*Meets the Humane Farm Animal Care program standards, which includes nutrious diet without antibiotics or hormones, animals raised with shelter, resting areas, sufficient space and the ability to engage in natural behaviours.

About

Who's Involved?

Program Details

Staff, Board and Scientific Committee

The staff, board of directors, and Scientific Committee of Humane Farm Animal Care bring extensive experience in the natural foods industry, animal science, veterinary care, and animal welfare to their work on the Certified Humane Raised & Handled® program.

THE STAFF

Adele Douglass, Chief Executive Officer, initiated the concept of humane certification for farm animal products in the U.S., beginning with her launch of the Free Farmed program for Farm Animal Services. Ms. Douglass now directs all programs and activities of Humane Farm Animal Care, including managing producer relationships and serving as media spokesperson. As a result of her years showing businesses how humane farm animal care can meet bottom-line interests, she serves as an invited participant on numerous industry animal welfare committees including for the Food Marketing Institute, National Council of Chain Restaurants, and Burger King. In 2003, Ms. Douglass was a keynote speaker at the Animal Welfare Conference of the American Meat Institute. She also serves on the Boards of The Center for Food Safety and the Center for Technology Assessment. In 2006, Ms. Douglass received the ASPCA’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

In addition, Ms. Douglass was one of the 15 winners of the 2007 Purpose Prize. According to Civic Ventures, the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that awards it, the Purpose Prize recognizes individuals age 60 and over who have “the passion and creativity to discover new opportunities, the experience to come up with practical solutions, and the determination to make lasting change.” In 2008, Ms. Douglass was chosen to be an Ashoka Fellow.

Prior to her positions with Humane Farm Animal Care and Farm Animal Services, Ms. Douglass was director of the American Humane Association’s Washington, D.C., office for 13 years. She advanced the organization’s legislative agenda to protect both children and animals, represented AHA at national conferences and developed tools to increase grassroots lobbying. Ms. Douglass gained her expertise on legislative matters as a staff member for former U.S. Representative Bill Green (R-NY).

Jackie Sleeper, Director of Certification, is an Honors graduate of Oregon State University’s Animal Science Department with a background in Animal Behavior and Bioethics. Ms. Sleeper has extensive on-farm experience with all the major livestock species. As the Director of Certification at Humane Farm Animal Care, this knowledge and experience has been serving her well as she works with the scientific committee, leads the inspector training program, and oversees the inspectors and certification process.

Holly Bridges, Co-Founder, established the Certified Humane Raised & Handled program® so that consumers can improve the lives of farm animals and choose more wholesome food. Ms. Bridges brings extensive experience in sales, marketing and business management to her role with Humane Farm Animal Care.

Monica Cochran, Staff Associate, is responsible for supporting outreach efforts for Humane Farm Animal Care.  Monica has a background in sales and marketing and has served on the board of non-profit organizations.

Ann Sparks, Staff Associate, is a public policy, public relations professional with over 20 years experience working at the federal, state and local levels in Washington, D.C. and Colorado. Ann began her career in Washington D.C. as a policy analyst for an agricultural economics consulting firm monitoring activities of the U.S. farm commodity sector. She went on to serve in the United States Senate as a policy analyst, legislative advisor and speech writer to several U.S. Senators and Senate Committees.

After leaving the U.S. Senate, Ann was a federal and state lobbyist for animal and child welfare issues. Subsequently, she has worked for both national and international non-provits where she developed and implemented public relations strategies and advocacy agenda. In this position, she was appointed and served as member of several national committees including a federal entity that analyzed national U.S. animal welfare and animal research standards. Ann has also served as Executive Director of a small philanthropic trust organization. Ann holds a BA in Public Affairs from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The HFAC Board of Directors includes members with experience and expertise in animal welfare, natural and organic foods, meat and poultry production and marketing, communications, public policy and financial management.

Karen Brown, was senior vice president of the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) from 1994 until her retirement in January 2009. As Sr. VP, Ms. Brown had overall responsibility for FMI's internal and external communications, issue advocacy, information and internet services, food safety programs, international programs, membership and field services. Brown managed the activities of FMI's board-level task forces and committees and coordinated the work of FMI's animal welfare advisors and infectious disease experts. Brown was involved in the food industry since 1969. Prior to her appointment as senior vice president, she was vice president, communications (1981-1994), and vice president, consumer affairs (1978-1981), responsible for the development of FMI's consumer affairs program. Prior to the merger of the National Association of Food Chains and the Super Market Institute in January, 1977, and the formation of FMI, Brown was a member of the public affairs staff of the National Association of Food Chains.

Brown has participated on numerous government and industry advisory groups including the USDA's National Advisory Council on Maternal, Infant, and Fetal Nutrition and the Center for Disease Control and PRevention Business Response to AIDS; and the boards of Second Harvest and the National AIDS Fund. Brown majored in psychology and special education at Salve Regina College in Newport, Rhode Island.

Adele Douglass, CEO, HFAC – see above

Jim Emerman is executive vice president of Civic Ventures, where he developed and directs The Purpose Prize and the Encore Leadership Network. The Purpose Prize is a $17 million program designed to recognize and invest in social entrepreneurs who are working after the age of 60 to solve important problems in their communities, the country and the world. He is also the staff director of the Encore Leadership Network, a group of nationally known leaders from the nonprofit, corporate, and public sectors, including academic institutions and think tanks and the philanthropic sector, who are helping establish "encore careers" as a new stage of work of personal and social significance in the second half of life. Prior to joining Civic Ventures, Mr. Emerman was the chief operating officer of the American Society on Aging, managing a 53-year-old organization which focuses on developing leadership and disseminating knowledge and skills to professionals who are facing the challenges of a diverse aging society.

Patricia A. Forkan, Senior Envoy/Executive Branch, Humane Society of the United States

Ms. Forkan’s efforts include coordinating The HSUS' 100-point "Change Agenda for Animals." Forkan is a member of the Trade and Environment Policy Advisory Committee, working closely with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Environmental Protection Agency advising them on the environmental provisions of free trade agreement and World Trade Organization negotiations.

One of Forkan's specific areas of expertise is the protection of marine mammals, particularly whales and dolphins. Under her leadership, The HSUS and other organizations achieved a moratorium on commercial whaling and the creation of the dolphin-safe tuna label. She represents HSI and The HSUS at the annual International Whaling Commission meetings and has also served as a member of the U.S. delegation to the IWC. Forkan has also been instrumental in the passage of many laws affecting animals in the U.S., including the Humane Slaughter Act, the Wild Horse and Burro Act, and amendments to the Animal Welfare Act.

Ms. Forkan has 27 years of experience in management, marketing, and international trade. While at the HSUS, Forkan has developed and overseen many programs and departments, including video, public relations, government affairs, disaster and state legislation. She served as an executive vice president for 12 years and served as senior vice president for External Affairs, International and president of Humane Society International. In that capacity, Forkan focused on international policy affecting animals, especially marine mammals, farm animals, and animal fighting.

Forkan received a bachelor's degree in political science from Pennsylvania State University in 1966. She has done graduate work at American University in political science and attended a special course for executives in non-profit management at Harvard University. She has been listed in Who's Who in American Women and Who's Who in America.

Carol Jenkins is founding president of The Women's Media Center and a founding member of the board of directors. An Emmy-award–winning former news anchor and correspondent who covered presidential politics as well as international issues, Ms. Jenkins leads WMC's online publication and its advocacy initiatives. As media and political analyst she has appeared as a guest and in debates on MSNBC, among other outlets. Her commentary, which she writes for the WMC Web site at www.womensmediacenter.com, has appeared in The Nation.com, Television Week, and other print and online sources.

Ms. Jenkins enjoyed a 30-year, award-winning tenure with several New York City news departments, including 23 years at WNBC-TV, where she co-anchored the pivotal 6 p.m. newscast. She was most identified with her reporting of national political stories, including from the floor of Democratic and Republican national conventions that yielded Presidents Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton. From South Africa she reported on the release of Nelson Mandela from 27 years in prison, and anchored and co-produced an Emmy-nominated prime time special on apartheid. She hosted her own daily talk show, Carol Jenkins Live, on WNYW-TV.

Carol Jenkins is the author, with her daughter Elizabeth Gardner Hines, of Black Titan, A.G. Gaston and the Making of a Black American Millionaire. The life story of Ms. Jenkins' uncle, the book was selected by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association as one of the best nonfiction books of 2004. She is an executive producer of the PBS documentary, What I Want My Words to Do to You, which won The Freedom of Expression Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003.

Barbara Kazdan, Director of Creative Initiatives for Generations of Hope Development Corporation (GHDC).The former director Ashoka-US, the US community of the global organization that selected leading social entrepreneurs solving longstanding critical societal needs. As the US Director, she selected and engaged leading social entrepreneurs in building a valued robust learning community in the US. Prior to Ashoka-US, as a social entrepreneur, Kazdan founded inFOCUS, an international primary eye care development program. Which helped medically underserved children and adults access affordable eye care in their own communities. Prior to InFOCUS, Kazdan founded the Houston READ Commission. This leading mayoral literacy agency became one of national prominence. It forged public-private partnerships to pioneer instructional strategies and transformed adult literacy services at 12 technology-assisted learning centers. Ms. Kazdan helped shape federal policy to direct literacy resources to community-based initiatives, organized an award winning literacy awareness campaign, established a 10 city demonstration project that became a national initiative and was appointed to various state and local literacy task forces. Ms. Kazdan has a BA from the University of Michigan and attended the Jones Graduate School of Administration at Rice University. In addition to being a board member of HFAC, she is a board member of the Media and Policy Center Foundation.

Andrew Kimbrell is a public interest attorney, activist, and author. He has been involved in public interest legal activity in numerous areas of technology, human health, and the environment. After working for eight years as the policy director at the Foundation for Economic Trends, Mr. Kimbrell established the International Center for Technology Assessment (CTA) in 1994 and the Center for Food Safety (CFS) in 1997. Mr. Kimbrell has written several books and given numerous public lectures on a variety of issues. He has been featured on radio and television programs across the country, including The Today Show, the CBS Morning Show, Crossfire, Headlines on Trial, and Good Morning America. He has also lectured at dozens of universities throughout the country and has testified before congressional and regulatory hearings.

Mae Mendelson, MSW, PhD, founded the Travel & Learn Company, which is dedicated to creating meaningful travel opportunities for older adults through volunteer services across the globe. Dr. Mendelson is also a professor in residence at Chaminade University, and is founder and director of the Intergenerational Center at Chiminade. Dr. Mendelson has many years of teaching and working with communities on intergenerational studies. She is also a national board member of AARP and former state president of AARP-Hawaii.

Andrew Rowan, PhD, chief-of-staff for the Humane Society of the United States, has 28 years of experience worldwide in public policy relating to animal and environmental issues. He is an adjunct professor at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine and senior fellow at the Tufts Center for Animals & Public Policy. Dr. Rowan serves on the Advisory Committee on Animal Testing for Royal Dutch Shell and on the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on Chimpanzee Sanctuaries for the National Institute for Health. He is the author of numerous books and scientific papers.

Ed Sayres, president of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, has 30 years of experience in both local and national nonprofit management, animal protection, and nonprofit boards. Mr. Sayres was the president of St. Hubert's Humane Society Animal Welfare Center in New Jersey, the director of the Animal Protection Division of the American Humane Association, director of PETsMART Charities, and president of the San Francisco Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Mr. Sayres is on the board of the Delta Society and the Society of Animal Welfare Administrators.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

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AWARDS

The Purpose Prize ASHOKA
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