. Stef’s newest endeavor is the Nevada County Sheriff’s H.E.A.R.T (Humane Emergency Animal Rescue Team), of which she is the founder and president. This team is a volunteer group run and fully supported by the Sheriff’s Office, that responds anytime a disaster is declared and animals need to be rescued. The building of this team, with the full support of her Sheriff, has been in her heart and mind for years and to see it come to fruition has been a dream come true.

Stephanie Amato is the Director for Yolo County Animal Services.
When the opportunity arises, Stephanie will take the time to share how much she and her team are so much more than “DOG CATCHERS’ who work at “THE POUND.” Advocacy and education are her prime passions: and she has been a huge source of weekly #PAWSITE MOMENTS on ABC 10 Morning Blend. This existing partnership has grown exponentially during the COVID pandemic, resulting in more animals finding their forever homes and helping to support local small businesses.
Her weekly segments featured cuddly puppies, buckets of kittens, special medical cases, donations, the importance of microchips and hot weather safety tips and frontline footage from local California wildfires. As part of their global Helping Small Business media campaign, GOOGLE included her phrase she would close with “If you’re ready to open your heart and your home, check us out (on social media).”

Karalyn currently serves as the Vice President of Operations for the East Bay SPCA in Oakland, CA. Prior to serving here, Karalyn completed two Master of Science degrees in Ecology and Evolution and Animal Behavior and has over a decade of experience as a leader in numerous facets of animal welfare. Karalyn has achieved her Certified Animal Welfare Administrator credential and has served on a number of national animal welfare committees, guest lectured to Animal Science students at UC Davis, and contributed to the development of the Shelter Playgroup Alliance guidelines for shelter dog playgroups and enrichment. Karalyn has served during response operations to disasters in both California and Florida and managed the temporary emergency sheltering facility for the Canine Influenza Outbreak in the bay area during the summer of 2019.

Bryan Bray, the Field Services Manager for Ventura County Animal Services, began his career in the Animal Welfare Industry in 2005. He has extensive experience in coordinating evacuation efforts during natural disasters and is currently a member of the Ventura County EOC Team (Emergency Operations Center). During his tenure, Bryan was able to obtain two (2) AKC pet disaster trailers and develop a livestock shelter supply trailer through a grant program. He has acted as the Disaster Response/Evacuation Coordinator during the incidents including the 2009 Guiberson Fire, 2013 Spring Fire, 2017/18 Thomas Fire, 2018 Hill Fire, 2018 Woolsey Fire, and 2019 Easy/Maria Fire.
Bryan has been a speaker at local town hall meetings, neighborhood councils and safety day events promoting disaster preparedness. He recently was a speaker at the 2020 CalAnimals Animal Care Conference for Community Planning in Disasters.

Shiny joined Marin Humane as the Director of Animal Services in April 2024. Before this role, her experience spanned across various aspects of animal welfare. She served in animal crime management at a national level and held positions in humane law enforcement and animal control in San Diego.

Additionally, Shiny was a member of the Emergency Response Team (ERT) at the San Diego Humane Society and the Animal Rescue Team (ART) at The Humane Society of the United States, focusing on disaster response and managing large-scale animal-related incidents. Passionate about education, she has also taught law enforcement around the country, aiming to equip both the public and emergency responders with essential knowledge and skills.

Shiny holds a master’s degree in veterinary forensics, along with certificates in wildlife forensics and conservation. She considers herself a lifelong learner, continually seeking new knowledge in her field.

Nancy B. McKenney, MNPL, CAWA, feels fortunate to have worked for a private humane society, a public animal care and control agency, an animal grant-maker, a consultant and now in her dream job at Marin Humane, which provides both humane society and animal services functions (and more!).
Nancy began a career in animal welfare and non-profit management in 1983 when she was hired as the Public Relations Coordinator for the Humane Society for Seattle/King County, a nonprofit humane society with a public boarding facility and housing contracts for the City of Renton. In 1986, the Seattle Humane Society board asked her to become the Executive Director/CEO, a position she held for 19 years.

Lori began her career as an Animal Control Officer at the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA in San Mateo in 1983 and became the Captain of Animal Control for the San Francisco Animal Care and Control Department in 1989. Lori currently works for the County of San Mateo, where she oversees the Animal Control & Licensing contract with the Peninsula Humane Society & SPCA, along with the all-volunteer Large Animal Evacuation Group (LAEG). Her disaster experience is extensive, spanning earthquakes, fires, floods, and hoarding cases, and including the Loma Prieta earthquake, the Oakland Firestorm, the Tubbs Fire, CZU Lighting Complex Fires, and the Caldor Fire – a sampling of some of California’s most devastating events.

John Peaveler is an animal welfare professional with over 20 years of global experience in the fields of animal control, animal population management, disaster response, and animal handling and capture. He began his career in 2004 rescuing dogs and building an animal shelter and wildlife sanctuary in Kuwait along with his wife, Ayeshah Al-Humaidhi, which they ran together for 11 years. He has extensive experience in international and US disaster and cruelty response as well as free-roaming population management programs. John has also taught animal handling and capture training around the world, with a goal of helping handlers stay humane in all environments. John currently serves as the Director, Field Operations, for Greater Good Charities, where he supports a range of operational programs.

Cherish has 7 years of experience as an emergency management professional, specifically in mass care, public health and medical. Prior to emergency management, she spent 12 years in patient care in two hospital systems in San Diego County.

She has worked for county and state public health emergency preparedness departments; And has managed and led disaster related programs and teams for nonprofits, county, and state government. She has responded to various disasters and emergencies in California and across the country.

Currently she is the Animal Emergency Response Manager for the San Diego Humane Society, an emergency management consultant, as well as a Public Health Advisor for the US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Region 9, Incident Management Team (IMT) under the Administration of Strategic Preparedness and Response (ASPR). Cherish also holds multiple certifications in emergency management and disaster response and is a certified ICS outreach instructor and FEMA indirect instructor.

Alana Weissman’s work experience has been with animals; as a ranch hand at a horse boarding facility, kennel attendant at a dog boarding facility, and veterinary assistant. She started as an Animal Services Officer with Contra Costa County Animal Services in 2015, promoted to Sergeant in 2019 and Lieutenant in 2021. In addition to supervising field staff, as a Lieutenant she supervises the County Animal Response Team (CART) of volunteers, serves as the liaison for the Office of Emergency Services and oversees the field services training program. She has firsthand experiencing evacuating herself and her pets from the LNU Lightning Complex Fire in 2020 and provided professional assistance at the Caldor Fire in 2021.

Brian Whipple is the Operations Manager of Sonoma County Animal Services with over 27 years of experience working in law enforcement and animal care. He has a passion for the protection and humane treatment of animals, as well as disaster emergency response and educating the public and those working within the animal care field from his experiences. Brian developed the Sonoma County Emergency Animal Response Plan in his current position and has been involved in numerous disaster response field operations including local floods and snowstorms in New Hampshire and Delaware, Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Katrina, Hurricane Rita, Hurricane Wilma, Hurricane Sandy, Lake County, CA fire response in 2015, Sonoma County fire response in 2017, 2019, 2020 and local floods in Sonoma County, CA. He was also deployed to the Camp Fire in 2018 and the Caldor Fire in 2021. He served as Incident Commander for the animal response to the October Firestorm in Sonoma County, CA in October 2017. Brian spoke about this experience on the national level at the 2017 National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs (NASAAEP) summit. In addition to his experience, Brian has several certifications specifically related to disaster and emergency response along with management and field investigation.