When I started working at Compassion Over Killing (now Animal Outlook) in 2005, we had three staff members and a shoestring budget but we were brimming with determination and resolve to create a kinder world for animals. While so much has changed since then, our determination remains steadfast.
In serving as Executive Director and more recently as President, it has truly been an honor to lead this organization through incredible growth, momentous change, formidable challenges, meaningful victories and an ambitious new era with our organizational rebrand in 2020.
After leading this charge for the past 16 years — and after much soul searching — I have made the decision to step down. I’m deeply grateful for the abundant opportunities this role has provided to merge my personal passions with my professional path, and I will carry these experiences with me as I forge ahead, exploring new endeavors. My last day will be May 7, 2021.
As I reflect on my tenure here and look toward the future, I’m filled with pride knowing that our tireless efforts have had a profound impact on our movement, our society, our food system, and most importantly in the lives of animals.
These victories and advancements for animals will continue under the bold leadership of Cheryl Leahy, who I’ve had the honor to work alongside since 2006 when she joined our team as general counsel. In the past several years, Cheryl’s leadership at Animal Outlook has expanded — to Executive Vice President in 2019 and as of December 2020, to Executive Director. In this new role, she has already taken the lead in the organization’s visionary and strategic development as well as overseeing the day-to-day demands.
Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for all of your support. Though I am leaving Animal Outlook, I do so knowing the dynamic team will continue to thrive as a powerful, unwavering national force for farmed animals.
Thanks to supporters like you, the team at Animal Outlook has had much to celebrate over the past year, despite the difficulties and tragedies we’ve all experienced as a global community during this time. Looking back on the past year, I’m filled with gratitude for the impact for animals we’ve made. Most of all, my gratitude stems from the spirit of our team and our supporters as they’ve dedicated themselves to the transformative work that we do here at Animal Outlook. Our work impacts not only the animals, but also ourselves: our compassion for animals elevates how we see ourselves as people.
One growth moment for me was my appointment as Executive Director of Animal Outlook in late 2020. I began my tenure here in 2006 as General Counsel, working alongside a small team helmed by Erica Meier. I’ve had the privilege of watching the organization transform from a small grassroots organization making its way through largely untested waters, into a national voice for farmed animals. Over the years, we’ve been a part of a cultural reckoning, empowering so many to stand up for animals and sharpening our skills and impact. Still, we have a lot of important work ahead of us.
It is against that backdrop and with bittersweet feelings that I see Erica’s resignation as the end of one chapter and the beginning of something new.I am incredibly grateful and appreciative for what Erica has meant to this organization, the movement, the animals, and for me personally over the years. Instead of watering down the stark truths about the plight of animals and ideas about how to help them, she’s helped move the world into that perspective, making real change in the way the food industry and our culture at large thinks and behaves. It is that legacy that will carry forward and grow in its impact and influence. Erica has earned her place in the history of the animal protection movement, and I invite you to join me in celebrating Erica and thanking her for her dedication, intelligence and compassion.
As we enter the next era for Animal Outlook, my hope is that each of you will join me and consider yourselves a vital member of the Animal Outlook community, contributing to our vision of realizing a compassionate food system, untethered from animals, that empowers people to live their values.
As a non-profit organization, Animal Outlook relies on donations from caring, generous people like you. Every dollar matters. Your support makes a world of difference to farmed animals.
