The Faunalytics team shares your heartfelt desire to help animals. Each of us also brings an unwavering commitment to finding the best ways for advocates to save lives and reduce suffering.
Staff & Board
Brooke Haggerty, Executive Director
Brooke Haggerty has over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector and has dedicated her career to animal protection. She stepped into the leadership role with Faunalytics in January 2020 after serving as our operations manager for over a year. Her previous experience includes working on the statewide legislative campaign Prevent Cruelty CA/Yes on Proposition 12, serving as the programs manager then executive director for the Foundation for Animal Care and Education (FACE), and working as a humane educator for the Animal Protection and Rescue League. Brooke is a former board member and programming chair for the Young Nonprofit Professionals Network of San Diego, and currently sits on the FACE board of directors. Brooke has an M.A. in Human Behavior, a B.A. in English, and certifications in Marketing and Nonprofit Management.
You can reach Brooke at [email protected]
Jo Anderson, PhD, Research Director
Jo Anderson is an advocate for animals and empirical research. Her other roles include serving as the co-leader of the RECAP (Research to End Consumption of Animal Products) researcher collective, ad hoc research advisor to ProVeg and Animal Charity Evaluators' Animal Advocacy Research Fund, and Adjunct Research Professor at Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada). Prior to joining Faunalytics, she worked in academia and government, studying topics that included self-esteem, judgment and decision-making, and employee retention. She started at Faunalytics in 2016 as a volunteer and became the research director in 2017, bringing over a decade of social science experience to her role. Jo has a PhD in social psychology from the University of Waterloo and completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell University.
You can reach Jo at [email protected]
Karol Orzechowski, Content Director
Karol Orzechowski is an animal advocate with a passion for blending activism and art. In addition to producing numerous short films on various animal issues, Karol is the director of Maximum Tolerated Dose, a full-length documentary about the psychological toll of vivisection on both animals and humans. Karol’s animal advocacy goes back to 2005, when he was a co-producer on the Animal Voices radio show. He completed both a Bachelor of Environmental Studies and a Master’s in Communications and Culture at York University, completing theses on nationalism and the Atlantic seal hunt, and Canadian rodeo culture, respectively.
You can reach Karol at [email protected]
Tom Beggs, Research Scientist
Tom Beggs was led to Faunalytics by his passion for science and for using his skills to support causes that he cares about. Before joining the team, Tom worked for over 5 years as a practicum student, program evaluator, and consultant for a range of non-profit organizations; in his academic work, he investigated topics such as social support, yoga, norms, climate change, and vaccination beliefs and behaviors. He is keen to use his expertise in the service of animals and is excited about helping to build the knowledge needed to advance the movement. He has a master’s degree in Psychology from the University of British Columbia and is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Guelph.
You can reach Tom at [email protected]
Casey Riordan, Communications & Development Manager
Casey Riordan spent five years working as a public relations and marketing specialist in the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia before following her heart and dedicating her career to building awareness of the animal advocacy movement. In 2018, Casey was accepted to New York University’s inaugural Animal Studies M.A. program, where she studied animal ethics and became involved in promoting multiple grassroots animal protection initiatives throughout her community. She also has a master’s degree in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics and a bachelor’s degree in Communications and Psychology from the University of Miami.
You can reach Casey at [email protected]
Caryn Ginsberg, Board President
Caryn Ginsberg is co-founder of the consulting firm Priority Ventures Group. She has more than two decades of experience helping nonprofits and businesses set strategy to accomplish their goals. She also serves on the advisory boards for FARM, Jewish Vegetarians of North America and the Institute for Humane Education. Caryn has taught marketing in the MBA program at Johns Hopkins University and for Humane Society University. She has an A.B. from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Che Green, Board Treasurer
Che Green is the founder of Faunalytics, as well a former analyst, investment banker, and research manager with experience developing and implementing research projects of all kinds. Che has worked and volunteered for a wide range of animal advocacy groups at both the local grassroots and national levels. He is a consultant for animal-friendly businesses and charitable foundations. Che has a BA in business administration with a concentration in finance; he started Faunalytics in 2000 to empower animal advocates through research, and served as its Executive Director for nearly 20 years.
Sharie Lesniak, Board Secretary
Sharie Lesniak honed her skills in corporate advertising—having enticed consumers to buy everything from Gap clothes to Nissan cars to Absolut Vodka—but eventually came to realize her talents could help animal advocates more effectively sell their message. Sharie spent a decade at Born Free USA as the Creative Director focusing on creating materials that convinced consumers to think more humanely and engage in more animal-friendly behaviors. Seeing how integral a healthy earth is for animals (and humans), Sharie jumped back into the corporate world to help aid multifamily communities across the U.S. increase recycling and reduce waste. As the Creative Director at Valet Living, Sharie helps enable more apartments to provide homes where people can comfortably live with their dogs and cats. One of her side hustles is My Dog is Cool, which educates the public about the dangers of hot cars. Sharie has a BBA from Western Michigan University.
Mandy Weeks, Board Member
Mandy Weeks is an attorney presently working with health care reform and regulation of insurance providers for the state of Washington. She has also served as a legal aid attorney, proving free legal services to low-income individuals and families and as a public defender. Mandy has volunteered for grassroots and national animal advocacy groups as well as providing direct care to animals through a wildlife rehabilitation center and to her companion cat, Ain. Mandy has a B.A. in political science and a Juris Doctor.
Steve Schuster, Board Member
Vegan-ethics advocate Steve Schuster brings deep marketing expertise to Faunalytics, honed by his many decades of experience in technology marketing. He serves as CEO and chief strategist of Rainier Communications, leading the successful marketing of thousands of hardware, software and service products. Steve selectively serves on advisory boards for numerous startups including VeganNation and Billion Vegans, and he regularly serves as a mentor-in-residence for startup incubators and accelerators around the world. Steve holds BSEE and MBA degrees from Northeastern University, and is a published singer/songwriter and recording artist, fitness enthusiast, photographer and he chairs his local YMCA’s board of governors.
Research Advisors
Chris Bryant is a PhD researcher at the University of Bath, and has focused on consumer adoption of cultured meat. He is also the Social Science Director for the Cellular Agriculture Society, and co-organizes the Research to End Consumption of Animal Products (RECAP) Group with Faunalytics’ Research Director. He has also worked on research projects with Faunalytics, The Good Food Institute, and Viva!. He earned his BA from the University of Exeter, and his MSc from the University of Bristol.
Marina Milyavskaya is an associate professor of psychology at Carleton University. She conducts research on goal pursuit, motivation, and self-regulation, and is excited to apply her skills and passion to research on dietary change and other animal-friendly behaviours. More details about her research can be found at https://carleton.ca/goallab/
Steven Shepherd is an Assistant Professor of Marketing and International Business at Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business. He researches how various beliefs and ideologies (e.g., political ideology) and social issues (e.g. related to gender, race, and socioeconomic status) relate to issues in marketing and management. He has a PhD is social psychology (University of Waterloo) and completed a post-doctoral research position in marketing at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Gregg Sparkman is a postdoctoral research associate in the Andlinger Center at Princeton University. His research is focused on understanding social change, including the causes and consequences of norms shifting over time on behavior and policy attitudes. He completed his PhD at Stanford University in social psychology, where he investigated how people are influenced by witnessing social change (dynamic norms) and how this can be incorporated into interventions in social, environmental, and political domains, including how to reduce meat consumption.
Laura Thomas-Walters is a PhD researcher at the University of Kent. She working to improve the design and evaluation of interventions to reduce demand for wildlife products, drawing together research from multiple fields such as public health and international development. She has used both quantitative and qualitative research methods to measure the success of demand reduction campaigns, and has developed a theoretical framework of motivations for wildlife use. She is also exploring how local cultural values can be used to create more effective messages.
Advisors
Ian Ross is a long-time animal advocate who helped start The Humane League and is a founding advisor for Hampton Creek (makers of Just Mayo and other foods). He is described by Peter Singer as leading “the most remarkable example of a life committed to maximizing giving.” Ian has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania and completed his undergraduate work in math and computer science at MIT. He currently “earns to give” by working for Samsung as the company’s Senior Director of Strategic Analytics.
Stephanie Downs is an entrepreneur turned social activist. In 1999, she founded MarKomm, a marketing firm that would be the first of three businesses she developed. The success of her agency enabled her to step away from the day-to-day operations to put her knowledge to “good” use. In 2009, Downs co-founded FiXiT – a non-profit focused on using creative solutions to bring an end to pet overpopulation, and in 2012 she founded Voolla, an online marketplace that turns volunteered skills into money for charities.
Andrew Rowan is the former director of the Tufts University Center for Animals and Public Policy. He also chaired the Department of Environmental Studies at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. Andrew was the founding editor of the International Journal for the Study of Animal Problems, founding editor of Anthrozoos, and scientific administrator for the Fund for the Replacement for Animals in Medical Experiments. Andrew currently serves as president of WellBeing International, a new NGO that focuses on projects that deliver solutions for people, animals, and the environment.
Kenneth Shapiro is executive director of Animals and Society Institute; founder and editor of Society and Animals: Journal of Human-Animal Studies; cofounder and coeditor of Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science; and editor of Human-Animal Studies Book Series. Shapiro earned his BA from Harvard University and his PhD in clinical psychology from Duke University. He is the author of 3 books, most recently — Animal Models of Human Psychology: Critique of Science, Ethics and Policy.
Bernard Unti is Senior Policy Adviser and Special Assistant to the President & CEO of The Humane Society of the United States. He is the author of Protecting All Animals: A Fifty-Year History of The Humane Society of the United States (2004) and other works on animal protection and cruelty to animals as an historical and contemporary concern.
Research Practicum Student
Joy McLeod is a first-year master’s student in Psychology at Carleton University. Her research examines the psychological factors that influence the recovery and rehabilitation process among individual’s living with spinal cord injury, with a special interest in grief and loneliness. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a concentration in Health Psychology and a minor in Neuroscience and Mental Health. Her undergraduate thesis explored how different types of nature, in the form of brief videos, influence people’s willingness to engage in pro-environmental behaviour. Joy hopes to expand her impact as an animal advocate, beyond her personal network, by applying her research skills as a volunteer with the Faunalytics team.
Volunteers
Writers & Editors: Gabriel Borden, Carolin Graszmann, Trent Davidson, Sarah Hannekan, Emily Hatch, Celine Icard-Stoll, Lukas Jasiunas, David Kates, Adéla Novotna, Thea Pedroza, Andrea Polanco, Tor Pothecary, Mia Rishel, Owen Rogers, Antonia Shann, Jeanette Shutay, Sara Streeter, Linda Tyler, Mona Zahir.
Researchers: Erin Galloway, Ali Ladak, Liliia Lisina, Susan Macary, Sara Marín López, Matt Montalbano.
Other Volunteers: Nicoleta Faina, Kirsty Fraser, Miranda Harrington, Tor Pothecary, Graeme Ross-Munro, Bernard Walker.
