The National Canine Cancer Foundation

• 1: Home
• 2: About
  • 2.1: Our Mission
  • 2.2: Organization Staff
  • 2.3: Advisory Board
  • 2.4: Scientific Advisory Board
  • 2.5: Research Grants We Have Approved to Fund
  • 2.6: Affiliations
• 3: Donate
  • 3.1: Donate Now
  • 3.2: Suni Fund
  • 3.3: Become a CORE Member
    • 3.3.1: List of Core Members
  • 3.5: Affiliate Companies
  • 3.6: Memorials
• 4: Shop
• 5: Resources
  • 5.1: Facts on Canine Cancer
  • 5.2: The Road from Despair to Hope
  • 5.3: Ask the Doctor
• 6: Grants
  • 6.1: Grant Information
  • 6.2: Pre Proposal
  • 6.3: Full Proposal
• 7: Blog
• 8: Podcast
• 9: Contact

Advisory Board

Sara Nice, Director

Sara Nice is a member of the board of directors. She is also our Vice-President of Public Relations and Communications. Her qualifications include graduating with a BS degree in Radio/TV/Film from Texas Christian University. In 1996 she went to work for ERN Radio Network as a board operator and within two years was Director of Production, working with all the networks clients and stations. She moved on to work for Talk ONE as Director of Operations, her responsibilities included managing the network employees and working toward client satisfaction as well as production of the programming. In 2003, the marketing and promotion department was also put under her management. During this time, she has created marketing and promotion campaigns for several of Talk ONE’s clients ranging from health, finances to sports.

Karen McGuinness, Director

Karen McGuinness is a member of the board of directors. She is also our Treasurer and Vice President of Grant Funding. Her qualifications include graduating with a BA Psychology from University of California, Los Angeles, a Elementary Education Certification from Grand Canyon College and a MA Educational Administration from California State University, Dominguez Hills. She worked as a teacher from 1987 to 1998, and during that time, she was involved in the California Science Project, through USC and LAUSD; a program designed to help teachers improve their instructional techniques in Science and to get students more interested and involved in Science. She held fundraisers and wrote grants. She also teamed with the School Site Improvement Council to write a grant for funds for general school improvement.

She left teaching in June 1998 to work full time at Ears by Jenkins in an administration and operations capacity. She eventually became the Director of Purchasing. Her responsibilities included $2.5 to $3 million in yearly purchasing, new product development, and inventory.

Kati Koktavy Director

Kati received her Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry from Iowa State University in 1986. After briefly working in the petroleum industry in Texas, Kati made the move to Arizona in 1987. Since then, Kati has worked for several companies that provide research and analytical services to the pesticide, pharmaceutical and health care industries. Recently, Kati has accepted a laboratory manager position at the Translational Genomics Research Institute’s Cancer Drug Development Laboratory.

Kati has been an avid animal lover and owner her entire life. After losing her first golden retriever to cancer in 2000, Kati became actively involved in RAG of Az (Rescue a Golden of Arizona) a non-profit organization and served on the Board of Directors for five years. Kati is a founding member and serves on the Board of Directors for another retriever rescue that incorporated in January 2006. Kati is also actively involved in Maine Coon Cat Rescue and Pug Rescue.

Mark Roberge - Director

Mark Roberge is Founder, and CEO of PawSpot.com. Mark founded PawSpot.com in 2005, playing a critical role in the company's vision, capital fund raising, and marketing strategy to date. He brings to PawSpot a decade of experience in high tech startups ranging from mobile to web community based. He has served as a strategic consultant for social networking startups such as Harmony Line Music, uLocate, and bloostone. Mark also helped start a Greylock-funded mobile applications company called Vettro in 2000 where he spent four years in a sales and product management capacity. He began his career as a technology consultant at Accenture. Mark holds an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management, where he was a semi-finalist in the 2005 MIT $50K Business Plan competition and was awarded the Patrick McGovern award for his contributions to entrepreneurship at MIT. He also holds a bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a minor in Economics from Lehigh University.

Bruce Schultz, Director

Bruce has been showing dogs since 1971 and has been a professional dog handler since 1975. He is a member of the Professional Handlers Association since 1985, and a Board member since 1996. He is also a member and registered handler of the American Kennel Club, Handlers Association since 2002. He was awarded Top Male Dog Handler in 1990 and was nominated in 1987,1988,1989,1990. He has been featured on television on both ESPN and 60 Minutes.

Bruce has developed a renowned reputation as a Professional Handler, showing literally hundreds of dogs over a career spanning for more than 35 years, including 200 + Best In Show awards and a number of Group 1's and group placements in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, televised each year.

A sample of career highlights:

German Shorthair owned by Dr Gary Stone and Carol Chadwick 1986-1988; the top winning German Shorthair of all time.

• 150 Group 1's and 49 BIS, National BISS
• Two Time Group winner at Westminster Kennel Club

He has also worked judging at dog shows including:

• Santa Barbara K.C. Match 2003,2004,20005
• German Shorthair Pointer Club of America Top Twenty event 2003
• Golden Retriever Review Futurity Stake, 2000
• Southern California Beagle Club Sweepstakes 2000
• Scottish Deerhound Club of America Western Regional Specialty Sweepstakes 1999
• Federation Conofila Mexicana Show, Tournament of Champions, Mexico City, 1992
• Kennel Club of Brazil, 1999

Jeff Sedivec, Director

Jeff has served in many capacities in public and community services within the State of California including a firefighter, paramedic and government. His professional experience is listed below:

• Past President -California State Firefighters
• Transition Team member - Governor Schwarzenegger
• Commissioner - Governors Blue Ribbon Commission
• Commissioner - Seismic Safety Commission
• Governor appointed Member - Ca Emergency Response Training Advisory Committee
• A/Captain- Santa Ana City Fire Department
• Firefighter/Paramedic - Santa Ana City Fire Department
• EMS Quality Assurance Evaluator - Santa Ana City Fire Department
• Paramedic/ Preceptor - Santa Ana City Fire Department
• Apparatus Committee Chair - Santa Ana City Fire Department
• USAR Team Member - Santa Ana City Fire Department
• Divemaster/rescue diver - Chieftain Dive boat
• Executive Editor - Fire Service Magazine
• Monthly Columnist - Fire Service Magazine
• Editorial Advisory Board - Fire Engineering/EMS Magazine
• Rescue/Paramedic - CART Auto Racing Long Beach
• Regional Pre-hospital Care Coordinator - Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee

Affiliations/Memberships

• California State Firefighters Association - International Association of Fire Chiefs
• National Fire Protection Association - International Association of Building Officials
• Orange County Firemen’s Association - Police Officers Research Association of CA
• Republican National Committee –Delegate

Beth Poppre, Director

Beth graduated from Arizona State University in 1999 with a master’s degree in higher education specializing in student services and administrative policy. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Indiana with a bachelor’s of science in communications specializing in radio and television broadcasting.

Beth is currently the Assistant Vice President for Student Services with A.T. Still University of Health Sciences (ATSU) located in Mesa, AZ. ATSU was founded in 1892 as a private non-profit university with graduate degrees in medicine, dentistry and other allied health professions. In her duties as the Assistant Vice President, Beth oversees admissions, recruitment, financial aid, special events, alumni services and counseling services. The Mesa campus is home to over 550 residential students. Every year in February, she coordinates a Wag ‘n Brag event for students and employees to bring their canine friends to campus for a variety of fun events. Donations collected for the event go to various animal charities.

Beth is an active member of the Contact Zonies Dog Agility Club in Phoenix, AZ. She teaches agility classes, serves on the board, writes the club’s newsletter and is the site coordinator for the club’s bi-annual shows.

Lee Dellacorte, Director

Lee attended college at University of Miami and Hofstra University. She worked in Marketing and advertising in New York for a few years before getting married and moving away from New York. Over the next 10 years. Lee worked in animal hospitals as a technician and receptionist. In the early eighties, she became involved in Veterinary Pharmaceutical Sales and has been in the industry ever since.

She regularly gives product and food to the Animal Welfare League and various wildlife and Animal rescue organizations in the Phoenix area. Lee is active in Contact Zonies Agility Dog Club, where she has served as President, Vice President and Show Chairman and teaches various levels of classes through the club.

Gary Allison, Director

Gary is married and lives in Southern California and has worked for over 10 years in the Pet Industry. He is self-employed as a distributor and representative of Redbarn pet products. As a RedBarn representative he is in the dog community each week talking to the dog owners and clubs as he travels to conformation and agility dog shows in the Western United States. He is also the owner/operator of a successful e-commerce website: www.redbarnguy.com. Gary is presently the President of the Mojave Desert Golden Retriever Club and was the former kennel manager of Dr. W. Jean Dodds canine blood bank, “Hemopet” Gary is also active in supporting many dog rescue clubs throughout the Western United States.

Jay Delsing, Director

Jay was raised and still lives in the St. Louis area. He graduated from UCLA in 1983 with a degree in Economics. His father was a professional baseball player for 19 years and Jay is currently in the 23rd year of playing professional golf on the PGA Tour. He is a life member of the PGA TOUR and life member of the PGA of AMERICA.