Petco Foundation hires new executive director away from newly formed Humane Network
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May/June 2013
SAN DIEGO, RENO––Suzanne Kogut, formerly executive director of the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA in Virginia, was on May 15, 2013 introduced as successor to Petco Foundation founding executive director Paul Jolly. Jolly, who is retiring, had headed the Petco Foundation since 1999. Under Jolly the Petco Foundation raised and donated more than $110 million to U.S. animal charities. Previously a Washington D.C. attorney, Kogut represented the financial firm Capital One in various capacities, including as director of community reinvestment, overseeing philanthropic giving and employee volunteer programs. Kogut only 10 days earlier was named as a founding partner of a new organization called Humane Network, begun with Diane Blankenburg, who left a position at Nevada Humane Society on May 3, 2013, and Bonney Brown, executive director of the Nevada SPCA since 2007, who announced her resignation on April 25, 2013, effective in mid-July. Kogut “applied for the Petco Foundation job a while back and we’re happy for her because it’s such a great opportunity,” Brown told ANIMAL PEOPLE. “Diane Blankenburg and I are moving forward with Humane Network––Diane and I started Humane Network a few years back, just had not focused on it. There is no relationship or connection between Humane Network and Petco,” Brown added. Brown left the Nevada Humane Society after achieving a 47% reduction in shelter killing in Reno and Washoe county, compared with a reduction of about 8.5% in Nevada beyond the NVS service radius. Brown explained the Humane Network will “provide practical information and resources customized for individual agencies or communities,” including “general management and development-related support” to help communities reduce shelter killing. “We have already done projects for Best Friends and the American SPCA and hope to work with them and others in the future,” Brown said.
