Meet the Marin Humane Society
Board of Directors
Polly Elkin, President
Kathryn Horton, Vice President
Laura Goff, Treasurer
Grace Bransford, DVM
Jim Clark, DVM
Mary Denton
Dean Lehr
Patty Jackson
Robert Sanderson
Elaine Sichel
Mary Stompe
John Thompson
Bruce Wagman
Polly is a real estate agent for Frank Howard Allen and chair of the Dominican Advisory Committee and production editor of The Dominican Area News, the voice of The Dominican/Black Canyon Neighborhood Association.
Polly has always considered volunteerism an important component of her life, and that, coupled with her love of animals, made her position on the MHS Board a dream come true. She continually strives to stay abreast of the latest animal issues, including those relating to farm animals.
Polly lives in
Kathryn Horton, Vice President
Kathryn has over 25 years work experience in the event/tourism/hospitality industry and is currently working as Senior Director of Convention Events and Services at the San Francisco Convention and Visitors Bureau, a nonprofit entity.
Kathryn lives in San Anselmo with her trusty yellow lab of 12 years, Cody.
Laura is Chief Information Officer for the Marin Community Foundation (MCF). She joined MCF in 2006 after more than 20 years of for-profit management experience, including several years as a senior manager in consulting services with IBM. Laura is a CPA and is adjunct faculty at Dominican University of California's School of Business and Leadership.
Laura's off-work hours are managed by her two kitties, Lexie and Frankie.
Grace Bransford is a small animal veterinarian practicing in San Anselmo. A lifelong resident of Marin, she was raised in Mill Valley where she currently resides. Prior to veterinary school, she had a ten-year career in advertising and marketing in San Francisco. She volunteered in the adoptions department at the Humane Society during that time and that experience served as a springboard to veterinary school at UC Davis. She was also the Marin Humane Society’s first veterinary student extern during the summer of 1997.
Grace is active in a number of veterinary related organizations, serving on councils and committees for both the American Veterinary Medical Association and the California Veterinary Medical Association.
Grace enjoys spending her time with animals of all sizes, being a former horse show competitor and a previous volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center. Along with her veterinary skills, she is also a certified human Emergency Medical Technician.
She is a graduate of Stanford University and received her DVM degree from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. She lives with her partner Steve and their black Lab, Max, the official greeter at Ross Valley Veterinary Hospital. Two felines, Tex and Gris, also share their house when Max isn’t barking at them.
Jim Clark, DVM
Dr. Jim Clark grew up in Marin County before receiving his undergraduate and veterinary degrees from U.C. Davis. He began practicing in Napa in 1988, where he developed a special interest in emergency medicine. After relocating to San Diego, he established a regional veterinary emergency practice and served as a college professor teaching anatomy and physiology. In 1993 Jim and partner Dr. Steve Dana founded the Pet Emergency & Specialty Center of Marin. In 2002 he earned an MBA degree and relocated his family to Marin County. He completed a fellowship in emergency and critical care medicine at U.C. Davis in 2003.
Jim currently works as an emergency clinician and assists in the management of several emergency and specialty veterinary practices. He and his wife Tammi live in Novato with their two daughters, four dogs, one cat, and one mouse. Over the years Jim has served in a number of organizations benefitting both people and animals. He is currently the president of the Marin County Veterinary Medical Association. Jim has a strong interest in the health and welfare of all animals.
Mary is the Chief Finance and Administration Officer for Sunny Hills Services, a children and family services agency in San Anselmo. She rejoined the organization in 2008, having previously served as its CFO. Prior to her employment in the non-profit world, Mary worked for Bank of America in international syndicated lending and investment management and as a consultant with international banks and financial institutions in strategy, policy and business implementation in investments and financial markets. She has also consulted in the nonprofit sector and served on other boards of directors.
A California native, Mary lived and worked in both New York and Latin America before returning to the Bay Area. She received a bachelor's degree in economics at the University of California, Riverside, and holds an MBA in Finance and International Business from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. She also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Mary and her husband are both long-time cat lovers, and share their home with six rescue cats. They recently crossed over to the dog world and adopted Scooby, a Chihuahua-terrier mix, from the Marin Humane Society.
For many years Dean Lehr was known as the President and Managing Director of the Canterbury Hotel Corporation and Lehr’s Greenhouse Restaurants. Now responsible for Greenhouse Properties. Dean grew up working his way up in the family hotels, including the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley and Lehr’s Restaurants. Dean studied hospitality management, culinary arts and finance at City College of San Francisco, San Diego State University and Cornell University.
Dean is a proponent of sustainable business practices and is particularly passionate about causes that promote proper stewardship of the oceans. His love of the ocean lead him to become NAUI Scuba Diving Instructor and has published his underwater photographs. Here in Marin Dean enjoys Taekwondo with his two children Jacqueline and Kevin and is often seen hiking along the coast or on Mt. Tamalpais with his black lab named Shaq. Dean also has two Russian tortoises, Superman and Stoly. Having served on many boards and commissions throughout his career, Dean is thrilled to serve on the board of directors for the Marin Humane Society.
photo coming soon!
Patty Jackson is an established industry leader in the area of product development, marketing and advertising for the children’s consumer products and toy industry. Over the last 25 years, she has held senior product development positions at Hasbro, Zizzle, Tiger, and Wham-O.
Patty is actively engaged in community service. She is a founding board member of the San Francisco Bay Area “I Have A Dream” Foundation, and is involved in various autism awareness initiatives.
Patty graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Pennsylvania and has a Master of Business Administration degree from Stanford Graduate School of Business. She lives in San Anselmo with her husband Mark, teenage sons Chris and Jake, and their dogs Rebel and Jaja. In her spare time, she enjoys running, hiking, and rafting, and supporting her favorite NBA team – the Warriors!
Before retiring in 2001, Bob spent 31 enjoyable years in a variety of technical and management positions at Fair Isaac. During that time, Fair Isaac pioneered the use of credit scoring which is used worldwide by lenders to solicit new accounts and approve applications for credit cards, loans, and mortgages. The company grew from 13 employees to more than 1,500, and became listed on the NYSE. Before joining Fair Isaac, Bob earned a Ph.D. at UC Berkeley.
In retirement, Bob has participated in community activities, served on non-profit boards, and traveled, including several safari trips to Southern and
Bob and his wife Shirley have lived in
Elaine is an educator on the human-animal bond and has published several books on animal sheltering. She has been affiliated with MHS as a staff member, volunteer or Board member for over 21 years. In 1995, Elaine was named the MHS Humanitarian of the Year.
She shares her home with Pet Partnership alum Will, a 2 ½ year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback mix.
Mary Stompe
Mary is Executive Director for PEP Housing, a nonprofit organization that provides affordable housing for seniors. Mary has been active with the Marin Humane Society for many years. In the early 90’s, she worked as an adoption counselor. Today she participates in the Humane Society’s SHARE program, bringing her 12 year old Golden Retriever, Bailey to Kaiser Oncology to visit patients while they are receiving treatment. Recently Stompe received the Animal Hero Award from the American Red Cross for saving a dog running in traffic on I-80 near Sacramento.
Stompe authored Bahamian Potcake, a Dog’s Perspective, a book about her dog, Duncan.
Mary has a B.S. from University of Oregon and MBA from Sonoma State University. She is licensed as a CPA, Broker and Senior Professional in Human Resources.
Mary spends her free time with her dogs Duncan, a rescue dog from Abaco, Bahamas; Bailey, a Golden Retriever and Apollo, a yellow Labrador Retriever Change of Career Guild Dog. She also shares her home with a guinea pig and her son and husband.
John is currently President of The Animals & Society Institute which sponsors academic studies of our relationship with animals, teaches therapists how to intervene in the link between animal cruelty and human abuse, and provides templates for stricter animal protection laws. Before joining the MHS Board John spent two years volunteering in the shelter’s Animal Care department. There he saw the sadness of broken trust expressed in the eyes of discarded pets. At the same time he learned to appreciate the many ways that MHS goes beyond its basic mission of rescuing and re-homing animals to serve and enrich the lives of a wide spectrum of human and animal clients. He also recognized MHS’s uniqueness in its ability to reach beyond county boundaries to help animals in other communities, and to function as a living international classroom that teaches innovative practices to other shelter professionals.
John is a former investment banker and magazine publisher. He was also a cofounder of a small business investment company.
Two dogs and two cats, all shelter animals, infuse John’s Marin County home with spontaneity and joy.
Bruce is a partner at the Schiff Hardin law firm in
Bruce is owned by 3 dogs, 5 cats and 1 wife.
