Board of Directors

Susan Atherton (California) | 2018-

Susan Atherton is a longtime animal advocate based in San Francisco. She is also the chair of Humane Society International’s board and a member of the Humane Society Legislative Fund board.

Atherton additionally serves as a board member of the San Francisco SPCA and on the board of trustees of University of California-Riverside as its immediate past chair. She co-chairs the UCR Student Success Initiative, a multimillion-dollar capital campaign focused on student needs and experiences. She also advocates for the University of California system as a member of the UC Fiat Luxe Alliance. As part of her commitment to making the world a more compassionate place for all animals, Atherton encourages the next generation of students to serve as inspired, impactful members of society.  

In her free time, she enjoys traveling with her husband, David, and their family and friends, whether it is watching wildlife on the beautiful plains of Africa or tasting incredible food and wine in Italy.

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Yolanda Berkowitz (Florida) | 2021-

Yolanda Berkowitz is the founder and president of Friends of Miami Animals Foundation, a nonprofit working to help save and improve the lives of homeless and at-risk pets in Miami-Dade County. She joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2021 and serves on the Human Resources committee.

Berkowitz, a resident of Miami, also serves on the board of the Miami Foundation, and has dedicated more than 20 years to the Guardian Ad Litem Program and Voices For Children Foundation as a volunteer.

She is passionate about offering her time, talents and resources to civic and social causes. In her free time, she loves spending time with her husband, Jeff, her stepsons and their families and their many pets! She particularly enjoys spending summers with family and friends in Maine.

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Georgina Bloomberg (New York) | 2017-

A competitive equestrian show jumper and dedicated animal advocate, Georgina Bloomberg joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2017 and serves on the Nominating and Philanthropy committees. She also co-chairs the HSUS Humane Generation committee, which engages next-generation philanthropists.

Bloomberg serves on the boards of the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Foundation, the Bloomberg Family Foundation and a number of equestrian-focused foundations and shows. She is the vice president of Animal Aid USA and founded The Riders Closet, a program that collects used riding clothes and donates them to riders in need.

A visit to an animal shelter in Florida first sparked Bloomberg’s interest in animal welfare—after adopting a pup, Bloomberg began wondering why so many dogs end up in the shelter system. Since then, she’s worked with the HSUS to end puppy mills and even assisted on a puppy mill rescue. She’s also volunteered with the HSUS in Puerto Rico, helping animals including dogs and horses.

In her free time, Bloomberg rides competitively and has co-authored four young adult novels about the equestrian show circuit. She resides in New York and South Florida with her son, Jasper, and their four-legged family.

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J. Elizabeth Bradham (South Carolina) | 2018-

A prominent animal advocate, J. Elizabeth Bradham joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2018, chairs the Finance committee and serves on the Executive and Nominating committees. She also serves on the board of Hallie Hill Animal Sanctuary, which cares for approximately 200 dogs and 150 cats in Charleston, South Carolina.

Bradham, who holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard University, worked in mergers and acquisitions at Salomon Brothers, S.G. Warburg Inc. and Rothschild Inc.

A native of Charleston, Bradham has served as vice chair of the ASPCA and is the past president of the Gibbes Museum of Art, the Preservation Society of Charleston, Social Venture Partners of Charleston and Charleston Animal Society. She resides in Charleston with four rescue dogs.

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Deesha Dyer (Maryland) | 2024-

Deesha Dyer is a philanthropist, award-winning strategist, on-the-ground community organizer and executive operations expert. She served as the White House social secretary during the Obama administration and is currently the Founder and President of social impact agency, Hook & Fasten. Dyer co-founded beGirl.world Global Scholars, an organization that empowers, educates and equips Black teen girls to travel the world. She was named Marie Claire’s new guard of women changing the world, the Root’s most influential African-Americans and profiled in Women Who Run the White House by Essence. She’s been featured in Vogue, Travelnoire and The Washington Post and written for Oprah Daily, Glamour and Lonely Planet. 

Dyer was recently awarded the Women of Excellence Award by the District of Columbia. Her book, Undiplomatic, debuts in Spring 2024 and she lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Wes.

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Carolyn Everson (New Jersey) | 2021-

Carolyn Everson joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2021. She is a senior advisor at Permira and was previously president of Instacart, vice president of Global Business Group at Facebook (Meta) and corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams.

Everson also held roles at Viacom, Primedia, Walt Disney Imagineering and Accenture Consulting. She serves on the boards of The Coca Cola Company, The Walt Disney Company, Under Armour, Villanova University and Columbia Medical School. Since 2013, Everson has been named to AdWeek’s “AdWeek 50” and in 2015, she was named to the top of Business Insider’s list of the Most Powerful Women in Advertising.

Everson holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and communications from Villanova University, a master’s in business administration from Harvard Business School and an honorary doctorate from Mount Saint Mary’s University. She lives in New Jersey with her husband, Doug, and has college-aged twin daughters.

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Caren M. Fleit (New York) | 2018- 

Caren Fleit is a managing director and global practice leader at Korn Ferry, an organizational consulting firm. With deep expertise advising organizations as they transform in the wake of digital disruption, she leads teams that advise executives and boards of directors across solutions, including culture change, succession planning, organization design, talent acquisition engagement and retention, leadership development, and diversity and inclusion. Before joining Korn Ferry, she spent the first half of her career as an operating executive, leading marketing and running operations at companies including Revlon, LVMH and Nestlé, in the U.S. and abroad.   

Fleit joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2018.  She chairs the Human Resources committee and serves on the Executive and Philanthropy committees. Passionate about animal welfare and protection, Fleit was one of the founding members of the HSUS New York State Council, now part of the HSUS Humane Policy Volunteer Leader program, and also serves on the boards of the Animal Care Centers of NYC and Catskill Animal Sanctuary.  She is also on the advisory board of HowIMetMyDog.com.  

Fleit received an MBA from INSEAD, a bachelor of arts from Johns Hopkins University and is a graduate of Columbia University’s Coaching Certification Program. In her spare time, Fleit enjoys hiking, horseback riding and yoga and is an amateur cabaret singer. She lives in New York City and the Hudson Valley with her rescue dog, Daisy. 

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Wayne S. Flick (California) | 2023-

Wayne Flick joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2023. A graduate of Cornell University and Boston University School of Law, Flick practiced law for nearly 30 years with Latham & Watkins in Los Angeles, before retiring from the partnership in 2019. While at Latham, Wayne was pro bono counsel to the HSUS and served on the Board of Prevent Cruelty California, the organization behind Proposition 12—the nation’s strongest farm animal protection law—enacted by California voters in 2018 and upheld by the United States Supreme Court in 2023. He is currently Senior Litigation Advisor to GoldenTree Asset Management, a New York-based global asset management firm.

Wayne received the Marin Humane Society’s Humanitarian of the Year Award for his team’s trial and appellate court victories on behalf of MHS’s seizure of horses from a notoriously abusive breeder. He and his husband, Bill, live in California with their rescue pup, Chelsea, a shepherd/rottweiler/chow chow mix who had been abandoned in a dumpster.

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Robert A. Greenspon (Connecticut) | 2019-

A graduate of Columbia Law School in New York who practiced law for many years (specializing in aircraft finance), Bob Greenspon is excited to help fight the big fights for all animals as an HSUS board member. He joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2019 and chairs the Audit committee. He also serves on the Executive and Finance committees.

Greenspon says he has always kept an eye out for animals, noting that he’s still traumatized by the ending of Old Yeller. He lives in Darien, Connecticut, with his wife of 50 years, Claire, and spends his summers on Nantucket in Massachusetts. His previous residences include Ireland and England. His civic activities outside of the HSUS include many years as a board member and chair of the Nantucket Atheneum (public library) and his current efforts as a board member of the Nantucket Historical Association.

He and Claire have two grown children, five rambunctious grandsons and a wonderful but sometimes noisy dog, Miles, who fancies himself a watchdog despite weighing in at 14 pounds.  

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Darrell W. Gunter (Pennsylvania) | 2024-

Darrell Gunter is an accomplished digital publishing executive and has been at the forefront of new technology initiatives at Dow Jones Financial News Services, Elsevier, Collexis and the American Institute of Physics. Since 2010, his consultancy firm Gunter Media Group, Inc. has advised CEOs from startups to large companies, as well as being an Operating Partner with TriArtisan Capital in New York.

He is an adjunct professor at the Seton Hall University’s Stillman School of Business where he teaches Professional Sales to both undergraduate and graduate students. He is a published author of the edited volume Transforming Scholarly Research with Blockchain Technologies and AI. 

Gunter is a graduate of Seton Hall University's W. Paul Stillman School of Business (BS Business Administration-Marketing) and Lake Forest Graduate School of Management (MBA). In his spare time, he and his wife Deb enjoy their fur babies, three cats, Shadeux, Milo and Boots, and their active Border collie, Rylee.

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Brad Jakeman (New York) | 2019-

Brad Jakeman is the co-founder and managing partner of Rethink Food, LLC, a nonprofit that increases access to healthy food by investing in new ideas and technologies. He joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2019 and serves as a member of the Nominating and Philanthropy committees. He also serves as co-chair of the board for The Center, which supports the LGBTQ community in New York City, and is a member of other nonprofit boards.

Jakeman previously held positions as president of Global Beverages, PepsiCo, Inc.; executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Activision/Blizzard, Inc.; executive vice president of marketing at Macy’s, Inc; and managing director, global advertising, of Citigroup, Inc.

He firmly believes that how we treat animals is a bellwether for how healthy we are as a society. Jakeman is a native of Australia and holds a bachelor’s degree in mass communication and psychology from Macquarie University, Sydney. He currently resides in Bridgehampton, New York.

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Cathy Kangas (Connecticut) | 2012-

Cathy Kangas is the founder of PRAI Beauty, a cruelty-free skincare company that donates a portion of each purchase to animal rescue efforts. She joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2012 and serves on the Nominating and Philanthropy committees.

A passionate animal welfare advocate, Kangas also founded the Cathy Kangas Foundation for Animals. Through its Free the Shelters campaign, the foundation sponsors free adoptions for shelter animals. Kangas is proud to have received the HSUS Compassion in Action award in 2012 for her dedication to animal protection. Kangas lives in New Canaan, Connecticut, with her husband, Ed, and their five rescue dogs.

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Sylvia T. Kaser, Esq (Washington, D.C.) | 2019-

Sylvia T. Kaser has extensive experience working in the federal government and joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2019. She serves on the Governance, Philanthropy and Finance committees.

Kaser has held multiple high-level positions within the U.S. Department of Justice, such as senior counsel for Counterterrorism Policy, Legal Counsel, Office of Law and Policy and prosecutor, in the Counterterrorism Section of the National Security Division. Kaser also served as general counsel to the multiagency High Value Detainee Interrogation Group under President Obama and was also a senior counsel in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division and Counsel for Appellate Litigation for the Solicitor of Labor. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband and two dogs. In her free time, she supports local and national animal protection groups.

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Adi Kumar (Washington, D.C.) | 2020-

As a senior partner at the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, Adi Kumar advises CEOs, governors and other senior public and private sector leaders on topics that include strategy, operations, technology and organizational effectiveness. He joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2020 and serves on the Governance and Human Resources committees.

At McKinsey, Kumar led the firm’s Global Public Sector COVID-19 response, as well as the firm’s Government Transitions Initiative, which he founded. He served in the White House from 2009 to 2012, where he oversaw the implementation of the $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and served as an adviser to the president, vice president and White House chief of staff. More recently, after the March 2021 passage of the American Rescue Plan, he served as a White House senior adviser on implementing the $1.9 trillion act. He has also worked on or advised three U.S. presidential transition teams, as well as several gubernatorial transition teams. Kumar, who holds an MBA from Stanford University, is an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University. He lives in Washington, D.C.

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Charles A. Laue (Kansas) | 2013-

Chuck Laue joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2013 and currently serves as chair. He’s also the former board chair and now board member of the Humane Society Legislative Fund. He also serves the Great Plains SPCA as chair, is the co-founder and board chair of Stray Dog Capital and Stray Dog Institute, is the CEO and chair at Companion Protect, a Director of GlassWall Syndicate, as well as a Vice Chair at Asurion.

Along with his wife Jennifer, he co-founded The Quinn Foundation and Ringo’s Fund, private foundations dedicated to building a more compassionate world for animals, people and the environment. Laue leads a vegan lifestyle and enjoys spending time with his wife and pets at their home in Leawood, Kansas.

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The Honorable C. Thomas McMillen (Washington, D.C.) | 2013-

Tom McMillen is the CEO and president of the LEAD1 Association (formerly the Division 1A Athletic Directors Association). He joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2013 and serves on the Governance committee.

Following a career as a professional basketball player, McMillen served three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Maryland’s 4th Congressional District from 1987 to 1993. He serves as a board member of Nexstar Media Group and as chairman of the National Fitness Foundation.

“My love of animals has added humanity to my life and empathy to my heart,” says McMillen, who also serves on the board of the Humane Society Legislative Fund and supports numerous humane foundations. He and his wife live in Washington, D.C., and care for a variety of animals, including dogs, peacocks, guineafowl, chickens and finches, all of whom they consider members of their family.

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David S. Niekerk (Washington) | 2019-

A dedicated animal advocate with a professional background in human resources, David S. Niekerk joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2019 and serves on the Human Resources, Finance and Audit committees.

Niekerk also serves as the board chair of Jewish Veg and is a major supporter of Seattle Humane. Before retiring, he held leadership roles in human resources at Honeywell Aerospace, Mobil Oil, PepsiCo and Amazon. While working at Amazon, Niekerk helped establish a dog-friendly work environment and bring plant-based options to all company restaurants. He is a U.S. Army veteran and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Niekerk’s philanthropic endeavors exemplify his ethics of responsibility and care toward animals and the earth. He and his wife, Elaina, currently share their home in Bothell, Washington, with three rescue cats.

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Thomas J. Sabatino, Jr. (Connecticut) | 2018-

Tom Sabatino, an attorney with nearly 30 years of experience as senior general counsel for global corporations, has long been involved in local animal rescue efforts in Florida and the Northeast. Driven by his desire to create long-lasting change for animals at the national level, Sabatino joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2018 and was elected co-chair in 2019.

Through the Sabatino Family Foundation, he and his wife, Joan, support charities focused on animal welfare, education and people with developmental challenges. He is also passionate about promoting public interest law and empowering attorneys to advance social justice causes.

Sabatino is currently the executive vice president and general counsel of Tenneco Inc., a multinational automotive parts manufacturer; chair of the International Center for Conflict Prevention and Resolution; a board member of the South Florida Wildlife Center; and a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. He and his wife live in Naples, Florida, and Bay Harbor, Michigan, with their Norwich terriers, Nigel and Peg.

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Suzy Welch (New York) | 2021-

Suzy Welch is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and TV correspondent with a lifelong passion for animal protection. She joined the HSUS Board of Directors in 2021 and serves on the Human Resources and Philanthropy committees.

Over the course of a career in journalism and business management, she has worked as a consultant at Bain & Company, written for O, The Oprah Magazine and appeared as a contributor on NBC’s The Today Show and CNBC’s Power Lunch. She currently serves as chair of Quadio, a social media platform for college creatives, and the digital home services giant ANGI.

Welch is part of a growing movement uniting several religious communities—Christian, Jewish and Muslim—that hopes to heighten awareness of the faith-based case for compassion to all animals. She is the mother of four children and lives in New York City and the Hudson Valley with her rescue dogs, Happy and Miley.

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