April 2020 by Kristen Hassen- Auerbach, Sarah Aguilar and Elena Battles

Audience: Executive Leadership, Shelter/Rescue Staff & Volunteers, Veterinary Team

Video Length: 41:20

As sheltering evolves from what happens in the building to what the community needs, we face an evolving set of challenges. Among them: how to know what the community needs? How to track the work you are doing? How to know how effective your efforts are for animals and people in your community? Experts in the field of animal shelter data collection discuss.

This presentation was recorded by Maddie's Fund® at the 2020 American Pets Alive! Conference.

Bio photo of Kristen Auerbach, smiling in a pink shirt against a corrugated metal background

About Kristen Auerbach

Under Kristen's leadership at Pima Animal Care Center, the county shelter is saving more than 90 percent of the cats and dogs who come to the shelter including orphaned puppies and kittens, pets recovering from illness and injuries, and animals who have been victims of cruelty or neglect. In 2017, she oversaw the opening of the newly constructed, state-of-the-art, animal services facility.

Kristen has received national recognition for her innovative, lifesaving programs. Her efforts have been featured in numerous national publications and websites, such as Animal Sheltering magazine, the Huffington Post, BarkPost, the Dodo and Buzzfeed, and on TV networks, including CNN, Fox and ABC. Kristen formerly served as the Deputy Director at Austin Animal Center in Austin, Texas as well as the Assistant Director at the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in Fairfax, Virginia.

About Elena Battles

Elena has been working for animals in one capacity or another since 1999. It was then that she found Trini, a stray beagle who truly changed her life. Elena had been working as a physical therapist, but after rescuing Trini, she was re-awakened to the issues facing animals, and decided to change paths. Elena's new calling led her to shelter volunteer work, fostering, animal shelter administration and eventually to Stanford Business School for her MBA. After serving as COO of Humane Society Silicon Valley, she took a break before taking on a leadership role at Shelterluv, where she helps provide those in the animal welfare world with access to the technology she wishes she had when she worked in a shelter.

About Sarah Aguilar

Prior to moving to Tucson, Sarah was a program coordinator at the municipal shelter in Ventura, CA, where she managed their first formal foster program which placed nearly 3,000 animals into foster homes annually and tripled the number of cats adopted through partner pet stores and offsite events. Her experience as the training general manger for a national restaurant chain, combined with degrees in business management and accounting, have enabled Sarah to bring a unique customer service and systemic, data driven approach, to leading a municipal shelter.