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Board of Directors

Board Vision

Commitment, versatility and professionalism, all key traits in Noah’s Wish volunteers and coordinators, are richly engrained in the character of our organization’s board of directors.

After a difficult period of reorganization, Noah’s Wish remains firmly on its feet, ready to face the tasks ahead. We recognize that among of our many tasks will be restoration of credibility and trust. Throughout our history, the good times and the bad, Noah’s Wish has remained committed to its founding mission – saving the lives of animals impacted by disasters and mitigation of the impact through education.

Saving the lives of animals in disasters is still the chief priority of the board, which includes Roger Smith, Kevin Oliver, Gary Hardesty, Dr. Lisa Couper, Georgia Osborne, Ranny Green and Board Chair Amy Maher. Your board brings diversity from the fields of management, law, law enforcement, the fire service, veterinary medicine and journalism; and a willingness to use these varied skills to advance the mission of the organization.

This breadth of expertise is critical as disaster response for animals is at a crossroads – and where the future may lead is anyone’s guess. Opportunities abound, particularly in education and outreach programs, meaning we must prioritize planning and funding. And our objective remains: to be the partner of choice for government and private agencies charged with ensuring the welfare of animals in times of disaster. We have the expertise, equipment and volunteers required to answer calls in the time of need. No matter where the future takes us, Noah’s Wish is positioned to be a leader in the field.

Noah’s Wish is faced with a multitude of opportunities and challenges in these roller-coaster times. In order to meet our ambitious goals, establishing a revenue stream will be a top priority for Noah’s Wish. This means garnering grant money, making sure our message reaches potential donors, conducting fund-raisers and offering a first-rate training program for our volunteers and outside organizations.

As part of our disaster preparedness and mitigation program, we intend to develop teams of regional trainers to give Noah’s Wish a higher profile in communities nationwide, along with better utilization of the skills and expertise of regional coordinators. Through all this compliance with the National Incident Management System and Incident Command System training are paramount and were incorporated into Noah’s Wish Trainings in 2008.

While this isn’t a new Noah’s Wish, it brings a new attitude - a refreshing openness and cohesiveness. We acknowledge the tasks we face will not be easy, including restoring our name with animal welfare organizations, public-safety entities, our volunteers and the general public.

This will be accomplished with a signature style, not swagger, reflecting professionalism, leadership, hard work and experience. Because of financial and logistical realities, Noah’s Wish must concentrate its efforts in the United States and Canada for now. Not that we can’t be a good neighbor. We can lend a helping hand with technical support, where possible, but our focus must remain in our own backyard, which historically, is a fulltime job.

The reorganized Noah’s Wish has received compliments and thanks from all agencies it has assisted within the past year; they have assured us that they will call us again in should they be confronted with another disaster. We look forward to continuing to demonstrate our commitment to our mission, and to moving Noah’s Wish forward in a positive direction that ensures we will be working constantly to improve the standards of care for animals in disasters and to save lives and wherever we go through disaster response and education.

Meet the Board

Amy Maher - Board Chair
Amy Maher has been affiliated with Noah’s Wish since its founding in 2002. She started as a volunteer, became a regional coordinator in 2003, and joined the board of directors in late 2005. She brings a practical knowledge of the organization’s operations to the policy and procedure issues addressed by the board. A 1985 graduate of Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, she received her law degree in 1988 from the University of Notre Dame. After working for a year as a clerk for a felony trial court judge in Anchorage, Alaska, she returned home and began working as an Assistant State’s Attorney in Madison County, Illinois. In her career as a prosecutor, she has focused on juvenile delinquency, child abuse and animal cruelty cases. In addition to her work with Noah’s Wish, she contributes to her community by volunteering with a local humane society and serving on the board of a charitable organization that serves a variety of human social service needs.

Kevin Oliver - Treasurer
Born and raised in Northern California he made spending money by cutting neighbors lawns in the late 1950s for 50 cents a yard, but gas was only 23 cents a gallon at the time. He graduated High School in 1969 and started college right away, while many of his friends joined the military to support the nation's role in Viet Nam. He enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard in 1971 and spent the next few years as a Corpsman at various search and rescue stations in the U.S. Following his discharge from the military, he tried the nursing field, working in hospital emergency rooms, until he realized he needed to be outside. He started work with Pacific Bell in 1979 and has enjoyed a career in telecommunications for the past 29 years.

Roger Smith - Secretary
In addition to his responsibilities as a coordinator, he serves on the Board of Directors for Noah’s Wish. Roger brings 24 years of public safety experience in EMS, fire service and law enforcement, and is currently Chief Investigator for the Madison County, Illinois Coroner’s Office. He holds an Associates Degree in Administration of Justice with additional, advanced coursework and is board certified by the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators. He is certified by the State of Illinois as a Law Enforcement Officer and Firefighter II with Instructor certifications in those areas.

Lisa Couper - Director
Dr. Lisa Couper is one of the newer members of the Board having joined Noah’s Wish late in 2007. Lisa has been practicing veterinary medicine in El Dorado County California since graduating from UC Davis in 1986. She has an ambulatory practice and sees horses, sheep, goats, ranch dogs and cats as well as cattle. In 2007 she became actively in animal disaster response as a stakeholder in the California Animal Response in Emergency System (CARES).

Lisa and her husband Chris have been volunteers with their local Fire Department since 1987. Lisa is currently a captain and in charge of emergency medical training for the department. They reside in Latrobe, California along with their daughter Samantha, cats Tanu and Jagwire and horses Storm and Mister.

Free time is spent on photography, hiking the Sierras and on and off road bicycling. Lisa’s goals are to make sure Noah’s Wish is technologically ready for the years ahead and is compliant with the National Incident Management System; and that Noah’s Wish takes the opportunity to partner with other agencies (both public and private) to get communities prepared for emergencies; and works together with them seamlessly in the event of a disaster.

Ranny Green - Director

Ranny Green is a 35-year member of the Seattle Times staff, having served as a writer and copy editor. He is the outgoing president of the 600-member Dog Writers Association of America, an international writing organization whose members write about all aspects of the canine.

He is a six-time winner of the DWAA’s newspaper columnist of the year award and five times has been selected DWAA newspaper feature writer of the year award.
In addition to his daily newspaper regiment, he is dedicated to pet rescue, having been a working journalist and convergent volunteer for two weeks with Noah’s Wish in Slidell, La., immediately post Katrina. He also was involved in pet rescue work following the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Southwest Washington State.

He has participated in Pasado’s Safe Haven events in the Greater Seattle area and was one of the founders of Dignidad Para Los Perros, a group of a dozen volunteers (he met in Slidell) who conducted a spay-neuter camp and dog-rescue program in San Jose del Cabo, Mexico, with CARE Humane Society, in 2006. Green brought back 18 homeless Mexican street dogs to the Seattle Animal Control shelter on three 2006 trips, all of which were quickly adopted.

He writes pets feature stories for The Seattle Times and has also written for all of the major pets magazines in the country during his career.

He also serves as co-media center director at Madison Square Garden for the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show each February, helping handle the media credential and interview needs for 600 writers and photographers worldwide who travel to New York to cover the event, America’s second oldest continuous sports event behind the Kentucky Derby.

He and his wife Mary life in Tacoma, Wash., with their 9-year-old German shepherd, Andy, and 14-year-old cat, Dasha.

Gary Hardesty - Director
50 years old. Married with 3 adult children and 3 grandchildren, Gary works for AT&T and has for 32 years with many jobs including 10 years as an Outside Field Technician and 20 years as a Manager. He completed his Bachelor’s Degree in 1997 followed with a Master’s in 2001. He enjoys all sports and outside activities and has a passion to help others, especially those who cannot help themselves, this especially true of animals.

Georgia Osborne - Director
Lives in a rural area of El Dorado County, California where she is a self-employed as a family business manager, financial advisor and teacher.

Noah's Wish is a unique animal welfare organization dedicated exclusively to rescuing and sheltering animals in disasters throughtout the United States and Canada. Noah's Wish is a not-for-profit, 501(c)3, charitable organization.

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