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Board of Directors

Julie Sirek (Board Chair)

 Julie is currently an executive at a software consulting company overseeing all internal operations. She has almost 20 years of experience in the areas of Human Resources, Recruiting and Operations spanning multiple industries including technology, advertising and medical device. Julie brings her expertise in HR and Recruiting to TWS to further support the mission and vision of the Sanctuary.

Julie holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.

Christine Garrison
(Board Secretary)

Christine is a licensed attorney and has significant experience representing clients in trial and appellate courts, administrative boards, and mediation venues.  She currently works as in-house counsel in the healthcare industry, providing strategic advice on risk management and dispute resolution.  

Christine earned a B.A. in political science from St. Olaf College and her J.D. from William Mitchell College of Law.  

Christine Coughlin 

Christine has been active in the field of animal protection for nearly two decades and is the Minnesota State Director for The Humane Society of the United States. She brings extensive experience in policy, organizing, and coalitions and has worked with allies to pass many pieces of state and local animal protection legislation. Christine has served on animal welfare policy task forces for the City of Minneapolis, initiated the biannual publication of MN’s Humane Scorecard, and founded Minnesota Voters for Animal Protection, serving as executive director until 2014.

She is the recipient of the 2017 Kenny Feldman Animal Advocate Award and is currently serving on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Wolf Plan Advisory Committee. Christine has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the State University of New York at Purchase.

Barbara Voorhees

Barb is a small business consultant with over 30 years’ experience in nonprofits, small business, higher education and working with entrepreneurs. Her personal business startups include retail, founder and Executive Director of a nonprofit supporting sustainable gardening and landscaping education, commercial property management, and business consulting. A highlight of Barb’s cat passions was her feral cat rescues, most pregnant. She worked to ensure their health was optimized, integrated socialization skills, and placed in their forever homes.  Barb brings her focus in leadership and operations; and passion for protection of cats, domestic and wild, to support The Wildcat Sanctuary.

Barb earned her Executive MBA and MBA in Nonprofit Management from the University of St. Thomas.

Reese Frederickson

Reese has been the County Attorney for Pine County, Minnesota, since 2015.  Reese has over 15 years of experience as an attorney.  He is passionate about animal welfare law.  Reese is the co-author of the Animal Cruelty chapter for the Minnesota Judges Criminal Benchbook, and has taught prosecutors, law enforcement, humane agents and veterinarians around the nation how to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty cases.

Reese earned a B.S. in mathematics and computer science from the University of Minnesota Duluth, a M.B.A. from the University of New Mexico, and a J.D. from Mitchell Hamline School of Law. 

Sierra Scheet (Treasurer)

Sierra is currently in an accounting leadership position at a large Twin Cities non-profit. She has over 15 years of non-profit accounting experience and has expertise in compliance, donor funds & grant management, and enterprise risk management. She has a passion for solving problems, building relationships, and diversity, equity & inclusion work.

She has a BA in history and film studies from the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities and a BA in Accounting from the College of St. Scholastica – Duluth, MN.

Cheryl Ahlquist Anderson

Cheryl is a marketing professional with experience in finance, ecommerce, and human healthcare industries. Currently, Cheryl holds the position of marketing director and product manager for an animal health business, specifically focusing on serving the veterinary community. She serves on the Advisory Board for Not One More Vet, a non-profit organization dedicated to mental health well being and suicide prevention for veterinary professionals across the country. She has led the creation of award-winning awareness and fundraising campaigns for the organization.

Cheryl obtained her Marketing Degree from the University of Minnesota – Minneapolis. She is a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programmer Practitioner and Life Coach.

Sloane Bailey

Sloane has over 35 years of experience and has been with the Federal government since 2007, currently as the Chief for her agency’s Data Strategy Section. In this role she has focused on a data governance (principles, policies, processes, practices, and people (roles, responsibilities, and fora), data catalog, data literacy, target data ecosystem, and overarching enterprise data governance framework for her entire agency.

Prior to that, Sloane was with the Air Force since August 2015 as the Division Chief for Enterprise Architecture and the Director of Data Strategy for the Air Force. She was also with the Marine Corps from June 2009 – August 2015 as the Chief Business Architect. In that capacity, she was responsible for providing overarching guidance on Enterprise Architecture for the Business Mission Area (BMA).

Sloane earned her BA in mathematics (minor in computer science) from Wells College (Aurora, NY) and her MS from the National Defense University (Washington, DC).

Interested in a board position with us? Learn more HERE.

Tammy Thies (TWS Executive Director, non-voting Board member)

As the Executive Director and Founder of The Wildcat Sanctuary, Tammy Thies created TWS as a non-profit, big cat rescue with the goal of providing a natural sanctuary to wildcats that cannot live in the wild. Combining natural and spacious habitats with excellent care and a comfortable life free of exhibition, TWS allows all residents to live wild at heart.

With a marketing and journalism degree from the University of St. Thomas, Tammy was a full-time advertising professional who became aware of the need for such a facility through her exposure to big cats during photo shoots and advertising campaigns. Tammy learned that throughout the United States, tens of thousands of big cats are privately owned as pets, and used as performers or for-profit breeding.

A leading spokesperson and expert witness for the big cat crisis and protection nationally, Tammy and other TWS staff work with governmental agencies and private organizations to strengthen regulations protecting the welfare of big cats in captivity.

Read the story of how Tammy started The Wildcat Sanctuary HERE.

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