Our Board is entirely volunteer, serving without compensation of any kind other than the reward of saving cat lives and making people lives better!
Annelle Baum, Founder: As a past President of the Seal Beach Animal Care Center, Annelle has direct animal welfare experience dating from 1988. She met and befriended the namesake of our organization and started a fund to continue her legacy which grew into our current organization.
Mitchell Cohen: After a long and successful career as a hospitality industry executive, Mitchell turned his attention to improving the lives of companion animals, volunteering at various shelters and organization prior to joining CatPAWS. He brings his networking, promotion and people relations skills to CatPAWS.
Robin Duxbury: A prominent animal activist in Colorado and beyond, her work through the ‘80s and ‘90s encompassed various aspects of animal abuse and exploitation from horse slaughter, to animal testing, protesting ‘sport’ prairie dog shoots and more. She brings an unmatched level of passion and commitment to our organization.
Deborah Felin-Magaldi: Starting as a foster care provider with the Seal Beach Animal Care Center in 2004, she has since been involved with various shelters and rescues prior to joining CatPAWS as a co-founder in 2010. Founding a successful manufacturer representative firm in 1992, she brings her business acumen and management skills to the organization.
Kate Karp: With 30 years experience in elementary education, specializing in developmental reading, language development and English as a second language in kindergarten through fifth grade, several years of which was spent in a rural community working with children of migrant families, Kate retired and then got a degree in journalism! She writes an engaging and informative column for the Long Beach Post.
Beverly Leifer: Retiring after a respected, decades long career with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol which took her around the world, Beverly has long been an outspoken and engaged animal care activist. She was a prominent presence in the effort to reduce pet euthanasia in the Long Beach shelter, presenting on multiple occasions to City Council. She brings her energy in networking and fundraising to our organization.
Chris Szchenyi: With decades of restaurant executive management experience, Chris bring real-world business acumen to our organization. Prior to joining CatPAWS, he volunteered with other animal care organizations, including a public shelter which had a distressingly high euthanasia rate at the time. His persistence and commitment even in the face of the heartbreak that can come from that environment, helped that shelter reduce its euthanasia rate.