Jacquie Gingras

President

 

Bob Korte, Vice President

CAHS Vice President
Bob Korte
Cat

Bob grew up in the UP in Oscoda along with several other places. He has been coming to Thumb Lake (Lake Louise) for the past 46 years and for the past eight years Bob and his wife, Sue, have lived half the year on Thumb Lake. They recently purchased a house in Boyne City which they stay at occasionally during the winter. Bob loves to fly fish in his spare time. Bob has experience with non-profit boards both in a professional capacity and as a volunteer board member which has provided him with an understanding of boards and the work that they strive to accomplish. Bob became familiar with the Charlevoix Humane Society being a volunteer on the Fundraising Committee. He has a sincere belief in the mission of CAHS and hopes that his experience with other non-profit boards can be of practical use. Bob and Sue have a three-and-a-half-year-old granddaughter and their son and daughter-in-law are expecting twins in May. They also have two dogs, Walter, and Hugo, and have adopted several cats in the past from various Human Society shelters. Bob is presently on the board for the Lake Louise Christian Community Summer Camp which provides him with an opportunity to serve the youth in our area and CAHS provides him with an opportunity to serve the welfare of the animals in our area as well.

Mona O’neal

Treasurer

 

Caren Peltier

Secretary
Bob Korte
Riley and Duffy

Caren and her husband, Tom, have lived up North for almost six years. She enjoys snowshoeing in the winter and walking/hiking in the summer. She is also an avid reader and loves the outdoors. Caren and Tom have two children. Heather, who lives in Arizona and is a kindergarten teacher and their son, Mathew, lives downstate and is in I.T. Her love for animals has been a big thing since childhood and after retiring from the business world, she wanted to get involved with an organization that helped animals. So, after moving up North, Caren reached out to help the Charlevoix Area Humane Society by making a difference with her organizational skills and her commitment to the organization grew from there.

Alice Marshall

Bob Korte
Kitty
Bob Korte
Buffy

Alice has lived in northern Michigan for 27 years. Alice has always liked the outdoors, snowmobiling, keeping physically active and making friends. She was married to Bob for 43 years and he was the one that insisted they travel. Together they traveled to almost every state in the United States as well as New Zealand. They had two children; a daughter Terry Lynn and their son Daniel, who has two sons and one granddaughter as well as a stepdaughter who has two daughters, five grandchildren and three great grandchildren. She presently has two cats: Buffy (11) and Miss Kitty (3). Alice loves to read and in her younger days was the official party planner in the neighborhood. Alice has been a board member with the Charlevoix Area Humane Society for 17 years and the chairperson on the Fundraising Committee for many of those years. Since she has been involved with the Charlevoix Area Humane Society she has met and become friends with a lot of people in the area, which is very helpful when being involved with fundraising for an organization.

Gina McElgunn

 

Bob Pursel

Bob Korte
Willow

Bob has lived in Northern Michigan for 16 years. Has been on the CAHS board for 15 years and loves to play golf. He and his wife, Shery, adopted an English Setter from CAHS and this is how they became familiar with the organization. Bob has 20 years of marketing and sales experience where he built his own company from the ground up. He brought this knowledge to the table while being on the CAHS Board. Bob has worked tirelessly on fundraising efforts while being a board member and volunteers whenever he can. Shery and Bob are currently raising/training a one-year-old ‘rescued’ English Setter from an animal foster home in upstate New York. We are both very involved with the East Jordan Lions Club and volunteering at our church. Bob picked the Charlevoix Area Humane Society because he saw a need to support the animals in Charlevoix County. At the same time his hope is that we can continue to have CAHS be an attractive place to work for all its employees.

Gretchen Schaller

Bob Korte
Max

Gretchen has lived in Northern Michigan her entire life. She grew up in Petoskey and moved to Charlevoix in 1996 after graduating from the University of Michigan. She chose to raise her three children here because of the wonderful community she lives in. Gretchen’s relationship with the Charlevoix Humane Society started in the late 1990’s when she was an advertising representative for the Petoskey News-Review. She would take photos of the pets that were up for adoption along with short stories on each and ended up adopting several of the animals she took photos of. Gretchen currently has two dogs and two cats. Because of her experience with advertising and marketing, she thought she could assist the board in these areas and has also helped with many CAHS fundraising functions.

Angela Shook

Bob Korte
Bentley

Angela has lived up North since August 2021 and she enjoys kayaking, reading, and baking in her spare time. She has served on several boards including the Hurley Hospital Foundation, Kalamazoo Salvation Army, The Lily House Hospice House, and the National End of Life Doula boards. Angela is an end-of-life doula for both humans and pets and she instructs an online course at the University of Vermont on pet loss and end of life care. She also works locally as a veterinary assistant and doula with Pet Well Mobile Vet. Angela hopes to help with raising awareness and funds for CAHS to help support the animals in our community. Angela lives with her husband Jeff and their dog Bentley. They enjoy traveling and spending time with their family and friends. She chose to be on the CAHS Board because of her passion for animals and as a newer resident of Boyne City, she wanted to get to know others in the area and give back to this wonderful community.

Valerie Snyder

Bob Korte
Champ

Valerie is our newest board member and is a lifelong resident of Northern Michigan. She grew up and attended school in Charlevoix and returned to Charlevoix after law school to start her career. She loves boating. Both sailing and powerboating. She also enjoys traveling, the beach, reading and walking. Valerie has been married for 20 years to her husband Mark. They have two sons in college and their pet’s name is Champ who is an Australian Shepherd. Valerie’s first experience with the Humane Society was when she was 12 years old. Her dad had finally given her permission to adopt a kitten, but she didn’t have the heart to break up a brother and sister set of tiger kittens. She ended up bringing both kittens home and they lived their lives as Ozzie and Harriet. Much later, as a Charlevoix County Commissioner, she served as the liaison to the Charlevoix Area Humane Society. Valerie has served in many volunteer positions over the past 25+ years and understands that many nonprofit boards are “working” boards. She has helped organize many events for nonprofits and assisted with legal issues. She loves pets and feels connected to the mission of the Charlevoix Area Humane Society.

Annemarie Conway

Bob Korte
Jules

Annemarie Conway is our Charlevoix District 6 Board of Commissioner since the beginning of 2023. Annemarie moved to Charlevoix 28 years ago to take a teaching position in the Charlevoix Public Schools. She loves to walk, exercise, and cook in her spare time. Her family has always adopted pets from the Charlevoix Area Humane Society. She has had two sets of male cats: Frank and Ernest and Vincent and Jules (Fluff). Jules is pictured here and is her only living cat at 16 years old. Annemarie has done a lot of fundraising for the Charlevoix school clubs and hopes to use her expertise in helping CAHS in this endeavor. Annemarie and Pat (her husband) will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary this year and have two sons. Phil (23) who graduated from U of M in biochemistry and Jake (21) who will graduate from Michigan State in the Spring of 2024 in the School of Public Health. Annemarie chose to get involved with the CAHS because of her involvement with the Charlevoix Board of Commissioners but also because she is an avid supporter of everything that the Charlevoix Area Humane Society does for the county’s animal population.

CAHS STAFF

Scott MacKenzie

CAHS Director
Bob Korte

Scott and his wife, Jane, have lived in Northern Michigan since 1999. Scott enjoys hiking in the woods and really enjoys traveling to new destinations. Scott grew up with rescue dogs and cats and his mom was on the Board of the Genesee County Humane Society. He initially got involved with CAHS by being involved with fundraising events. Scott and Jane have two grown children that were brought up in the Boyne City Public Schools. Scott’s hobbies revolve around civic service. He considers himself a civic entrepreneur. One example of this is his being a long-time member of the Boyne City Kiwanis Club (22 years).

Carla Brazell

CAHS Office Manage
Bob Korte

Carla is our dedicated front office manager, who worked for us previously for 5 years, and recently rejoined the staff in 2021. A lifelong animal lover, Carla brings her compassion and knowledge to work every day and is a fierce advocate for the animals in our care. She has even taken a few of our residents home over the years! When not at work, Carla likes to spend her time out in nature, practicing yoga, reading, or spending time with her husband, daughter, and dogs.

Westley Purdy

Bob Korte

Westley has lived in East Jordan, Michigan his entire life. He enjoys music and gaming. He has two dogs at home, a golden retriever and a pitbull/boxer mix named Roxanne and Daryl, respectively. Westley started his own dog sitting business in 2022 and decided he wanted to do more involving animals, so he hopped on board.

Haley Pankratz

Bob Korte

Haley has lived in Northern Michgian her whole life. She enjoys reading, baking, and drawing. She has one dog at home, an english setter named Sadie. Haley enjoys being around animals, so she decided to join our team here at the shelter.

Annabelle Peters

Bob Korte

Annabelle has lived in Boyne her whole life. She love sports and anything outdoors. She's is currently fostering Odesza. Annabelle is aspiring to be a veterinary technician, and is working at the shelter in pursuit of that. 

Kara Giem

Bob Korte

Kara originally came from Boyne Falls, but moved to Boyne City in 2019. Reading and riding horses are her favorite hobbies. She has a grey cat at home who she has had since she was two weeks old. Her heart is also home to an Australian Shepherd named Shep who currently lives with her grandparents. Being a huge animal lover, applying for Charlevoix Area Humane Society was a no brainer.

Mike Ryan

Bob Korte

Mike has worked at the shelter for seven years and became familiar with the Charlevoix Area Humane Society by volunteering as a dog walker. He enjoys kayaking, snowshoeing and darts. Mike is married to Amelia and has two children, Aurora, and Oliver and three grandchildren: Adeline, Emersyn, and Kameron. Mike and Amelia presently have two dogs: Evelyn and Edgar.

Meagan Stowe

Bob Korte

Megan has worked at the Charlevoix Area Humane Society for two years and became familiar with the organization as a volunteer. She enjoys working with the animals and helping make the shelter a positive environment for all the animals. In her spare time, she loves to go to the beach with her two kids. The family enjoys their two dogs as well.

If you wish to serve on our board of directors please contact any board member or our Executive Director, Scott MacKenzie for more information or select the link below to obtain an application for board membership and submit the completed form to our business address.

Application for Board Membership