Resources

Kevin Schuh

Kevin Schuh moved to Glen Ellen with his husband David and their darling dog, Winnie, in 2012.

Kevin has an extensive Advertising and Marketing background having started with the Compaq Corporation in 1990 as a Production Marketing Engineer. He then moved to Nvidia Corporation when the company was a start up in 1997 and went on to become the Director of Advertising and Marketing when the company went global.

Marchelle Carleton

Marchelle lives in Kenwood (since 1998) with her husband Curt, their Golden Retriever Crystal “the pistol”, and 2 rescued cats – Chipper and Harrison who was recently rescued from the Paradise fires.  They have an adult son Greg, his wife Marianne, and 2 granddaughters - Katelyn (studying Biomedical Engineering at USC) and Sarah (a senior at Napa High School). Marchelle has always given back to her community having served on Boards and volunteered for many organizations.  She previously served on the Board of Boys & Girls Club for 12 years and is a Past President and Sweetheart. Marchelle is a founding member of the Cha Chas who for 14 years have volunteered their time for the youth at Valley of the Moon Children’s Center.

Marchelle’s professional experience includes starting Carleton Group Healthcare Interiors with her husband Curt. For over 30 years they’ve worked with large customers such as Kaiser, Sutter Health, Palo Alto Medical Foundation and the UC System medical facilities. She is fluent in all aspects of business from owning their company. Prior to that she was a partner in an event company producing large events, PR and marketing. 

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Paul Arata

Paul is a 3rd generation Californian born and raised in San Jose. Prior to moving to Sonoma in 2017 he and his husband Scott lived in Danville, California. He has always loved Old English Sheepdogs and has had 5 so far, with mischievous Lulu the latest. Scott and Paul share their home with Lulu, Gracie and Lucy. They are thrilled to be part of the Sonoma community and support animals locally with Pets Lifeline.

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Paul has been in Human Resources and Administration all of his professional career. He has worked in Retail, Technology, Financial and most recently Pharmaceutical both domestically and internationally. He currently works part-time for a Venture/Public investment firm focused on Health Care. Paul has previously served on the board of The Genard Aids Hospice Foundation.

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Elaine Smith

Elaine Smith is a former Hillsborough resident who now calls Sonoma home with her husband Graham Smith. Elaine was on the board of the Peninsula Family Services and spent many years volunteering with various organizations focusing, on educational development.

Dave Ball

Dave Ball, his wife Kathleen and their two goldens, Lucy and Lily moved to Sonoma from Sea Ranch in 2014. He has 3 married children and 8 grandchildren.

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Dave was introduced to Pets Lifeline when he joined our volunteer Canine Handlers team and became more interested in the organization from the Board level. Dave has always given back to his community with participation on many Boards including NorCal Golden Retriever Rescue, The Sea Ranch Trails Committee, Rotary Club, Boys and Girls Club of Sonoma Valley and Pets Lifeline. Professionally, Dave has an extensive background in sales in the IT arena of IBM, Hitachi and Oracle. Dave retired as the Managing Broker at Sea Ranch Realty.

Anne Mieling

Anne moved to Sonoma from Boston nine years ago. She lives in Sonoma with her husband, three children. Anne became familiar with Pets Lifeline through her daughter who was a volunteer at Pets Lifeline. She admired the hard work of the shelter as it worked with its animals. Anne wanted to become more involved in making a difference for animals in Sonoma Valley so she became a member of the Board of Directors.

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Professionally, Anne works in the wine industry where she is the Area Sales Manager for Five Grapes, a wine import and distribution company located in Sonoma.

Sandy Drew

Sandy is a long-time Sonoma resident with an impressive background in the non profit development world. From 1999 to 2015, she served as a consultant with Marts & Lundy and co-leader of the firm’s Schools Practice Group. Prior to her consulting work, Sandy served as director of development at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, she co-founded the California Schools Development Conference (CAPS) specifically to address the need for professional development opportunities for the entire development office team. From 1989 to 1994, Sandy served as the director of development at KQED, San Francisco’s public broadcasting tv and radio station.

Before moving to the Bay Area in 1989, Sandy lived for twenty years in Denver, Colorado where she served as director of development for several educational and civic organizations. In addition to her professional activities, Sandy serves as class agent for Mt. Holyoke College, is a past board member of the Golden Gate Chapter of The Association of Fundraising Professionals, Live Oak School and St. Paul’s Episcopal School. Currently Sandy serves as a trustee of The Bay School of San Francisco and Ox Bow School. She is a founding board member of Leadership and Design, an advisor to The Boys and Girls Club of Sonoma Valley and tutors in the Sonoma County Adult Literacy Program.

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Monica Dashwood

Monica's professional background includes over 25 years of executive management experience with Lucas Film and American Multi-Cinema. Monica’s previous non-profit involvement includes Hospice by the Bay and Presentation School in Sonoma.

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Monica lives in Sonoma with her husband, Dan, two boys, Nicholas and Alexander, along with their three cats: Sosa, Amber, and Martha and her beloved dog, Ella, who is a Pets Lifeline adoptee. Monica is also a freelance writer for Wine Country This Week.

Deborah Emery

Deborah grew up in the East Bay and was an actress and model spanning 20 years. She was also an Oakland Raiderette. Deborah married John Emery in San Francisco and helped start his medical spa in the city. She was an active member of the Junior League and then helped co found the Child Abuse Prevention Society in San Francisco.

Deborah and John started their move to Sonoma in 1985 and Deborah became involved in many community efforts including Salute to the Arts, Childrens Home Auxilliary, Sonoma Valley High School projects mentor and President of the board of Boys and Girls club of Sonoma Valley. There she spearheaded the much needed start of the new Teen Programing. After serving 10 years she was looking for a new place to serve. Having adopted several pets for her family she saw a need to serve the unheard. Deborah joined the Pets Lifeline board one year ago, and is looking forward to help drive the future of this worthy service to our community and the wonderful pets that are lovingly taken care of.

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Yvonne Hall

Born in New York State, Yvonne has been a resident of California for more than 50 years, the last 15 in Sonoma County.  She graduated from Santa Clara University with a B.S. degree in psychology. Her 26-year professional career was spent with Levi Strauss & Co. After starting with the company as a secretary, she went on to hold positions in Merchandising, Production and Product Development. Subsequently she served as President of Levi Strauss de Mexico SA de CV in Mexico City. She was the first woman of any nationality to head a company in Mexico. Her last position with Levi’s was V.P. of Merchandising and Product Development for the 14 segments of the Levi’s brand in the U.S. Yvonne uses her skills and experience to support the non-profit community in Sonoma. This has included board positions with La Luz Center, the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art and Pets Lifeline. She rejoined the La Luz board in 2018 and currently serves on the Development and Strategic Planning committees. She currently resides in downtown Sonoma, reads voraciously, travels extensively and enjoys the great experience of living in the wine country.

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Brad Meyer

Brad Meyer has an extensive background in growing businesses. Based in the Indianapolis area, Brad built several rental car franchises all over the country. Brad also served civically on a Redevelopment Commission and other local organizations. After retiring, Brad and his wife Dolores bought a home in Glen Ellen and have been Sonoma Valley residents for over 2 years with their three dogs. Brad is very passionate about animals and animal rescue. 

Brian Ness

As a co-owner of Vintage Kennel Club, Brian Ness brings a breadth of experience with animals. Originally from the Midwest, Brian's repertoire of working with animals include being the Sonoma Valley 4-H Dog leader and showing Irish Wolfhounds and Soft-Coated Wheaten Terriers in competitive dog shows. His expertise in evaluating the temperaments of dogs is an invaluable asset for Pets Lifeline as it promotes responsible pet ownership. Brian provides animals for Nativity events at local churches and connects his chicken coop with the Ecology Center. Brian belongs to the organization Concerned Dog Owners of California, which is dedicated to promoting positive dog legislation in Sacramento and lobbying for positive dog bills and against anti-dog legislation.

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Brian lives in Sonoma with his partner, Michael, and his personal "Noah's Ark collection of a menagerie of animals."

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Dr. Rhonda Stallings, DVM

Dr. Rhonda Stallings has lived in Sonoma since 1992. She purchased Arroyo Veterinary Hospital in 1997 and just recently sold the business to Dr. Melissa Hart. She is still a practicing veterinarian at the hospital. After graduating at the top of her class from the Ohio State University School of Veterinary medicine in 1981, she practiced emergency medicine in Akron for one year before moving to San Francisco. She practiced at Pets Unlimited for four years, becoming medical director and then at Avenues Pet Hospital for 11 years before opening her own practice in Sonoma. Rhonda lives in Sonoma with her husband Rich and has two adult children, Michael and Abbey, along with dogs Sandy, Scully and Paco, and Oranges the cat.

Toni Casamento

Toni was born and raised in Boston Massachusetts, moving to Southern California is the mid 80’s and finally to Northern California in 2000.  She practiced law for over 20 years in both Massachusetts and California, concentrating on civil litigation and real estate.  She has been and continues to be involved in a number of non-profit, charitable organizations including the Anti-Vivisection Society, the Cha-Chas (providing support to The Valley of the Moon Children’s Home for abused, abandoned and neglected children), 4Paws where she and her pup Winston volunteer at the local Library for Read to the Dog Days, and finally to Pet’s Lifeline where she joined the Board of Directors in 2017. Toni lives in Kenwood with her beloved husband Chuck and her labradoodle Winston.  She enjoys photography, travel and cooking.