Who We Are

Meet the Team

Click on our teams below to learn more about their work and their team members. 


Network Operations Team

The Network operations team manages the day-to-day functions of the Best Friends Network. This includes managing the email inbox, onboarding new partners, keeping the website up-to-date, sharing content on our social media channels, creating new resources, and more.

bfnetwork@bestfriends.org

 

Kayla and two dogs

Kayla Riding

user specialist                                   
SPDA network


Regional Teams


The regional team members are dedicated to helping the Network partners in their region be successful. These experts are your contact should you need assistance locally.

Pacific (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington)                                                               
pacific@bestfriends.org

Mountain West (Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming)                                                               
mountainwest@bestfriends.org

Great Plains (Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)                                                               
greatplains@bestfriends.org


Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Wisconsin)                                                               
midwest@bestfriends.org

Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont)                                                               
northeast@bestfriends.org

Mid-Atlantic (D.C. Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia)                                                               
midatlantic@bestfriends.org

Southeast (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina)                                                               
seregion@bestfriends.org

National Embed Program Team

The National Shelter Embed Program originated in 2011 when Best Friends partnered with PetSmart Charities to pilot Community Cat Projects. Through the programs, we placed Best Friends staff members in shelters to lead these lifesaving efforts that increased cat save rates dramatically. Today, the National Embed Program continues this same concept, placing Best Friends staff members in agencies across the country to work side-by-side implementing proven lifesaving strategies that will guide them to achieve no-kill status.

Agencies with the highest lifesaving gaps qualify to have leadership staff embedded at their agency for up to one year in order to lead systemic change and coach the agency in how to sustain new ways of working. These short-term, program-specific embeds are backed by a diverse array of subject matter experts and are designed to help partner organizations accomplish lifesaving outcomes that would normally take years in just months. 

If you are interested in one of these programs for your organization, please contact your regional team.


National Shelter Medicine Team

The Best Friends Animal Society National Shelter Medicine program provides customized medical support for animal welfare agencies across the country to increase their lifesaving. With a team of experienced veterinarians and veterinary technicians, this team brings years of shelter medicine and operations expertise to the movement. Opportunities include training and consultation on high quality high volume spay neuter (HQHVSN), comprehensive shelter medical consults, assistance managing disease outbreaks, and remote or on-site training and mentorship for shelter staff to help improve the efficiency of current medical programming. No matter the size of the organization or current veterinary capacity, this group can help shelter teams save more lives! If you are interested in learning more, please contact your regional team.


National Shelter Support Team

Best Friends Animal Society provides proven lifesaving support and training for animal control agencies through the national shelter support program. We help create and sustain successful animal welfare operations for all types and sizes of communities throughout the country. The national shelter support team offers several opportunities for agencies looking to improve their animal control and shelter operations, create an ideal balance between public safety and animal protection, and improve their agency's reputation through community programs. If you are interested in learning more about assessment, mentorship, training, or emergency response for your organization, please contact your regional team.


Shelter Collaborative Program Team

To expand our reach and increase our lifesaving impact, we strive to empower animal welfare groups to share their expertise. The shelter collaborative program matches shelters that are leaders in animal welfare (peer mentors) with shelters that are working to achieve a 90% save rate (fellows). Best Friends helps to facilitate these matches between shelters, works with peer mentors to create proposals, provides funding, and offers ongoing coaching to peer mentors, while they work with their fellow shelter partner to increase lifesaving in another community.

If you are interested in learning more about this program, please contact the shelter collaborative team at sheltercollaborative@bestfriends.org.