Board of Directors

Polly Elkin, President
John Thompson, Vice President
Laura Goff, Treasurer
Heather Bowker
Jaclyne Boyden
Brian Cooley
Lisa Doran
Kathryn Horton
Patty Jackson
Noelle Leca
Robin Rodi
Bruce Wagman

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Polly Elkin, President

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 San Rafael with her husband Ron and their dog, Angel. She is an avid reader, loves to walk Angel and enjoys cooking.

John Thompson, Vice President

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.

Laura Goff, Treasurer

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.

Heather Bowker

Heather is an Executive Coach and Organization Development Consultant with her own business in San Rafael. She has a Masters Degree in Organization Development from the University of San Francisco. Heather’s career in Human Resources and Talent Management consulting in Europe, Asia Pacific and North America spans more than 30 years. She moved from Europe to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1986, on a three-year work assignment, and never left!

Heather and her husband Dennis are passionate about animal protection and advocacy, supporting global, local and “grassroots” organizations for all types of animal—wild, domesticated and farm animals. Heather is a graduate of the MHS Canine Behavior Academy I and II, and has always wanted to get more involved in MHS activities.

In her spare time, Heather enjoys walking with her two adopted German Shepherds, tending to her vegetable garden, hiking, swimming, reading, and going to the theater.

Jaclyne (Jackie) Boyden

Jackie is a retired professional with impressive credentials culminating in positions as Vice Dean for Finance and Administration at UCSF School of Medicine and then Deputy Dean for Finance and Administration at Yale University School of Medicine. She is currently the Board President for the YWCA San Francisco-Marin. Jackie brings a wealth of business, finance and planning skills to the board and has prior board experience.

Jackie shares her Strawberry Hill home with Zoe the cat, adopted from MHS.

Brian Cooley

Brian Cooley is the Editor at Large for CBS Interactive and Association VP/Program Director at CNET.com. Brian and his wife Stacy have both volunteered at the Marin Humane Society. He brings great skills and ideas regarding technology, media and communications to MHS.

The Cooley household in Corte Madera includes seven cats.

Lisa Doran

Lisa has served on the MHS Audit Committee over the last several years and chaired the committee in 2011. She is a CPA with her own audit practice which specializes in nonprofits. She adds financial and accounting skills, especially regarding nonprofits, to the board.

Lisa and her husband reside in San Rafael with their rabbits Trixie Belle and Honey Bunny, Maximus the cat and Rufus the snake.

Kathryn Horton

Kathryn has more than 25 years work experience in the event/tourism/hospitality industry and is currently working as Vice President, Convention Events and Services at San Francisco Travel Association, a nonprofit entity that promotes tourism to San Francisco. As chair of the development committee, she brings her expertise in event planning and fundraising to MHS.

Pictured here at the 2011 Paw prints, Kathryn lives in San Anselmo with her rescue dog, Chloe, and spends time in Healdsburg exploring new wineries and cooking.

Patty Jackson

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.

Noelle Leca

Noelle Leca has held executive positions in operations, marketing, sales, finance, engineering, and product development with Sybase, International Network Services, Commerce One, and Genesys Telecommunications. Prior to her work in the software industry, Ms. Leca held a number of engineering and engineering management positions with Texaco. She holds a BS degree in Mathematics from New Mexico Tech and an ME degree in Chemical Engineering from UCLA.

Ms. Leca currently serves on the Board of Directors for San Francisco Opera, and on the advisory boards of Emerge California and the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Previously, Ms. Leca has served on company Boards of Directors for Babybacks Enterprises, Inc., a food franchise company; Optica, Inc., a technology company making interconnection devices for IBM' and plug-compatible mainframe systems; 1800wineshop.com, an internet-based wine retailer; Synchrony, Inc., a customer relationship management software company (acquired by divine, Inc.); and Vianeta, Inc., an internet-based medical transcription company. She has also served on the Boards of Directors of KQED Public Media* (Board Chair) and Children's Hospital Oakland Foundation; the Board of Trustees of Holy Names University; and the Community Advisory Board of the San Mateo County AIDS Program.

Robin Rodi, DVM

Robin has seven years of experience in veterinary medicine as a practitioner, hospital director and Corporate Vice President. As her children grew, she saw a great need for advocacy, fundraising, and policymaking in the public sector. She spent the last eight years in the public school system as PTA board officer, Chairperson of School District Parcel Tax Campaign, and organizer of multiple district fundraising efforts. Her interest in helping continue the success of MHS programs and looking for ways to reach out to our community make her a strong advocate for MHS.

Some of Robin's many awards include the 2009 North Marin Council Award for Outstanding Service to Novato Schools and 2008 Novato School District Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Bruce Wagman

Bruce is a partner at the Schiff Hardin law firm in San Francisco, and he practices animal law exclusively. He represents many animal protection organizations and individual clients in the animal law field. He co-authored the casebook used in law schools, teaches animal law at four Bay Area law schools, and is Chief Outside Litigation Counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF).

Bruce focuses on several areas of animal protection, including hoarding, captive great ape protection, the elimination of exotic animals from entertainment, and farm animal cruelty. He was involved with a case in North Carolina in which ALDF successfully sued two dog hoarders and rescued over 350 dogs from a life of cruelty and disease. He is on the board of Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest, which provides lifetime care for chimpanzees rescued from research, entertainment and private homes, and also advocates for the end to such exploitation. He was the lead lawyer in another ALDF case in 2006 that rescued three chimpanzees being abused so that they could perform in television and film, and putting the "trainer" out of business.

Bruce is owned by three dogs, five cats and one wife.