President and CEO, Heather Allen
Heather Allen is President and CEO of HALO Animal Rescue and is
also the co-founder. She has held this position since
2001. She has worked in every position and has helped create
each element of its existence up to this point. Her job is
overall management of HALO's operations, fundraising and
strategic/financial planning.
Heather is a Phoenix, Arizona native. She graduated from
Shadow Mountain High School in 1991 and graduated from
ASU in 1999. She has a B.S. in Psychology, and a minor in
family studies. Her mother, Michel Herstam and Heather
started HALO in 1994, after working with a cat-only rescue that
dissolved. Heather also worked as an office manager at a vet
hospital for several years.
Married to her high school sweet heart since 2001, they are
proud parents of a son and daughter. Their family also
includes a menagerie of pets including several dogs and cats.
Heather feels fortunate to be able to mix her family life, her
passion for animals and also earn a living all at once.
When asked where she saw HALO in the future, Heather said, "I am
hopeful that HALO can continue to grow and grow to cast our safety
net further in to the community to help even more animals.
The needs are tremendous with 50,000 dogs and cats put to death in
Maricopa County alone. My goal for HALO is to grow and
partner with like-minded agencies in the community to stop the
killing of homeless animals and provide the services our community
needs to make it happen".
Co-Founder and Thrift Store Mgr,Michel Herstam
Michel Herstam is the co- founder of HALO Animal Rescue. Michel
was born in Michigan, but was raised in Phoenix starting at age
five. Michel was a graduate from Arizona State University
with an English degree. Michel worked in Corporate America
for 35 years as a customer service manager for Salt River
Project. This job fed her family of three girls, but not her
soul. So while working fulltime and raising a family
she dedicated her nights and weekends providing shelter and love to
wayward dogs and cats.
Michel began her rescue work while volunteering with Kitty
Love, a local cat group, in 1992. Kitty Love dissolved, but
not before Michel had begun to realize the extent of the pet
homelessness problem in Maricopa County and was volunteering every
weekend at the PetSmart Adoption Center and fostering hundreds of
animals in her home each year. In 1994 Michel's house became
HALO Animal Rescue Headquarters where she and her daughter
volunteered their time to HALO's operations which was much smaller
in scale than it is today. By 2006, HALO had a handful of staff
working full time from Michel's home to provide for the animals
that she selflessly gave her home to. In July 2008, Michel
finally got her home back as HALO moved in its first physical
shelter facility on 35th Avenue and Camelback
Road. Michel opened up the HALO Thrift Boutique in 2006 and
is the full-time mamager (as a volunteer), with all profits going
directly to the shelter.
Michel feels, "through respect, honor, sacrifice and commitment
HALO, can be part of the solution so that all homeless animals have
a loving home".
Shelter Manager, Karl Meinhausen
Karl Meinhausen is the Shelter Manager at HALO Animal
Rescue. He has worked in this position since 2009 and began
working for HALO in 2008. Karl does a bit of everything
around the shelter. He is responsible for all facility
oversight.
Karl was born in Germany and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. His
formal education is in Culinary Arts and he enjoys designing
furniture, going to the movies and attending concerts with his wife
in his spare time. He is an advocate for all animals and is
vegan. Karl is newly married and has a beautiful daughter. He
has two dogs and three cats in his family as well.
His hope for the future of HALO is for "one day, to come in and
have Heather say, 'Sorry, we are no longer needed, there is no one
to rescue'. Then maybe we can take a guilt-free
vacation".
Dog Animal Care Manager, Kim Zikmanis
Kim Zikmanis is the Animal Care Manager for HALO's dog
population. She has worked for HALO since 2005 and has been
in this position since she was hired. Kim oversees all
medical and behavioral care for the dogs in HALO's care and is
also responsible for managing HALO's dog care staff.
Kim was born and raised in Phoenix Arizona. She graduated
from Shadow Mountain High School in 1990. Kim was a manager
at PetSmart for several years before joining HALO's team. Kim
is married and has two children, a boy and a girl. Among the
family pets are five dogs and one cat. As a child, Kim was
involved in the 4-H program for dogs and wanted to learn all she
could about their care.
When asked what she loved best about her job, she replied,
"being able to make a life-saving difference everyday for animals
that wouldn't have otherwise had a chance at love".
Cat Animal Care Manager, Jamie Bonacci
Jamie Bonacci is HALO's Animal Care Manager for the
cats. She started out as a volunteer at age ten and has been
involved with HALO for the past fifteen years beginning as an
animal care specialist and working her way to the
management role. Jamie's focus is to manage the cat population and
the staff that cares for them, and is also the emergency cat
contact for all 13 adoption locations.
Jamie was born and raised in Phoenix Arizona. She graduated high
school in 2004 and has two dogs and three cats, all of them adopted
from HALO.
She is extremely passionate about animals and loves her job;
"I know we can't yet save them all, but I sure will try with
everything I've got".
Volunteer Coordinator, Danielle Miranda
Danielle Miranda has been with HALO Animal Rescue since April of
2005. She serves as a Volunteer Coordinator here at the
shelter. "I get to work with wonderful people that share our love
for animals and choose to share their time with us, to make a dog
or cats life a little better".
Danielle has known Heather Allen who is President of HALO and
Kim Zikmanis,` Animal Care Manager, since 2nd
grade. "Our entire life we have dreamed of helping
animals. While we were growing up, if any of us found a stray
animal or one showed up at school, we always knew we could take it
to Heather's house".
Her love of animals and passion for HALO's mission has
given Danielle the opportunity to truly embrace her volunteers and
all they bring. "The program is constantly evolving and I am
continually learning ways to strengthen and enhance what we
currently have. I feel like I have learned so much from the
volunteers and am blessed to work with such amazingly dedicated and
deeply compassionate people".
Danielle has been married for eight years and has a
beautiful daughter. She also shares her home
with four dogs.
While speaking with Danielle she expressed these thoughts about
HALO's future. "I see HALO as a vital piece of the life saving
puzzle to save animals in Maricopa County. I can also see
HALO growing in size but never straying from its original idea,
that each animal matters. We may not be able to rescue them
all but for the ones that we can, it makes all the difference".
Volunteer Coordinator, Guillermo Lopez
Guillermo "Grr" Lopez began working at HALO in October of 2009
as a Dog Care Specialist and now serves as a Volunteer
Coordinator. He often refers to the dedicated volunteers at
HALO as the lifeblood of the organization. "We can't do this
without them," he said. "The time they donate saves lives and
I'm honored to work with them to make such a positive impact in our
community."
Guillermo was born and raised in Phoenix and begins to shiver
when the temperature falls below 90 degrees. A self-described
jack-of-all-trades, Guillermo spent time in a variety of
occupations including teaching pre-school, delivering pizzas,
caring for adults with behavioral health challenges, serving wine
at a French restaurant, providing care for exotic animals,
processing insurance claims, and building sets for theatre
productions at Mesa Arts Center and The Herberger. He's been
a veterinarian assistant, an airline baggage handler, a carpenter,
a lighting technician, and served as a mechanic in the Arizona Army
National Guard.
Despite a valiant effort to avoid anything resembling a career,
once Guillermo began working with HALO he was hooked. "There
is so much to learn and so many ways to fight this epidemic of pet
overpopulation and unnecessary euthanasia…I can't stop until we're
not needed anymore."
Guillermo and his wife Kelly (who also volunteers!) are the
proud adopters of two HALO pit bull mixes (lovingly referred to as
the UU's).
Fundraising and PR Coordinator, Shelly Torkelson
Shelly has worked with HALO since 2009. As the Fundraising
and Public Relations Coordinator, she oversees all donations,
manages the direct mail program, organizes special events, and
keeps the media aware of the goings-on at HALO.
Shelly grew up near Madison, WI and worked at pet stores
throughout high school and college. She graduated with a B.S.
in Biology from ASU in 2007. After managing a furniture store
for awhile after graduation, she was very happy to be surrounded by
animals again. She has been a vegetarian for five years and
has a silly cat and an even sillier dog.
Describing her role at HALO, Shelly said "HALO saves a
staggering number of animals from local open-admission
shelters each month, and with very limited funding. When
people find out how much good we can do for so little, they want to
help support us. My job is to make sure as many people find
out about HALO as possible."