Our team at Nuzzles & Co is committed to a world where every dog and cat has a loving home, and we will keep working until Utah – and the entire United States – is no-kill. That is our mission every single day. We are grateful for our organization’s leaders and for the countless volunteers and staff who work toward a loving, no-kill world each and every day, one rescue pet at a time.

BOARD MEMBERS

President: Beth Lopez
Vice President: Wendy Lavitt
Board Secretary: Lauren Jolly
Treasurer: Valerie Butt
Arienne Bistany
Katie Clawson
Olivia D’Agostino
Matt Day
Mary Ann Detmering
Liz Jonas
Sally Nadler
Jen Schumacher

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Executive Director: Leslie Barcus
Medical Director: Alyssa Hughes, DVM
Creative Director: Beth Lopez
Director of Intake and Community Outreach: Darrell McCurtain
Purple Paw Program Director: Claire Desilets
Executive Assistant: Elysa Hellermann

MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS

Beth Lopez, President

Beth is a writer and creative director in the advertising industry. She’s worked for giant global corporations and small businesses and everything in between, helping them with branding, websites, ad campaigns, scripts, and social media. She joined the Nuzzles board because she wanted to be part of the solution, saving thousands of animals by thinking strategically and helping to lead a full-scale rescue (rather than rescuing one at a time, which she also does!). Beth helps a lot with Nuzzles’ fundraising event planning, our newsletter, strategizing our social media plan, creating things like donor information packets, signage, and merch design—anything that needs a little creative help. Her once-in-a-lifetime soul pet is her cat, Lucy, but don’t tell her other cats this!

Wendy Lavitt, Vice President

Before 1990, Wendy was a volunteer at ASPCA at New York City, and in 1990, she joined 12 founding members of the Summit County Friends of Animals which eventually became Nuzzles. She joined Julie Morgan as Co-President of the organization. Because there wasn’t a shelter in Summit County, their first job was to convince the Summit County Council to build a shelter which they did in Hoytsville. After that, the Tanger Outlet Mall gave the organization an adoption area, and they were on their way. A few years later, the organization was given land in Peoa for what became the ranch. During that period, Wendy was hands-on with events and started the Gala, which provided needed funds for the animal rescue. Now her main role is fundraising and advising the President of the Board when asked about our history. Recently, she has convinced three wonderful people to join our board – Mary Ann Demtering, Liz Jonas, and Jennifer Schumacher.

Wendy’s professional career included writing six books and various calendars on American Folk Art for Kanopf, Abbeville Press, and Gib Smith in Utah. She also wrote about 100 articles for magazines such as Dolls Magazine, Savvy, House Beautiful, Salt Lake City Magazine, Park City Magazine, and The American Folk Art Magazine. She lectured and guest curated various exhibits throughout the country including two shows at The Kimball Art Center on Pictorial Quilts and American Folk Dolls.

Valerie Butt, Treasurer

Valerie has spent her professional career in various leadership roles in Risk Management and Insurance. Currently, she is Zurich North America’s Head of Customer Strategy, where she is responsible for leading a team to deliver a best-in-class customer relationship model for Fortune 500 companies. Her roles throughout her career span various functions including operations, underwriting and marketing. She has extensive international experience including being the Global Head of Customer, Distribution and Marketing for Zurich. She was named one of the ‘Women to Watch’ by Business Insurance Magazine and pioneered women’s event for networking and development of female executives in the insurance industry.

Her prior board experience includes serving on the American Cancer Society, Dress for Success, and the Partnership for College Completion boards.

She holds a bachelors degree and an MBA in finance and risk management (Valedictorian) from the University of Georgia.

Valerie’s passion is utilizing her strategic business skills to help shelters improve the lives of animals and the people who love them. She has worked in shelters around the world and is currently the Treasurer of Nuzzles. She also at any given time has a litter of foster kittens running around her house.

Valerie’s soul animal is her current cat Pirate, a one-eyed calico that was found on the streets of Chicago. Pirate is chill yet tenacious when she needs to be…kind of like Valerie!

Arienne Bistany

Arienne was in Residential Real Estate in the Boston area for over 20 years. She managed, leased, and oversaw capital improvements for over 100 residential units in Boston. She retired in 2022. When she came to Park City of course she looked for the local animal rescue just because she always wants to know what rescue resources are available in the communities where she resides. Arienne actually found out about Nuzzles during her time at a Park Silly day. Once she learned about Nuzzles, she went for a tour with her family and to meet some of the animals they had at the time. What has inspired her to serve on the board is to hopefully be able to provide assistance in the areas that she has the most knowledge concerning animals into new homes. Arienne understands what it takes to rescue, care and transition animals to the right homes, therefore she hopes to help continue Nuzzles success and support in all those areas involved.

Arienne is new to the board, therefore she has been listening and observing on calls. She is an operator by trade and looks forward to learning the current operations and processes. She feels once she gets a handle on that, she will have more input for the future. She has had so many soul pets, but her current soul pet is her dog Buster. He is a Shepherd mix. He had a terrible start to life; his legs were tied together when he was just a puppy and he endured so much abuse, which resulted in an amputation of the left leg. He was fearful, timid (still hides behind her sometimes) and most of all, needed time to adjust. It took them two years till he was comfortable with strangers. It took professional training, consistency and most of all, time. He needed Arienne by his side to make his transition a success. He is now 13. They have spent all their time together, alongside his two other rescued siblings. He knows when she brings in another dog, he needs to help support their transition as the ones before did with him. He’s a great leader, protector and most of all a loving dog to Arienne and her other pets. He has inspired many, especially her. Arienne can’t wait for the team at Nuzzles to meet him this winter.

Katie Clawson, DVM

Katie Clawson graduated from veterinary school in 2019 and immediately started working for Powder Paws in Park City. She has since grown from what people commonly refer to as a “baby vet” to the hospital’s medical director in a relatively short amount of time.

Quite simply put, Katie was born to be a veterinarian and advocate for animals. She grew up in Rockford, IL, with her amazing and culturally diverse family. She was lucky enough that her parents indulged her love for animals and for animal rescue from a very young age. Her mom loves to tell stories of Katie explaining to her, without a doubt in her mind what she would do with her life at the very mature age of 3 years old. She also loves to tell a specific story of being late to the airport for a vacation flight because she was outside in the dead of winter rescuing an injured squirrel that was stuck on the top of the frozen creek on their property. That type of tenacity and dedication has followed Katie through into adulthood and her career.

Katie loves what she does, not only because caring for animals is her life’s purpose, but she also genuinely loves working with people as well. The human bond is one of the most incredible experiences to witness first hand and be a part of.

Matt Day

Matt has been a board member of Nuzzles for over 10 years. Matt lives in Old Town with his wife and two young boys in a home full of Nuzzles rescues: Luna, Banjo, and Cricket. Matt is an active member of the Park City community and volunteers at City Hall where he sits on the Park City Appeals Panel. Originally from Australia, Matt moved to the US 20 years ago and lived in NYC before moving to Tahoe and falling in love with the mountain life. He then moved to Park City 13 years ago and is an avid skier and outdoor enthusiast.

Professionally, Matt is the founder and Managing Partner of Jordanelle Capital, a private equity firm that invests in sustainable industrial companies. Prior to founding Jordanelle, Matt was a Partner at Peterson Partners for 10 years. Prior joining Peterson, Matt worked at Macquarie Capital in both Sydney and New York. Matthew has a Bachelor of Business and a Bachelor of Laws.

MaryAnn Detmering

MaryAnn Detmering moved with her husband Tim, son Topher and three rescue dogs to Park City from Houston, Texas in August of 2021. Previously, she served on the development committee of the Kinkaid School, chaired the annual Fund for Annunciation Orthodox School, served on the board of the West University Elementary School’s PTO and chaired the fundraiser “Picnic in the Park” for SEARCH homeless services. Upon landing in Park City MaryAnn embraced mountain life by working at Deer Valley in the ski coral at Silver Lake for two years where her favorite part of the job was giving treats to all the canine visitors. Her favorite mantra is, “You miss 100% of the dogs that you don’t pet!” And Rescue is definitely her favorite breed.

Prior to retiring to raise her three children, MaryAnn worked in advertising with clients McDonalds, Pizza Hut and Miller Brewing Company.

Liz Jonas

Liz Jonas has been a supporter of Nuzzles for 15 plus years and a board member at Nuzzles for almost 3 years. She was an educator for 10 years after completing her master’s degree in education, but the arts were calling, and her last 20 years have been spent in her current line of work as a jewelry designer and artist.

Liz’s family has lived part time in Park City for 35 years and full time for the last 3 years. She was invited by Wendy Lavitt, a founder of Nuzzles and dear friend, to join the board as she knew that Liz’s love for helping animals paired with her creativity could be a great combination and asset to the organization. Liz enjoys participating in the planning of Nuzzles’ many fundraiser events, and she has brought some wonderful people to our board and donors to our events!

Liz has volunteered at our Rescue Ranch with dog classes, puppy socialization, and dog intakes and has worked to get our garden area planted with her family. They have adopted four dogs from Nuzzles, including Liz’s two soul pets, Jake and River. Liz looks forward to many more years working with our amazing board to continue helping animals in need!

Sally Nadler

Sally Nadler is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree. She lived in Paris for a year working free-lance for an assortment of local Parisian designers helping with fashion shows and styling for photo shoots. After returning to the states and moving to San Francisco, she then found her love for fashion and started her work at Wilkes Bashford in San Francisco. Sally, worked closely with Mr. Bashford and the Women’s Designer buyer, Mena Farakos. She had a successful clientele book and was one of the top sellers of couture and designer fashions for not only the women’s area but men’s designer and shoes as well.

After four years working for Wilkes Bashford, she took a position at Donna Karan New York. She worked for the company for 10 years. During all Markets in the New York Showrooms, Sally worked directly with and advised the Buyers of each store and their DKNY Account Executives. Sally was the Northwest Merchandise Coordinator for DKNY. Based in San Francisco, she was the only liaison for the company in that region. She visited all stores carrying DKNY, conducted all training to store sales staff on Merchandising the goods and selling key notes. During seasons, she coordinated and put on fashion shows and wardrobing seminars for all Major Department Stores. After 5 years, she then took over the entire West Coast region of DKNY, hiring and training store specialists for all Major A level stores.

While in San Francisco, she sat on the board of directors for ZOO II (two) for 5 years, which was the Junior board for the SF Zoo. She also organized their charity auction and events.

Sally has been married for 27 years to David Nadler (which they met in a dog park with rescues) and has three daughters, Caroline, Savannah and Sydney. She has lived in Texas, Paris, San Francisco, New York and has been now been in Park City for 11 years. Sally has been affiliated with many non-profit organizations through her 13 years in Long Island. She was President and VP for the PTA during her children’s school years and has served several board member positions. She was on the board for the Caumset Historical Society, the Caumset State Park Foundation and volunteered for The North Shore Animal Shelter. Currently, she volunteers for the turtle hatching sanctuary in East Cape, Cabo and also a pet rescue, Casa Sheila in San Jose del Cabo. As well as feeding and caring for the wild donkeys of East Cape.

She has volunteered and supported Nuzzles & Co. and currently now 3 years on the board. She is active on the James Joseph Morelli Scholarship Foundation, was a volunteer for CONNECT SUMMIT COUNTY for mental health and wellness, fully trained through the UCASA (Utah Coalition against Sexual Assault) as a rape crisis advocate, on call with The Peace House and Intermountain Hospital as a rape crisis advocate. She was a co-owner of Merideth Marks Jewelry store on Main Street in Park City.

Sally has been a beekeeper for 14 years, an avid tennis player, golfer, skier and hiker. Sally has always been involved with rescue programs and all things involving animals in need. She sponsored a Nuzzles rescue trip to the 4 corners and traveled with the crew on the trip. She currently has 3 rescue dogs and one rescue cat.

Jen Schumacher

Jen Schumacher has lived in Utah since 1997, moving here from Northern Michigan for the snow and sunshine! She owns a gallery on Main Street in Park City and has been there for 22 years.

Jen joined the board of Nuzzles at the recommendation of an artist represented by her gallery who is currently on the board. She has always adopted her pets from Nuzzles, and her first rescue was about 15 years ago when it was called Furburbia. Animals are her passion — always have been and always will be.

For the past two years, Jen has been the co-chair of the gala. She has been in the Park City area and on Main Street for 28 years and is familiar with many business owners, locals and part-time residents and feels this helps with outreach and forming relationships.

Jen is currently living with two of her soul pets, both adopted from Nuzzles – an orange cat named Razor, who was a gift for her 50th birthday, and a fabulous rez dog named Clementine who made her way into Jen’s life the day before the Nuzzles Gala in 2023.

BOARD MEMBERS

EXECUTIVE TEAM

MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS

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