Animal welfare nonprofit bolsters board to better serve the needs of pet lovers nationally

SAN ANTONIO, Nov. 14, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Petco Love welcomes new members to its board of directors, tapping a wide range of expertise to support its lifesaving mission. Petco Love is committed to shared social values and its diverse and inclusive board composition is a significant reflection of the unified values of its communities served nationwide.

Since its founding more than 20 years ago, Petco Love excels as a leader and valued partner in animal welfare by creating a better world for animals and the people who love them. In partnership with more than 4,000 animal welfare organizations and approximately 1,500 Petco pet care centers nationwide, Petco Love harnesses the power of love for impactful action to create a future in which no pet is unnecessarily euthanized.

New independent Petco Love board members include:

Antoni Porowski joined the Petco Love Board in 2023. Antoni is a New York Times Bestselling author, host and executive producer of Netflix's Easy-Bake Battle culinary competition series and the upcoming No Taste Like Home from National Geographic and Studio Ramsay Global, and star of Netflix's award-winning hit Queer Eye. A self-taught cook, Antoni is a four-time Emmy nominee for his role as Queer Eye's resident food & wine expert. Antoni brings his lifelong passion for food to Yummers, his pet food brand cofounded alongside Queer Eye costar Jonathan Van Ness and pet industry veteran Rebecca Frechette Rudisch. In addition to Petco Love, Antoni serves on the board of the Equaversity Foundation which was established to organize international fundraising to support the LGBTQ+ community in his family's native Poland and is also a member of City Harvest's Food Council, a group of top chefs and culinary experts dedicated to spreading awareness and raising funds to end hunger in communities throughout New York City. "As an animal lover, it's truly an honour to take part in Petco Love's incredibly important work," said Porowski.
Ame Van Iden, serving as Board Secretary, is a strategic communications expert with more than 25 years of experience in high-level entertainment, media relations, brand and cause-related campaigns, and VIP/talent relations. As a results-driven publicist, she has created awareness for client and philanthropic endeavors. She worked alongside Christina Applegate to launch Right Action for Women, a nonprofit that helped women with breast cancer testing, and served on its board for nearly 20 years. In 2016, she founded VanIden Public Relations & Consulting. Prior to that, she served as the senior vice president of talent at PMK*BNC for 10 years, and as vice president at Wolf-Kasteler Public Relations for 16 years. "I am committed to helping animals," said Van Iden. "Using my experience to help Petco Love grow and succeed is my goal and great pleasure."
Dr. Ted Mashima is the chief strategy officer at the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges. Board-certified in both zoological and veterinary preventative medicine, his distinguished achievements include being president and executive director of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Scholarship Fund, as well as serving as the associate director for the Center for Public and Corporate Veterinary Medicine (Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine), director of development for the Barker Adoption Foundation, and as a consultant to the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation. He was also the former VP and secretary at the American College of Zoological Medicine, and projects director for the National Association of Physicians for the Environment. "Petco Love's simple and beautiful mission is my mission too," said Mashima. "I desire to contribute, strongly, in whatever capacity my background and network can be most useful."
James Sloan, serving as Board Treasurer and Finance Committee Chair, brings over 15 years of private equity and corporate finance experience to further the mission of Petco Love. He is Head of Business Services, Direct Investments North America at GIC, a global institutional investor. In this role, James focuses on sourcing and executing private equity investments in Business Services and supporting and creating value for GIC's portfolio companies. Prior to GIC, James evaluated and executed private equity investments at CVC Capital Partners and Court Square Capital Partners in New York. He began his career in the M&A Group of Credit Suisse in New York and London. He currently serves on the boards of Veritext Legal Solutions and Lytx, Inc. He previously served on the boards of WWEX Group and Teneo and was a board observer of Petco Health & Wellness Company, Inc. "I am honored to join the Petco Love Board," said Sloan. "My lifelong passion and love for animals drive me to enthusiastically invest my energy and time to be a collaborative colleague and work hard to support all of Petco Love's initiatives."
Chris Sampson is currently the Head of Music Booking for Spotify. Prior to Spotify, Chris was the EVP of Programming at Superfly, a festival and events producer that is best known for co-creating Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival and Outside Lands Music Festival. Chris also worked at Red Light Management as an artist manager at the beginning of his career. "I am honored to support Petco Love's mission by utilizing my professional experiences and relationships in the music industry to help pets in need," said Sampson.
Anna Skaya is the founder of Basepaws, a pet genetics company focused on early detection, prediction, and prevention of pet diseases. In 2017, Basepaws launched its first consumer DNA test for cats. The company subsequently expanded its offerings to include other cat-focused health tests and recently introduced dog DNA tests. Anna prides herself on promoting feline health and products far and wide, including during her appearances on Shark Tank, where she secured an investment. In 2022, Basepaws was acquired by Zoetis (NYSE:ZTS), the largest animal health company in the world, with Anna continuing to play a pivotal role in guiding Basepaws within the larger Zoetis organization, focusing on bringing the value of genetic testing to even more pet parents. Before her journey with Basepaws, Anna co-founded the UK-based MyCityDeal, which later became a part of Groupon. She then transitioned to lead Groupon Russia, where she had full P&L responsibilities. With many years of experience in the tech and consumer pet products sectors, Anna loves to bring her entrepreneurial way of being to everything she does. As a member of the Petco Love board, Anna's dedication to improving pet health and wellness remains at the forefront of her endeavors. "Beyond my professional qualifications, my deep personal commitment to improving the lives of pets, especially cats, is a driving force behind my interest in serving on the Petco Love Board," said Skaya.

Other recent additions to the board include Petco leaders: Aaron Weiss (Senior Vice President of Vet Services; Petco Love Board Finance Committee), David Hallisey (SVP, Chief Communications Officer), and Whitney Miller (VP, Chief Veterinarian).

Petco Love Board Chair Justin Tichy expressed his confidence about the collective energy the new board members bring, stating, "These additions mean Petco Love is in a powerful position to leverage far-reaching change and take advantage of new growth opportunities to further our mission. Our talented board members' expertise, experience, and perspective will help us make communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier."

In addition to the newly added members, Petco Love board members include: Daymond John (CEO of FUBU and The Shark Group); Kevin Manion (Chief Financial Officer at Sunsweet Growers); Damien Harmon (Sr. Executive Vice President Customer, Channel and Enterprise Services, Best Buy); Tariq Hassan (Chief Marketing & CX Officer, McDonald's); and Susanne Kogut (President, Petco Love).

Petco Love has built a one-of-a-kind ecosystem to serve pets and pet parents—and is armed with increasingly rich data and a more holistic understanding of what communities need and want. In addition to investing more than $370 million to date in adoption and other lifesaving efforts, and helping find loving homes for more than 6.7 million pets, Petco Love's latest direct-to-consumer initiatives include:

Petco Love Lost, a national lost and found pet database which is fast, free, and easy to use. Using innovative patented image-recognition technology, one photo can help reunite a lost pet with its family. Petco Love Lost partners with over 2,500 animal shelters nationwide and can be used by anyone who loses or finds a pet.
Vaccinated and Loved, started in 2021, an initiative to end life-threatening pet diseases by allocating one million free pet vaccines to community-owned pets and committing to another one million vaccines in 2022. This program was created to increase the number of pets vaccinated for distemper, parvovirus, and panleukopenia, as well as decrease the spread of disease should these pets enter shelters.

To learn more about Petco Love's lifesaving work, visit petcolove.org or follow along on Facebook, Instagram, X, and Threads.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we've empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $370 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We've helped find loving homes for more than 6.7 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.

Contact: Crystal Bugary, Petco Love, media@petcolove.org

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SOURCE Petco Love