Conference Speakers

Kelvin Alie
Kelvin Alie works for the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). In his role as Special Assistant to the Director of the Wildlife and Habitat Protection, he has responsibilities for overseeing IFAW’s sea turtle conservation efforts as well as whale watching initiatives in the English-speaking Caribbean. Mr. Alie is a conservation biologist by training and holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Forestry, a Masters of Science Degree in Conservation Biology and a Masters of Arts in Economics. Prior to joining IFAW, Kelvin served as an Assistant Forest Officer with the Forestry and Wildlife Division in the Commonwealth of Dominica. Mr. Alie, who is originally from Dominica, currently resides in Massachusetts.

Maximiliano Brandt
Maximiliano Brandt is the Member Society Development Manager for the Regional Office of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA), covering Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico and Argentina. He was born in southern Chile and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Behavioral Sciences from National Louis University and a Masters from Central Michigan University. Mr. Brandt worked 15 years for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Social Projects. Since leaving IDB he has worked for different non-governmental organizations, such as Apedela, Corporacion de Desarrollo and the Peace Corps in areas of entrepreneurship, capacity building and project management with grass roots organizations. He writes a column for several periodicals in Latin America on the subject of sustainable economics and organizational development. He is a published author of two books. He lives in Escazu, Costa Rica with his wife and two sons.

Bill Brothers
Bill Brothers graduated from Cornell University. He began his animal welfare career in Ithaca, New York as Executive Director of the Tompkins County SPCA. He went on to head two humane organizations in California before starting Animal Care Equipment & Services, Inc. in 1984. He created ACES to supply animal shelters as well as to provide training and consulting to animal welfare professionals. ACES has since worked worldwide to provide humane solutions to animal care and control problems.

Peggy Fischer Cattan
Peggy Fischer Cattan is the Executive Director and President of the Grenada SPCA Animal Shelter. The Grenada SPCA operates an animal shelter and an animal hospital open to the public six days a week. The hospital offers low cost spay/neuter surgeries and holds free spay/neuter clinics several times a year. Volunteer Veterinarians along with Veterinarians from St. George's University School of Veterinary Medicine help staff the hospital. SGUSVM rotate students teaching clinical skills and shelter medicine at the Animal Shelter. The GSPCA works with the Ministry of Health, Department of Environmental Health and operates as the Animal Control and Registration Center. The Grenada SPCA is one of the oldest Societies in the Caribbean serving Grenada for over 50 years. Peggy is a Certified Nursing Assistant and a graduate of CBM, Computer Business Management School of Texas. She has lived in Grenada since 1991.

Carlos Chacon
Carlos Chacon serves as the Education Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean in his current position with the World Society for the Protection of Animals. Prior to working for WSPA, Mr. Chacon has more than 20 years of experience in education. He has served in a variety of positions in Costa Rica, including school principal, guidance counselor, teacher, education manager for Apple computers, and coordinator of an educational innovation center for the Omar Dengo Foundation. Mr. Chacon has both a bachelor and graduate degree in Psychology from the University of Costa Rica. He also obtained a masters degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in Costa Rica.

Emma Clifford
Emma Clifford is the founder and Project Director for Animal Balance, an organization that provides spay/neuter services to the Galapagos Islands and the Dominican Republic. In collaboration with the Galapagos National Park Service, Ecuadorian government, non-governmental organizations, the local community and international volunteers, Animal Balance began organizing high volume sterilization campaigns in the Galapagos in 2004. Since then, Animal Balance teams have sterilized and treated 96 percent of the cats and dogs on the islands. The Galapagos project is now being replicated in the Dominican Republic. Prior to launching Animal Balance, Ms. Clifford managed and expanded the San Francisco, California SPCA's Feral Cat program, working with the government and local volunteers to achieve high volume, free spays and neuters of feral and stray cats. Ms. Clifford and her animals now reside in the Dominican Republic.

Dr. Gwen Davis
Dr. Gwen Davis is the president of the Puerto Rico Animal Welfare Society. She also serves as the veterinarian for PAWS' low cost spay/neuter clinic. To achieve her goal of finding homes for companion animals in her community, Dr. Davis takes on many roles within PAWS, including teacher, doctor, fundraiser and political activist. Dr.Davis received her veterinary medicine degree from Tuskegee University School of Veterinary Medicine in 1986.

Kevin Degenhard
Kevin Degenhard currently serves as Executive Director of the Bahamas Humane Society in Nassau. He was born in the east of England in 1952. As a child he brought sick and injured animals home and later worked for a country vet. As a teenager he was a member of the RSPCA, WWF and ISPA (now WSPA). At the age of 22, he became an Inspector with the RSPCA and worked his way through the ranks to Chief Superintendent, running the RSPCA Training School which maintains an Inspectorate of 330 officers. During his time as an RSPCA enforcement officer he spent 6 years investigating animal crimes undercover throughout Europe and 13 years investigating complaints of cruelty, including providing evidence in numerous courts of law. He has trained police and animal welfare personnel in the Caribbean and The Bahamas since 1990 and moved to his current position in 2004. His areas of expertise are animal protection law enforcement, training humane society personnel, developing animal care standards, and providing advice on animal protection legislation drafts.

Susan Desiree
For the past four years Susan Desiree has been an educator with the Humane Society of Dominica. She is a Dominican by birth and one of the two humane educators on the island. Ms. Desiree has helped to pioneer the concept of pet care to over 1200 children of different ages in schools throughout the island. Along her her co-worker Yola Touissant, Ms. Desiree is responsible for organizing children summer workshops that explore the bond between humans, animals and the environment. Ms. Desiree is a certified fitness leader and an avid runner.

Jennifer Dragotta
Jennifer Dragotta is the Assistant Director of Humane Education at the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). In addition to developing humane education programs and materials, she presents national and local humane education workshops to teachers and parents. She also presents classroom programs in New York City schools and to community groups. Prior to working at the ASPCA, Ms. Dragotta taught a year of kindergarten and second grade in New York City. She received her Masters degree in Elementary Education from Hunter College in New York City and her Bachelor of Arts in Communication Arts from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

William Fielding
William Fielding has been observing the dog populations and their care in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas since 1998. He has carried out dog related research projects for HSI and PAHO, in Abaco and New Providence, respectively. He has also worked on several projects sponsored by The Pegasus Foundation and IFAW. He has published a number of journal papers based on his research and is co-author of “Potcakes, dog ownership in New Providence, The Bahamas” published by Purdue University Press in 2005. He is member of the International Society of Anthrozoology and currently works at The College of The Bahamas.

Karen Green
As Director of Outreach for the Alliance for Contraception in Cats and Dogs (ACC&D), Karen Green manages the Organizational Partners Program, ACC&D website and e-newsletters, and other communication with stakeholders in animal health and welfare. She also helps with the day-to-day management of the organization, including fundraising, planning, and program administration. Previously, Ms. Green worked for Best Friends Animal Society as the assistant director of the national No More Homeless Pets campaign where she oversaw community program and consultation efforts and assisted with the development and management of the campaign. Ms. Green is a founder and board member of Petimage.org, a nonprofit providing high quality, affordable photographs and ads to animal welfare agencies in order to help them achieve their lifesaving goals. Karen shares her home in Portland, Oregon with two dogs and two cats.

Dellia Holodenschi
Dellia Holodenschi runs the Humane Society of St. Thomas Cat Café program, which helps control the cat population on the island. The Cat Café program works with local hotels and resorts to trap and neuter the cats living on their property. The cats are then returned to the hotel property where they were captured, and they are fed daily at a feeding station, called a Cat Café. Ms. Holodenschi, a former board member of the Humane Society of St. Thomas, spends her days working as president of Tropicana Perfume Shoppe and her evenings and weekends running the Cat Café program. She has lived in St. Thomas since the early 1980s and is a native of Romania.

Gerardo Huertas
A veteran of dealing with animals in the aftermath of disasters, Gerardo Huertas of the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) has spent over 20 years in animal welfare. A law graduate with an MSc in Biology, he works in Costa Rica as WSPA's Director of Disaster Operations for the Americas. He has been heavily involved in emergency relief work in wars and natural disasters all over the world, including war-torn Kosovo, hurricane-hit Caribbean, volcanic eruptions on Montserrat and earthquakes in Mexico. He led a WSPA team who joined the coordination team of the Military Exercise FA-HUM 2004, held in Panama in March 2004. This was the first ever participation by an animal protection organisation at this forum, involving military or civil defence representatives from 22 countries throughout the Americas and Caribbean in preparing and coordinating responses to disaster situations such as severe tropical storms, hurricanes and earthquakes. Mr. Huertas is also an advisor on animal matters at military drills held by the Conference of the Allied Forces of Central America (CFAC) and has trained the Argentinean army in animal disaster relief techniques.

Pamela Lawson
Pamela Lawson is the General Manager of the Jamiaca SPCA. The JSPCA is 105 years old and the oldest Society in the English-speaking Caribbean. The JSPCA provides low income veterinary care, free spay/neuter & veterinary clinics, works with the Ministry of Health on public health issues and now plays an active role in the country’s disaster preparations. Ms. Lawson left nursing to work with animals 25 years ago. In 2001 she became the General Manager for the JSPCA. She provides consultancy for the Jamaica Defence Force and the Jamaica Constabulary Force on their working animals and operations. She is married and has three children.

Dr. Yolanda León
Dr. Yolanda León is a Dominican biologist, with a BS in Biology from Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo, a MSc in Zoology from the University of Florida and a PhD in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island. Currently, she is a research professor at Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo, where she serves as the director of an environmental GIS laboratory. Dr. León is also a researcher and project manager for Grupo Jaragua, a non-profit organization that works for biodiversity conservation and community development in the Dominican Republic. Since 1996 Dr. León has been involved in sea turtle research and conservation in the Dominican Republic, and has been the country representative for WIDECAST (Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Network) since 2005.

Judith Liggio
Judith Liggio is the President and Director of Amigos de los Animales de Sosua, a non-governmental organization based in the Dominican Republic. Ms. Liggio, a licensed veterinary technician, has dedicated her skill and resources to establishing spay/neuter and outreach projects for animals from limited income families as well as owning and operating the first, animal boarding facility on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. She has lived in the Dominican Republic for 12 years.

Dr. Monica List
Dr. Monica List is the Veterinary Programs Manager for the World Society for the Protection of Animals Regional Office for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. She manages programs that include Pet Trade and Care, Population Management, Working Equines, and Tertiary Animal Welfare Education. Dr. List has a background in wildlife veterinary medicine. Her work experience prior to joining WSPA includes serving as a staff veterinarian for the Zoo Ave Tropical Wildlife Rescue Center in Costa Rica. She obtained her degree from the School of Veterinary Medicine of the National University of Costa Rica.

Sandra Monterose
Sandra Monterose is the Senior Director, National Outreach for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) National Outreach Department. She holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Animal Technology from Quinnipiac University and is a certified veterinary technician. She has worked at veterinary hospitals, and also was manager of a spay/neuter clinic. She served as an animal control officer for a 3-town region, and was the director of M.E.O.W., Inc, in Litchfield, CT. She serves as a board member of the New England Federation of Humane Societies and Animal Welfare Federation of Connecticut. She makes her home in Oakville, Connecticut, USA, with a bunch of cats and a dog.

Dr. Juan Carlos Murillo
Dr. Juan Carlos Murillo has worked for the World Society for the Protection of Animals since 2000 as the Veterinarian Field Officer. He has developed and led animal welfare projects that include stray control in Mexico, humane slaughter in Grenada and Antigua & Barbuda, and humane animal handling in Costa Rica, Mexico and El Salvador. He has participated in more than 28 humanitarian veterinary assistance missions all over the world, including the El Salvador Earthquake in 2001, the Afghanistan War in 2002, the Tsunami in Sri Lanka in 2004, and several hurricanes in the Caribbean. Prior to joining WSPA, Dr. Murillo practiced veterinary medicine. He received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine in 1995 from the National University in Costa Rica.

Patrick O'Marr
Patrick O’Marr is the Regional Director for the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) Regional Office for Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean located in Costa Rica. Patrick holds a Master’s degree in International Business Management from the Universidad Nacional in Costa Rica and a Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources Management from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. Prior to joining WSPA, Patrick served in the United States Air Force and as a Peace Corps volunteer. He gained management experience at Intel Corporation, Equifax and Amacai Information Corporation, where for six years he was the General Manager of a large data processing facility in Costa Rica. Patrick enjoys spending time with his wife and two sons and the family dogs and cats, and likes to jog, read and solve number puzzles.

Carlos M. Rodriguez
Carlos M. Rodriguez is an Emergency Managing Interagency Coordinator in the Department of Natural & Environmental Resources (DNER) in Puerto Rico. One of his current tasks is leading an interagency committee developing the State Operational Plan for the Managing of Domestic and Exotic Animals during an Environmental Emergency or Disaster. In addition, he has directed a federal project involving marine resources conservation and was Director of the Marine Education Division. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Mr. Rodriguez has a Masters Degree in Marine Sciences from the University of Puerto Rico and a Masters Degree in Education from New York University. He is a recognized professor who has taught at university courses in ecology, environmental sciences, marine biology and other advanced science courses. He has worked with different agencies, universities and non-governmental organizations to develop Local Action Strategies and Management Tools (included educational strategies) for the protection of Coral Reefs.

Dr. Guillermo Rosario
Since 2004, Dr. Guillermo Rosario has served as the director of the Dominican Republic’s National Program for the Prevention and Control of Rabies and Zoonosis. He was president for Latin America of the National Program Directors Meeting on Control of Rabies from 2004 to 2006. He has directed the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University Eugene Maria de Hostos. Dr. Rosario obtained his veterinary medicine degree from the Independent University of Santo Domingo and has a post-doctorate degree in Veterinary Public Health and Preventive Medicine from the Independent National University of Medicine.

Dr. Naomi Rose
Dr. Naomi Rose is the Marine Mammal Scientist for Humane Society International (HSI), the international arm of The Humane Society of the United States. Dr. Rose oversees marine mammal issues and programs at HSI, including the protection of marine mammals in the wild and in captive situations. She is HSI’s scientific representative to the International Whaling Commission Scientific Committee, where she focuses on the subcommittees addressing environmental concerns and whale watching. Dr. Rose received a Ph.D. in biology from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1992 and came to work for the Humane Society of the United States in 1993. She joined the HSI staff in 2004.

Dr. Kimberly Stewart
Dr. Kimberly Stewart is founder and director of the St. Kitts Sea Turtle Monitoring Network and St. Kitts country coordinator for the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation (WIDECAST). She also serves on the faculty of Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Stewart received both her BS (1998) and MS (2001) in Biology from Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia. She received a doctorate in veterinary medicine from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine in June of 2006 and is currently working on her PhD through the University of Illinois, College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Stewart's graduate research focuses on the health of nesting leatherback and foraging hawksbill and green sea turtle populations in St. Kitts.

Yola Toussaint
In 2004, Yola Toussaint joined the Humane Society of Dominica as a humane values educator. Her compassion for children has propelled her to become a passionate educator, often dressing up as a dog or a creature from another world in classrooms across the island to bring her message to youngsters. Together with her co-worker Susan Desiree, Ms. Touissant is responsible for organizing children summer programs and taking care of the animals which find their way at the Humane Society before re-homing them. In her free time, Ms. Touissant participates in national and regional pageants and fashion shows.

Marcela Vargas
Marcela Vargas works for the World Society or the Protection of Animals as Programmes Manager for Argentina, México, Central America and the Caribbean. She has a background in Mass Communication and Marketing, which she has implemented in different campaigns, during her 5 years of experience working with NGOs and 10 years working with the private sector. Vargas has experience developing campaigns to promote Marine Protected Areas in Central America and against shark finning. Since she joined WSPA, she has worked on whale and dolphin campaigns in the Caribbean and Central America.

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