About Us Feral Cat Project Leadership
Lauren Glickman
Executive Director
Lauren joined Feral Cat Spay/Neuter Project in July 2009. She came to the organization with a long history of serving in the public sector and a lifelong commitment to animals. After completing a B.A. in geography at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, she spent two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in rural Nicaragua where she adopted Pepino, her first feral-turned-house-cat. Upon returning to the United States, she spent five years working as the Volunteer Program Manager at the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) Wildlife Center. It was in this position that she saw the vital link between helping animals and the application of sound professional practices. To strengthen her skills, she entered graduate school and received an M.A. in Applied Behavioral Sciences with a focus on leadership and organizational development.
Lauren then founded FORAY Consulting & Associates out of a commitment to bring professional consulting services to those working in the field of animal welfare. She has worked with organizations locally, nationally and internationally to help them improve vital processes and learn from their experience. She is a certified compassion fatigue specialist and provides compassion fatigue workshops for those immersed in the field of animal welfare so they can maintain a healthy and resilient stance.
Lauren has served as a board member and Fundraising Chair for the Chimpanzee Sanctuary Northwest as well as Crooked Trails. She currently serves on the advisory committee for Grey Muzzle.
Lauren and her partner, Keith, share their full house in Everett with two teenagers, four cats and two dogs.
Email Lauren at Lauren@feralcatproject.org.
Kathy Lapham
Executive Assistant
Kathy comes to the Feral Cat Spay & Neuter Project after a long career as an Executive Assistant at the Woodland Park Zoo where her duties included administrative work, event planning, marketing, guest relations,and revenue tracking. She also volunteered at the zoo's jaguar exhibit, and as a Wildlife Care Assistant at the PAWS Wildlife Center for 5 years.
Her concern and compassion for free-roaming cats blossomed in 2000 when she began managing a colony near her home. Prior to joining FCSNP, she spent 6 months caring for, and eventually re-homing a feral cat that had taken up residence under the administrative offices at the zoo.
Kathy and her partner share their home with a kitten-like 15 year old white Persian-mix cat, Scratch, and their 8 year old sensitive and outspoken Chihuahua, Bodey. In her spare time, she loves to play games, watch movies, do crafts, read, and write. Kathy earned a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies at the UW, focusing on environmental science and conservation.
Email Kathy at Kathy@feralcatproject.org.
Dr. Janet Gray
Staff Surgeon
Dr Janet Gray joined the staff of the Feral Cat Spay Neuter Project in August of 2009 as the staff surgeon. She came from the Humane Society of Indianapolis, where she spent the past 7 years treating and advocating for the shelter animals. Prior to that, she practiced at a family-owned small animal clinic in Indianapolis.
Janet grew up in Wisconsin, and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, with a bachelor’s degree in zoology and a doctorate in Veterinary Medicine. She spent her spare time as a vet student volunteering at the Dane County Humane Society (DCHS), in Madison, Wisconsin. It was while she was at DCHS that Janet was first exposed to the world of shelter medicine. It was love at first sight.
Janet enjoys sewing, gardening, reading, walking with her husband, and playing with her 4-legged kids.
Email Janet at Janet@feralcatproject.org
Melissa Graham, LVT
Clinic Manager
Melissa’s love of cats began in college when she volunteered with a cat only shelter in southern Ohio. She was quickly voted onto the board of the Athens County Humane Society, and while working in a private practice veterinary hospital, she spent all of her free time working with the cats at the shelter and raising awareness about the importance of spay/neuter.
In 2005, Melissa and her husband moved to the state of Washington, where she joined the Seattle Humane Society’s medical team. For the past four years, Melissa has been working in a high quality, low cost spay/neuter clinic where her passion for helping control the animal population has only grown! She also specializes in fostering cats recovering from medical and/or surgical conditions and those with special needs.
Melissa’s family includes her husband, Mitch; their two dogs Tucker and Koyu; and their cats Lars, Atari, Ash and Aflac. In her free time, Melissa enjoys traveling, hiking, and reading.
Email Melissa at Melissa@feralcatproject.org.
Rita Lafuze
Veterinarian Assistant
For many years, Rita LaFuze has rescued homeless cats, many with kittens that eventually were homed. Rita began her career in the veterinary medical world in the 1990’s at a private feline practice in Edmonds. Her keen perception of cat behavior and her deep compassion for all living things led her to become highly trained as a veterinary assistant.
Rita not only has experience with robust pet cats, but also worked many hours caring for intensively ill cats from all types of disease: cancer, renal failure, poisoning, infections. Her knowledge base is broad, yet her compassion never wanes. Each cat’s life is valuable and deserves the best care in her hands. FCSNP was lucky to add Rita to our team in 2006.
Board of Directors
To contact any of our board members please email board@feralcatproject.org.
Dr. Sandy Willis
President
Dr. Sandy Willis is a small animal internal medicine consultant for Phoenix Central Lab in Everett. Phoenix is one of the few privately owned veterinary labs doing blood work for all species of animals in the United States. She graduated from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine in 1984 and became board certified in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 1992.
Dr. Willis is past president of the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association and serves as a Washington representative to the American Veterinary Medical Association. She is co-host and creator of “Ask the Vet” radio show airing Sunday mornings on AM 570 KVI. As an internist, Dr. Willis’ particular interests are diagnostic testing and diseases of the endocrine system and the liver. She is passionate about educating pet owners to be the best health advocates in partnership with their family veterinarian.
Dr. Willis serves as staff for Bill The Black Cat, Lilly the Himalayan, and Tiger (you guessed it, the tiger cat). Dr. Willis’ hobbies are triathlons and cycling, the arts, wine
appreciation, and reading, the latter two hobbies preferably enjoyed with one of the aforementioned cats.
Lucia Glasper
Treasurer
Lucia is an employee of Puget Sound Bank/KeyBank since 1982. She is currently Branch Manager of The Holman Road Keycenter, located in the North Seattle/Ballard area. Lucia's interests/hobbies include sports, cooking and organizing.
Previous board positions and non-profit organization involvement include: The Ronald McDonald House; The Seattle Milk Fund; NW Burn Foundation; University District and Greenwood Chamber of Commerce; Business Networking International; and The Shoreline School District Advisory Council. Lucia is a cat lover and servant to M.J., her orange and white tabby.
Andrea Logan
Secretary
Andrea Logan is a contract paralegal assisting several local law firms in the areas of probate, estate planning and business law. Andrea has volunteered and worked for animal welfare organizations for several years. She has focused on adoptions, volunteer coordination, humane education, and spay/neuter. Andrea co-founded Pawsitive Alliance, a non-profit focusing on multi-group adoption events and spay neuter programs and education. She enjoys focusing her volunteer efforts on those populations most in need of help, including feral cats, pit bull breeds and dogs and cats in rural areas of the State. Andrea shares her home in North Bend with her husband, Joe, and rescued pets: Kenai, Roman, Ruby and Lucy.
Shelby Swanson
Director
Shelby has worked for the Bellevue School District as assistant general counsel since 2002. She learned about TNR in 1999 when she and her husband, Tim, adopted two feral kittens that were living in the alley behind their apartment in Japan. She currently volunteers with FCSNP at community events, educating the public about TNR.
Shelby and Tim share their home with several former free roaming cats that adopted them, including Slim, who is pictured here, and the two former feral kittens from Japan. Her hobbies include hiking, traveling, and cross-country skiing.
Betti Johnson
Director
Betti is a Program Manager at Microsoft and has worked in information technology at Fortune 500 companies for over fifteen years. She has a Master of Science degree from Clarkson University. Her undergraduate degree is from State University of New York in Potsdam.
Betti has rescued over 40 feral and homeless cats herself and believes spay/neuter is critical to reducing the number of homeless cats in our communities.
Advisory Board
- Aimee St. Arnaud, Program Manager, Petsmart Charities
- Christine Wilford, DVM
- Daniel Smith, Attorney, Millar & Smith, PLLC
- J.A. Woodfield, DVM, ACVIM, Northwest Cardiology
- Janet Fagan, Artist
- Jeri A Hastava, Technical Advisor, Leap of Faith Web Design
- Julie Levy, DVM, PhD, DACVIM, College of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Florida
- Rick Hall, Advisor
- Virginia Dalton, Seattle Animal Control
- Vicki Farretta, LVT