Meet Our Board

Friends of the Animal Shelter, like most non-profit organizations, is run by a Board of Directors. FOTAS' two part-time employees report to and are accountable to the Board. The Board sets policy and direction for the organization. It also oversees the organization's finances and fundraising.

The members of our Board enjoy the Board meetings and their interactions with one another. At our Board meetings, the input of each member is valued and weighed in a creative atmosphere. All members of the Board are uncompensated volunteers.

If you would like to be considered for a position on our Board, please send us an E-mail for more information.

Peggy Moore – President

Peggy has been involved with FOTAS since 1999. She was a college administrator in Weed, California before she recently retired. In addition to chairing the FOTAS board, she chairs the board of the Colestin Rural Fire Department. Peggy is writing a novel.

As if that weren’t enough, she has an 82-goat farm where she makes goat milk soap (Colestin Caprines Goat Milk Soap). She has two cats, a German Shepard (Ossian), an Akita/shepherd mix from the Shelter named Golda Meir, and three Great Pyrenees who are guardians to the goats—Meesha, Canis and Icey. She believes that she is part dog herself as well.

Julia Roupp – Vice President

Julia has been involved with FOTAS since 1996, when she first volunteered as a dog walker one summer along with her seven year old daughter. In 1997, Julia joined the FOTAS board for six years, serving as President for five of those years and recently rejoined the board. She has been the editor of the FOTAS newsletter, The Scoop, since 2001 and Emceed the last 11 Puss ‘n Boots Balls.

Julia and her husband Brad own and operate Abbott’s Cottages in Ashland, and share their home with two teenagers and shelter alumni Fred (orange Tabby) and Truman (Terrier mix - pictured here) Julia says she has appreciated the opportunity to volunteer in different capacities as the needs of her family and business have changed over the years.

Jeane Lind – Secretary

Jeane became a FOTAS volunteer in July 2001 by helping out at the Farmers' Market adoption booth and in the cat sick-room at the shelter. She has since been a regular volunteer in the cat adoption room, at offsite adoption events, at the Shelter shot clinics, and in the pet adoption flyers program. She joined the board in 2003 and became treasurer later that year.

Jeane has two shelter alumni cats, Duppy and Amber, who have traveled thousands of miles with her and her husband in their small RV.

Eliza Kauder - Treasurer

Eliza has had a life-long love affair with all things furry. She has been a volunteer with FOTAS for since 1997 as an adoption counselor, team captain, poster pinner-upper, dog washer, and even did the layout for “Scoop” for 6 years.

Eliza and her husband, Brad, live in Ashland with their black lab/moose mix named Phoebe (nickname: Feed Me) and a forever-kitten named Shira. And there’s always the possibility of coming home with a new furry member of the family every time Eliza volunteers at the Shelter. Eliza and Brad are known for their prize-winning Puss ‘n’ Boots costumes!

Professionally, Eliza is a senior-level manager at a financial services company.

Sara Johnson – Member at Large

Sara started volunteering for the animals in the early 1980s with the San Francisco SPCA, and since moving to Ashland in 1987 has volunteered and served on boards of two other animal welfare non-profits before joining the FOTAS board. She has been a volunteer with FOTAS since 1997. She also had a long career as a Certified Public Accountant, and is finally (almost) retired.

Sara’s home and heart is currently shared with border collie mix Jane and two cats, all rescues.

Jeani Kimball – Member at Large

Jeani has been a devoted FOTAS volunteer since 2002. She began working one day a week in the cat room, but soon found herself at the Shelter three days a week—and loving it! Jeani is an invaluable resource for the board, as she gets to experience the day-to-day workings at the Shelter. She regularly fosters dogs, cats and kittens.

Jeani shares her home with her husband Jon and cat Misty. Misty is a shelter alumnus who, at five months old had no social skills. And grooming?—not even in her vocabulary! Jeani taught her to become a "normal" cat—even teaching her to talk by talking (meowing) to her! Jeani has learned a lot from Misty, but still loves to go to the shelter to be with "regular" cats.

Colleen Macuk – Member at Large

Colleen is the Shelter manager and has been working with FOTAS since its inception in 1990. Her place on the board "assures open communications and the kind of understandings that has made our relationship so successful."

Colleen is owned by Bubba, a Shar-pei mix that she saved from parvo and Kya, a 6-year-old Australian Shepherd mix who is completely deaf and partially blind. In an amazing show of restraint, these are Colleen’s only two pets, and she says that "unless I am willing to trade my husband for more pets, they will be our only two for a while."

Maria Kelly – Member at Large

Maria is a former DJ at Jefferson Public Radio and manages her own performing arts production company, Maria Kelly Productions.

Maria adopted a puppy from a litter that a volunteer was fostering and wanted to know if there was anything that she could do, even though she had limited time. The volunteer suggested she join the Board where she could do something about the homeless animal situation, something that Maria is very passionate about. Maria also sponsors pet of the week ads on the FOTAS website and is a consultant for our media and marketing programs.

Marnie Norvell – Member at Large

Marnie joined FOTAS in 1998 after moving to Ashland from Arcadia, California. She is a former teacher and was an adoption counselor at the Pasadena Humane Society for many years. Marnie helps enforce the Shelter's spay/neuter program by counseling people who have adopted a pet but failed to comply with their spay/neuter contract.

Marnie and her husband Pete share their home with three rescued dogs, Duffy, Annie and Willie. Her interests are family, animals, tennis walking, reading, rafting, and theater.

Seth Adleman – Member at Large

Seth has been involved with FOTAS since the 2002. He has been involved in parades, shot clinics, Puss 'n Boots, and he helped turn the Neuter Before Adoption Program from a dream into a reality. He is a former grant writer for FOTAS, and he obtained a $5,000 grant to improve the dog kennels. Seth is the mastermind behind the design of the Mozart Room at the Shelter.

Seth shares his home with his two dogs-Maggie, an ex-New Yorker, and Peanut, who comes from the Shelter.

Jan Vidmar – Member at Large

Jan, a retired Special Education teacher from Alaska, became a FOTAS volunteer because she missed being with cats and dogs. She and husband David had been cruising aboard their sailboat since 1993, and therefore were unable to have a pet.

Jan’s dog walking quickly turned into a passion for the Shelter’s critters, and FOTAS. When Jan first started to volunteer, she promised her husband that no animals would come home. However, they now share their home with tabby Darwin, a Shelter alumnus cat.

Barbara Talbert – Member at Large

After 15 years in continuing education administration at Southern Oregon University (SOU), Barbara resigned from (SOU) so that she and her husband could spend a year traveling to all 49 states in their van. They also flew to Hawaii (where Barbara grew up) to make it 50 states in one year, and then rafted the Colorado River for 16 days through the Grand Canyon. When they returned to Ashland, Barbara started walking dogs at the shelter in August 2008 and got hooked as a FOTAS volunteer. She keeps the adoptable dogs updated on the Petfinder.com website, fosters dogs who need a break the shelter, and is one of the volunteers who regularly uses e-mail to inform the dog volunteers about the canine comings and goings at the shelter. When she’s not hanging out with dogs, Barbara volunteers her time in the community to work on projects related to continuing education, recycling, climate change, and sustainability.

Barbara lives in Ashland with her husband Kevin and her dog Chaco, a Chesapeake Bay retriever mix, who was adopted from the shelter in August 2008. All three of them enjoy walking, hiking, camping, rafting, and enjoying the outdoors together.