Kevin Kosik joined PAWS as President/CEO in September 2011. With a background in corporate banking and more than 20 years of non-profit experience, Kevin brings expertise in fundraising, volunteer management and leadership development to his role overseeing organizational effectiveness and resource development at PAWS.  A Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE), Kevin has devised and implemented annual fund, major donor, institutional and capital development programs and projects. He has held senior leadership positions at large non-profit organizations including serving as the Vice President & Chief Development Officer at the YMCA of the Central Bay Area, the Deputy Chief Development Officer & Director of Operations for SIERRA Magazine at the Sierra Club. He has served on the Board of Directors for The Emerging Artists Project, The Crucible and the Contra Costa Humane Society.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? I just came back from a long overdue vacation, so I’d have to say that perfect happiness is sitting on the beach, watching the waves and sharing quality time with family and friends. You have to make your own happiness and that means it can be found almost anywhere. We all need a little more happiness in our lives. I start with keeping the people I love close.

Pamela & Honey on the beach

In her paid work as a housing counselor for a nonprofit organization, Pamela sees that helping animals and helping people go together. Many first home buyers approach her for help because they are struggling to find apartments that allow animals. Others have trouble getting homeowner's insurance that doesn't discriminate against their dog's breed. And shelters in the areas hardest hit by foreclosures are struggling with an influx of pets from families who have lost their homes. Issues at the center of people's lives have tremendous impact on the animals who live with them.

This realization that compassion toward animals can't exist without compassion for people influences the content of Pamela's blog, Something Wagging This Way Comes. Yes, it's full of silly jokes and stories. But more serious posts describe ways for people to travel with reactive dogs, provide arguments for why puppy mills are bad capitalism, and even posit that someone seeking a dominance-based trainer might be looking for a way to understand their dog, even if the approach they take is misguided.

Pamela is the contributing Pet Travel writer for A Traveler's Library where she reviews books about pet-related travel. When she's not traveling with her dog, Honey, Pamela and her husband foster puppies for the Tompkins County SPCA.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

I'd love to live in a world where life is more important than commerce. In that world, puppy mills and factory farms wouldn't exist because making money wouldn't take precedence over the health and welfare of living creatures. People would live balanced lives that gave them time to treat each other and animals with kindness. We'd remember that relationships are more important than acquiring stuff.

Guess what someone is getting for Father's Day? We just made this for PL...

Give Fearlessly T-Shirt by sfcaste

Marcie’s professional background is Business Administration, but a hobby and passion for technology led her down the path of empowering online communities to make positive change using Social Media. She has developed Social Media strategies for both profit and non-profit organizations. She enjoys helping other animal welfare organizations voice their unique mission, and then share that mission with an online community thirsting to help their cause.

Her favorite quote explaining her philosophy on Social Media: “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” -Maya Angelou

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

My personal happy moments are when I’m home and my family of humans and critters are simply enjoying life with one another. I can’t even express how fulfilled I feel when my family is together, connecting and loving each other. It’s my most desperate wish that every person and pet on earth experiences that feeling.

Did you know that besides being about national pet adoptions, June is all about pride? In my mind, they are the perfect match. Why? Because my female feels a sense of pride when she shares with people that I am adopted. As a dog whose mission it is to demonstrate how to give fearlessly and influence positively, I feel a sense of pride when strangers appreciate my efforts. 

Love is a beautiful thing