MAC Board of Directors

MAC Board of Directors

	Emily McCobb, DVM MS DACVA, President Dr. Emily McCobb received her DVM degree from Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine in 2000. In 2001 she completed an internship in small animal medicine and surgery at Angell Memorial Animal Hospital. She then obtained a Master’s degree from the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts, where she focused on issues surrounding racing greyhounds and animal shelter design for stress reduction. After spending a year in small animal private practice, she returned to the Tufts Cumming School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts for a residency in Anesthesiology. She completed her residency and board certification in 2006. She currently works as a staff anesthesiologist at the TCSVM affiliated TuftsVETs hospital in Walpole, MA. She is also a clinical faculty member at TCSVM, teaching at the Center for Animals and directing the Shelter Medicine Program. Dr. McCobb is a member of the IVAPM (International Veterinary Academy of Pain Management), MVMA and a founding member of the New England Veterinary Regional Pain Group. In addition to serving on the board of directors for the Massachusetts Animal Coalition, she is on the board of Second Chance Fund for Animal Welfare and is a member of the Animal Rescue League’s Center for Shelter Dogs advisory board.
	Kara Holmquist, Vice President Kara Holmquist is the director of advocacy for the MSPCA, and has law degree from Suffolk University Law School. Kara has been a member of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC) since 2001. Her work with MAC has focused on the Advocacy Committee and the "I'm Animal Friendly" license plate program. Kara is on the steering committee of the Humane USA-Massachusetts political action committee (PAC), which seeks to elect humane-minded legislators to office. Kara is a part of the newly formed Animal Law Practice Group of the Massachusetts Bar Association. Kara lives with her dog (Finley), husband (Kiko) and daughter (Story).
	Adrienne Linell, Treasurer Adrienne Linnell is a life-long cat lover who has been actively involved in Massachusetts animal welfare since 2004. She is currently President of Second Chance Fund for Animal Welfare, which provides low cost spay/neuter clinics for friendly cats, access to discounted veterinary services for pets with catastrophic illness or injury, and counseling for people facing difficult animal issues. Adrienne holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University and received her MBA from the University of Michigan. She has extensive corporate business experience, having held senior leadership positions in finance, operations, program management, strategic planning, and consulting. Adrienne & her husband Tom share their Worcester area home with their cats Panda & Buttons.
	Anne Lindsay, Clerk Anne Lindsay is the Founder and past President/Executive Director of MAC, which was established in 2000. She recently re-joined the Board of Directors after earning her Masters degree in Counseling Psychology from Lesley University in May of 2010. Anne has worked in animal welfare since 1988. She ran a rescue organization and spent 12 years as Director of Public Relations and Special Projects for the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, MA. She is also a past President and was a longtime Board Member of the New England Federation of Humane Societies. Currently, Anne is a Board Member of the State of Massachusetts Animal Response Team (SMART). With her animal welfare experience and counseling skills, Anne offers mediation, team building, and other services tailored to the needs of animal welfare organizations. She is particularly interested in helping organizations and individuals to address the very real issue of “compassion fatigue.” Over the years, Anne has spoken at national conferences on a variety of animal welfare issues and has consulted with states, smaller communities, and individual shelters to help them form animal welfare coalitions and work on board development, compassion fatigue, and related issues.
	Alice O'Connor Alice has been a Massachusetts Animal Coalition member since 2010. She joined the AniMatch Operations Committee in 2011 and currently serves as a caseworker and Volunteer Co-Coordinator. Alice’s professional career involved investigating insurance claims, managing insurance investigators and customer service team members, as well as consulting for outside groups on best practices for case handling and workflow. Alice began working in animal welfare in 2006 as a foster provider for Poodle Rescue of New England where she also served as Volunteer Coordinator and board member. She works events for the MSPCA, serves on the annual event committee for the Animal Protection Center of Southeastern Massachusetts, and has volunteered at Shultz’s Guest House socializing and caring for dogs as they await adoption. Alice and her husband share their home with three poodles.
	Suzanne Starr, DVM, CCRP Suzy is in private practice at Paws In Motion in Natick. She is a Tufts Veterinary School graduate and has been a MAC member from 2006. She served on the License Plate Task Force from 2007-2010 reviewing and recommending grants. She has been a AniMatch Task Force Case Manager 2010-present and is a current SMART Veterinary Team member. She is also a current MVMA Charities review panel 2010-present and has volunteered with Purrrfect Cat Shelter, Milford Humane Society, German Shepherd Rescue New England.
	Bryn Conklin, MS Bryn Conklin is the Project Manager at the Boston MSPCA Adoption Center. Bryn has been a member of the Massachusetts Animal Coalition (MAC) since 2004 and became a member of the board in 2009. During Hurricane Katrina Bryn helped coordinate the reunification efforts to find the owners of the animals taken in by MAC during the disaster. She is also a graduate of the Animals and Public Policy Program at Tufts Veterinary School. She lives with a varying number of foster cats and kittens.