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board of trustees
Anne Trinkle, MBA
founder & executive director
Upon graduating from Fairfield University with a B.S. in Marketing, Anne began a 15 year stretch in the corporate world, during which time she earned a Master's Degree in Business at night at Fordham University. After a near death experience in 2001, Anne retired from work in transfusion medicine at Abbott Laboratories to devote herself full-time to animal rescue after years of part-time volunteering in the field of animal welfare. Shortly thereafter, she founded Animal Alliance.
Anne and her husband David live in New Jersey where they share their home with 10 treasured rescue dogs. They also host an ever changing lineup of foster dogs in the Animal Alliance kennel located on their property, and numerous feral cats relocated from various TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) colonies. Anne's number one passion in life is increasing the availability of affordable, easily accessible spay/neuter for all pet owners. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, Anne is a 5 year survivor of the disease. She is a devoted fitness enthusiast and yoga practitioner, and says that becoming a vegan in 2003 after years of being a vegetarian is the best move she ever made in her life, and the thing she is most proud of about herself.
Elizabeth Hirky, PhD - President
Liz found Animal Alliance in 2003 when she adopted a wonderful Pekingese dog, Kyra. She has been a member of Animal Alliance's Board of Directors since 2008. Currently, she lives with a wacky herd of Pekingese rescues, Hamlet, Ming, Trixie, and Lei Li, as well as two rescue cats, Louie and Maxi. Rounding things out, Pokie Post, an appaloosa gelding, has been part of the family for 23 years. To pay for the kibble, biscuits, and hay, Liz has a private psychotherapy practice in Manhattan and also works with medical patients at a city hospital.
Donna Garcia - Secretary
Donna Garcia is an Executive Coach and Master Trainer in communication and sales skills with over twenty years experience. Donna loves her work and considers it an honor to help with individuals and organizations maximize their potential through effective communication. Donna has volunteered with Animal Alliance since the adoption of her dog Max more than 6 years ago, and she and her family subsequently adopted Sophie a few years later. She has fostered puppies and was instrumental in making Animal Alliance's Planned Pethood clinic a reality. "I eat a plant-based diet, no animal products, dairy or eggs. I'm a vegan committed to living a life that does not include suffering and violence to animals, human beings and the environment."
Gail Luciani - Vice President
Gail has been a successful communications professional for more than 20 years. She served as the executive director of public relations at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine and received several awards in excellence for handling the public relations during the stay of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. She has also been a volunteer for animal welfare organizations for more than 15 years and served on the board of the Philadelphia Animal Care and Control Association. She has fostered litters of motherless kittens and 10 dogs for the Alliance. She recently adopted a spaniel mix named Danny who joins a Chow mix named Lily, a Border Collie mix named Phoebe and a 20 year-old cat named Nicodemus.
Sheri Woodruff - Board Member
Sheri has been a fan and supporter of the Animal Alliance since 2006, when she adopted her Jack Russell Terrier (Tater) from the organization. Since then, Tater has enjoyed a life of leisure and adventure, having visited 29 U.S. states -- including first-class flights to San Francisco, sailing on the Chesapeake Bay, BBQ in Memphis and a legendary one-day, five-state road trip through Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. In 2011, Sheri adopted Yorkie/Terrier mix (Reggie) from the Alliance -- his first adventure was a weeklong trip to Rehoboth Beach -- and also began serving on the AA board. A senior global communications & marketing executive and former Governor's press secretary, Sheri also serves on the boards of the YMCA of Philadelphia & Vicinity and the National Service Learning Partnership. Sheri is Vice President of Communications, General Surgery at Johnson & Johnson.
Lisa Martini - Board Member
Lisa Martini started her career as a researcher in the pharmaceutical industry. She tried the sport of fencing as a beginner at Bucks County Academy of Fencing in 1996 and enjoyed fencing for 4 years. She is now Co-owner (with her husband Mark) and Operations Manager of Bucks County Academy of Fencing, which has two locations, in Lambertville and Hatfield, PA. Lisa and Mark reside in Center Bridge, PA with 3 super special cats. She is an accomplished equestrian and enjoys riding her horse in her free time.
Carolyn Saligman, PhD - Advisory Board
Carolyn Saligman is a licensed psychologist in private practice, a native Philadelphian and lifelong animal lover. Carolyn has engaged in animal welfare work for many years. She has spearheaded various animal welfare projects in Philadelphia improving the comfort of animals while in the shelter through specialized housing, increasing adoptions through community programs, making low-cost spay/neuter available to low income city residents and helping create a high volume spay/neuter clinic for feral cats in the city. Carolyn learned of Animal Alliance through their work as a Philadelphia Animal Control rescue partners, became involved in 2005 and joined the board of directors in 2010. She is owned by her 5 rescues who allow her to reside in their Philadelphia home.
Mae Sakharov, Ed.D. - Advisory Board
Dr. Mae Sakharov writes all the online biographies for the animals awaiting adoption at Animal Alliance, no easy feat, considering all the animals that pass through our agency. Mae is very well-known in Lambertville as a tireless advocate and consummate networker for animals awaiting adoption and is often seen in town walking her 5 rescue dogs (she also has a rescued cat). Through her educational consultancy, Dr. Mae Sakaharov and Associates, Mae has successfully helped families negotiate the college admissions, Gap year, Graduate school and Career planning processes since 1983 when she opened the first learning center in New York City. She has also been called on as a consultant to school districts, private schools and churches. Her encouragement and support guides clients to reflect on their own unique experiences to support the application and career change process. Dr. Sakharov is the author of the "Parenting Pearls" column in the Lambertville-New Hope Beacon, a weekly newspaper of Packet Publications. She teaches at Bucks County Community College and is a recent graduate of the Urban Zen Integrative Therapy 500 hour training program as a scholarship student and is now a mentor to new students there.
Ann Marie Somer - Advisory Board
Ann Marie Somer was one of the original Board Members of Animal Alliance and was critical to the present day success of the organization. An accomplished businesswoman who held several Controller and Chief Financial Officer positions in a 25 year corporate career, Ann Marie implemented business processes, policies, and procedures to create a professional business infrastructure at Animal Alliance. Ann Marie helped grow Animal Alliance from a small start-up grassroots rescue organization to the multi-faceted animal welfare agency it is today. During the first 7 years of Animal Alliance's existence, Ann Marie oversaw all financial reporting and accounting, and was active as a Board Member, Foster Parent, and Adoption Day Volunteer. Ann Marie and her husband Larry are the proud guardians of 3 dogs, Buddy, Kiki and Coco, from Animal Alliance, and they cherish the memory of their beloved Louie, their 4th. dog who recently passed away, who was their first Animal Alliance rescue dog. Ann Marie also helped her parents adopt 2 wonderful Animal Alliance dogs, Pumpkin and Petey. Now retired from the corporate world, Ann Marie is devoting herself full-time to fighting cancer and spending time in her lovely home with Larry and the 3 most spoiled dogs in New Jersey!
Phil Chaikin, PharmD, MD - Advisory Board
Phil and his wife Mary adopted 2 of their 4 rescue dogs from Animal Alliance. Mia, Peaches, Barkley, and Buddy are very lucky dogs indeed! Phil and Mary's "grand-dog" Nando was adopted by their daughter Carrie and her husband Patrick. Phil retired after 30 years in the corporate world in research and development and drug discovery at several major pharmaceutical firms. He now has his own consulting business and is devoting his time to several charitable endeavors, including Animal Alliance. Phil brings a high level of business acumen and an intense love for animals to his work at Animal Alliance.
Roy Loomis - Advisory Board
Having spent over 20 years in Management & Technology Consulting, Roy along with his wife Claudia became the proud owners of Cherrybrook Pet Supplies. Cherrybrook is a multi-channel pet specialty to retailer with three retail stores, an internet store and a mobile store that sells at over 200 AKC dog shows each year. Roy is currently the President & CEO of Cherrybrook and has overseen a major transformation of the company over the last five years. He has extensive non-profit experience including three years as the volunteer treasurer of another large non-profit organization. Roy and Claudia have two teenage sons, a feisty pug named "Frankie" and two samoyeds "Spike and Wendi." Spike and Wendi are both AKC champions who are presently retired from the show ring.
Liz Topazio - Advisory Board
Liz Topazio, a life- long animal lover, has had the pleasure of adopting Frieda and Chichi from Animal Alliance. Liz is Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Active International, a corporate trading company that creates customized value added and value recovery programs for its clients. Liz is dedicated to charitable endeavors and during her 18 year tenure at Active International has used her legal/business skills and experience to develop many unique programs, including recently a Charitable Donations Program which capitalizes on Active International’s trading business to generate donations from clients’ normal and customary purchases, including their group travel business. Active International is a privately held company with over 1.4 Billion in annual corporate trading sales. Liz is looking forward to dedicating her energies to supporting the mission and objectives of Animal Alliance.
John M Marcus, V.M.D. - Advisory Board
Dr. Marcus graduated Colorado State University with his baccalaureate degree in animal science. In 1997 he graduated with his Veterinariae Medicinae Doctoris from the University of Pennsylvania, School of Veterinary Medicine. He then pursued an internship in equine medicine, in Virginia. Prior to his move to New Hope, Dr Marcus worked at Steinbach Veterinary Hospital in Blue Bell. In June of 2001 New Hope Veterinary Hospital changed hands, with Dr. Marcus being the new owner. In addition to general veterinary medicine, he has extensive knowledge of surgery, internal medicine, opthamology and dermatology. Dr Marcus was drawn to the New Hope area by its beauty, small town atmosphere, artistic community and diverse population. He is an accomplished artist, frequently using his own pets as subjects for his paintings. Dr. Marcus enjoys spending his time with his daughter, Ruby. They share their home with two dogs, Lucy and Gilbert; also cat Idabelle. Dr. Marcus also enjoys golf, fishing and Philadelphia sports teams.
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