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Officers
Joy Smith
President, Executive Director
Maintaining a successful 30+year career in Health Information Management, ICD-9-CM/ICD-10/CPT coding, software product management, and working as a volunteer with various California animal organizations in Marin County, Benicia, and Santa Cruz wasn’t enough for Joy. With her sister, Jann Flanagan, they co-founded FieldHaven Feline Rescue in 2003. Later, in 2007, she became a partner in The FieldHaven Group, a healthcare revenue cycle consulting company where a percentage of all the income is donated to FieldHaven. In 2011, a state-of-the-arts shelter replaced the exiting building and the name was changed to FieldHaven Feline Center. By 2015, it was apparent that FieldHaven had grown to the point where it required her in more than a volunteer position and she became the full-time Executive Director. When not devoting all her time to the shelter and cats in need, Joy and her husband Preston enjoy boating in classic wooden boats and riding with Red Rock Hounds.
Members at Large
Vicki “Scout” Valentine
Scout’s relationship with FieldHaven began in 2006. As the Education Coordinator at the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary, Scout was organizing the Rescue Me event to showcase the diverse rescue organizations in the Sacramento area. FieldHaven’s name was mentioned as a great group to invite to talk the public about TNR. Several volunteers came out to the event and FieldHaven has been a resource for information for the Zoo since.
After retiring from the Zoo in June 2009, Scout thought since she lived in Lincoln, FieldHaven would be the perfect organization to volunteer with. A flyer for Classics, Cats, and Cabernet caught her attention and she called Joy Smith to offer her help as an event planner. After attending several planning meetings, she has never looked back. She was appointed to the Board of Directors that same year and became part-time staff member in 2010. Although she had an exciting career working with big cats like tigers, mountain lions, and bobcats, it truly is the small domestic kitties that capture her heart.
Preston Smith
Preston Smith has been married to Joy Smith, Fieldhaven Feline Center co-founder, for over 30 years and has had a life-long love of animals.
Before attending the University of Arizona in Tucson, Preston grew up in rural New Jersey working on local dairy and cattle operations and riding horses with the local 4-H groups. Soon after graduating, he made his way to Northern California and entered the heavy duty truck business.
His strong mechanical background and excellent people skills, Preston began his sales career in the commercial truck business.
Preston has been employed by PACCAR Inc. Peterbilt Motors Division for over 22 years and holds an executive level sales position.
During this time he obtained a Business Management degree from the University of Phoenix, San Jose, Calif.
He enjoys many outdoor activities including riding his horse on weekends and boating in the summer months.
Laura Morin
Laura was born and raised in Palo Alto, California – a true California girl! Rather than playing with dolls, she played vet with her many stuffed animal friends. When she was just 12 years old, she started rehabbing native wildlife.
She attended and graduated from Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management Program. After moving to the small town of Hughson in the Central Valley with her husband Gary, they ran a10-acre acre farm and owned a feed store. Laura also fostered for a local rescue group where a tuxedo cat named “Charlie”, captured her heart. He helped her see how cool cats can truly be and she soon became a foster failure. When someone says they aren’t a cat person she tells them, “You just haven’t met the right one”.
From there, they moved to the foothills where Laura discovered Wild About Cats and became a caregiver and handler of exotic cats, including her dream, cheetahs. With the help of “Shaka” and “Zulu”, over a million dollars was raised for wild cat conservation worldwide. Laura has also worked in the veterinary field and just recently retired after 11 years as an Animal Control Officer. She volunteers at Gold Country Wildlife as well as Fieldhaven’s Marketplace in downtown Lincoln. Laura currently lives on an 8-acre farm with Gary, 2 cats, 2 dogs, a cockatoo, llamas, goats, and several species of tortoise.
Angie Barreto
Even though Angie was born and raised in the San Francisco area, she now feels native to the area after living nearly 25 years in Rocklin. Having grown up mainly with dogs in her suburban household, fate stepped and she was exposed to her first cat, which came with her first apartment. Since then, cats have been part of her world for over 30 years.
Currently an independent real estate broker with15 years’ experience in the South Placer area, Angie enjoys helping her clients fulfill their dreams. She spent several years training and mentoring new agents before starting her own business. Prior to real estate, her background included over 16 years of project accounting and administration experience for civil engineers and construction management.
Angie is excited to be working with everyone at FieldHaven and looks forward to helping them make a continued impact on the community. She enjoys listening to music, attending concerts and the theater, traveling to warm and tropical destinations with beaches, boating, swimming, wine tasting, and spending time with her husband, dog “Luna”, and cat “Zorro”, along with her extended family and friends.
Veterinarians
Mira Bogen Sanchez, DVM
Dr. Sanchez was born and raised in Pasadena, California. She graduated from the University of California, Riverside, in 1988 with a BS in Botany and Plant Sciences. In 1997, she received her DVM from the School of Veterinary Medicine at UC Davis. Mira joined FieldHaven Feline Center in 2012 and loves it!
In addition to working with FieldHaven, Dr. Sanchez works at local small veterinary day practices, a large 24-hour referral and emergency veterinary hospital, and has been the veterinarian for The Folsom City Zoo Sanctuary for the past 12 years. While attending UC Davis, she was involved with the Feline Medicine Club, giving her extensive experience with orphan kittens and feral cats.
Mira shares her home with a Bengal cat, a barn cat, and two feral cats; a macaw, three dogs, a Harris hawk, sulcata tortoises, a tarantula, a donkey, cows, horses, and chickens. She has two sons in college.
Staff
Jen Paul
Program Manager
Jen is a self-proclaimed “crazy cat lady” in love with her job. Born in San Francisco and raised in the Bay Area, Jen’s passion for animals and nature led her to the following:
Environmental Studies Major at San Jose State University; Lead Coordinator for Earth Day Events at Skyline Jr. College; Pool Safety and Health Inspector for Santa Clara Co. Health Agency; Activist Coordinator for the Sea Turtle Restoration Project at Earth Island Institute S.F., CA; Project Coordinator for Friends of the Ferals, San Mateo, CA; Assistant Manager at the Tropical Rainforest Museum, Sunnyvale, CA; Adoption Counselor, Foster Mom, TNVR team member for the Homeless Cat Network in San Carlos, CA; Intern for the Stormwater Pollution Prevention Program, San Mateo Co. Environmental Health Services, CA; Instructional Asst. Special Ed. Dept for Lincoln High School, Lincoln, CA.
After moving to Lincoln in 2000, Jen became inspired by FieldHaven’s founders, Joy Smith and Jann Flannagan. Starting as a volunteer, her dedication to the cats and kittens in need evolved into the position of Shelter Manager by 2005. Over the years, Jen has supervised the SNAP and TNR teams, Community Outreach, Volunteer Teams, CAT Team, and the FieldHaven Spa; currently, she is the coordinator for both the TNR as well as the Barn and Community Cat Programs.
Benay Clark
Animal Care Assistant
Benay is our Shelter Assistant and master of all trades! She provides oversight of the shelter and our volunteers on the weekends.
Benay’s journey to FieldHaven began in 1994 when she and her family brought her cat, Lenard, with them from the San Fernando Valley to live in Wheatland. After retiring from Verizon in 2003, she was able to spend the next 4 years at home with her daughter, Mallory, who was in high school at the time. Together, they built some of the best memories.
In 2008, she and her daughter teamed up to volunteer at FieldHaven together. The following year, Mallory moved to Vancouver, WA and Benay stayed on at FieldHaven. Through volunteering and adopting the kitties as her new family, she overcame her empty nest syndrome; it is like her second home. She considers herself lucky that her husband, Randy, understands her love for cats. Recently, a dream came true for her when she became a FieldHaven staff member. Every day she gets to revel in the blessings of all the good work that goes on at FieldHaven and all for the love of cats.
Natalie Mark
Animal Care Coordinator
As Animal Care Coordinator, Natalie oversees the health, care and comfort of all the cats during their stay at FieldHaven. She works with Drs. Peterson and Sanchez to ensure that all our felines receive the very best of care while awaiting adoption.
Natalie spent 10 years volunteering as a vet technician at a high volume spay/neuter clinic and working as a behavior therapist with children and adolescents in Kansas, but always felt like something was missing.
In March 2014, she made the decision to leave Dorothy and Toto behind, move to Sacramento, and go back to school to get her DVM at UC Davis. Looking for places to volunteer to gain more experience, she found FieldHaven Feline Center who welcomed her with open paws.
While working with Dr. Sanchez, Natalie was introduced to a veterinarian Dr. Sanchez worked with and she was hired on as part-time vet tech at Madison Avenue Veterinary Clinic. Soon after, Joy offered her the incredible opportunity to work full-time at FieldHaven as well. In between working for the two facilities, she squeezes in time to complete her education for her Registered Vet Tech license.
She is a huge cat lover and currently has two wonderful black cats of her own. In addition to cats, Natalie also loves horses and hopes to have one who can go Fox Hunting with her someday.
FieldHaven Feline Center 