PawsCo is a 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to animals. Our team is proud to serve the dogs and cats who need us the most. Get to know us below!
Volunteer Leadership Team
Stacey McMahan, Senior Director of Brand Management
Stacey has been an animal lover her entire life, driven by a deep compassion for giving animals the love, care, and second chances they deserve. She enjoys using her extensive experience in brand design, storytelling, marketing strategy, and creating captivating data-driven content to help promote PawsCo’s mission. When she’s not working, she enjoys reading, backpacking, and exploring Colorado with her 7-year-old adopted pup, Oliver.
Katelyn Massey, Senior Director of Operations
Katelyn wholeheartedly believes in PawsCo’s mission and has held various Leadership Team positions over the past 10 years. In her day job she is a Digital Marketer, and as a Senior Director for PawsCo, she focuses on process improvements, website updates, strategic partnerships, and more. She has a soft spot for senior animals and bully breeds, but loves pups of all shapes and sizes! She spends her free time dog-walking and pet-sitting, reading, listening to podcasts, and hanging with her pup, Nollie!
Anais Salcido, Co-Senior Director of Animal Relations
Anais is a true animal lover with a passion for improving the welfare of animals. Her dedication to animal rescue and welfare is evident through her work and personal life and she understands first-hand the important role animals play in our lives, and this drives her to make a difference. She finds it rewarding to see animals come around and heal from past traumas.In 2020, Anais began volunteering with PawsCo and has since dedicated her time and efforts to helping animals in need. Her goal is to continue her work in animal rescue and make a positive impact on the lives of animals.
Pets: Dogs – Ollie, Spencer. Cats – Sadie, Sophie
Haifa Sweeny, Co-Senior Director of Animal Relations
Haifa joined the Pawsco team in January 2022 in memory of her beautiful chihuahua-mix, Olive, who was rescued as a puppy by a foster. Haifa wants to give other animals the same opportunity to thrive and feel safe while they find their forever families. Aside from her volunteer work with Pawsco, Haifa enjoys cooking elaborate meals with her husband, traveling, spending time with friends, and working at her day-job in marketing.
Pet: Olive
Abbey O’Neal, Foster Director
Linda Chase, Foster Associate Director
Linda Chase is a first grade teacher as well a children’s yoga instructor. She always has loved animals and is passionate about animal welfare and humane education. She believes that an important part of her job is educating children about animals and how they can be a voice for them. She began volunteering with PawsCo in March of 2018, doing Intake shifts. She hopes to expand the amazing things PawsCo is doing to include youth. Animal welfare and sheltering have changed so much in so many good ways and she believes that bringing children up to be more positively and compassionately involved in society is what will completely transform the lives and well-being of animals.
Brooke Bronson, Foster Associate Director
Brooke has loved animals her whole life, growing up in Minnesota with several dogs. She has volunteered with PawsCo helping in several capacities from Events to Foster Team and has fostered over 20 dogs. She enjoys onboarding and mentoring new fosters to keep them engaged and active in order to save more animals. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, camping, reading, and traveling.
Dicia Kemp, Intake Director
A Colorado native, Dicia lives in Denver with her dogs Cresta and Ziggy, as well as a Cat named Lil, all rescues. She has been passionate about giving voice to vulnerable populations both through work and volunteering. Dicia has been involved with PawsCo since 2013 and is still amazed daily by the incredible people this rescue draws in.She enjoys the outdoors and spending time with loved ones.
Ashton Wilpiszeski, Shelter Relations Director
Ashton has always been an animal lover and has never had a time in her life without a dog or cat (or both!) by her side. Ashton moved to Colorado in 2014 with her husband, and after they bought their first house a year later, she immediately began to look for ways to get more involved with local animal welfare groups. Ashton began as a foster for PawsCo and is now a part of the Shelter Relations team. Connecting animals with fosters and freeing up shelter space has become a passion for Ashton, and she loves being able to help save dozens of cats and dogs every year!
Cats: Dougie, Thaddeus & Brooklyn
Kella Manfredi, Shelter Relations Associate Director
Kella was a part of the inaugural PawsCo team in 2013 and is proud to still be with PawsCo a decade later. She has spent the last four years on the Shelter Relations Team working with shelter partners in Colorado. She values the dedication and passion of PawsCo volunteers and feels honored to be part of the solution. Kella is a dedicated foster and is on her 97th foster dog and counting. Kella truly believes in the underdog as a pitbull advocate, chihuahua lover, and giant breed specialist. Her mission is to rehabilitate and nurture those who need us most, especially those coming from neglect or abuse.
Pets: Tinysaurus Rex, Sloth & Partner
Aileen Beckler, Shelter Relations Associate Director
Aileen is an animal lover through and through and has always had a passion for animal welfare. She was first introduced to PawsCo when she adopted her cat from the organization and began volunteering in the spring of 2022 to honor the memory of her beloved dog, Mars. Aileen enjoys volunteering on the Shelter Relations team and seeing firsthand the positive impact that is made through matching animals with fosters and freeing up much needed shelter space. Beyond her day job and volunteering with PawsCo, Aileen enjoys spending time outside, fiber arts and curling up with a good book.
Pet: Bert (PawsCo Alum)
Lisa Frazer, Vet Care Director
Lisa became involved with PawsCo after her sister adopted a dog from the organization. She has always been passionate about animal welfare and is dedicated to making sure the animals receive the medical care they need and deserve. By day, Lisa is a family law attorney. She has fostered over fifty animals and looks forward to fostering more.
Dogs: Newman, Mike and PawsCo Alum King Rufus
Cats: Boris and Frankie
Megan Davan, Vet Care Associate Director
Megan is a Colorado native who has always been an animal lover, wanting to help animals since childhood. She started fostering for PawsCo in 2013 and soon realized she had a passion for animal rescue. She has held various roles within PawsCo, and now loves being part of the vet team. Megan has two rescue pups of her own, Norri and Kahlua, and believes that every animal deserves a forever home, which is what motivates her to volunteer with PawsCo.
Emily Kelly-Fischer, Training Director
Emily joined the PawsCo team in summer 2021, inspired by her rescue pups. Emily is a dog behavior nerd who loves helping pet guardians learn the best ways to communicate with their animals in a positive way and to set them up for successful, joyful lives in their adoptive homes. When not volunteering with PawsCo, Emily works in nonprofit administration and enjoys gardening with her pup Cincy, who’s very good at digging holes in the backyard.
Natalie Marvin, Training Associate Director
Natalie found her passion for dogs in 2016 when she started walking and boarding dogs in her Brooklyn apartment. Since then she has foster-failed her dog, Beanie, and has been working with dogs professionally for 8 years. Natalie is currently studying for her dog training certification. While in Brooklyn, she volunteered with a local foster rescue for 7 years to help transport and handle dogs. It was such a fulfilling feeling seeing these dogs off to their new lives. She moved to Colorado in 2023 and wanted to get involved with a local rescue. PawsCo looked like the perfect place to volunteer!
Mallory Scott, Volunteer Director
Mallory started with PawsCo in 2020 with a desire to get more involved in the Denver community and specifically to work with an animal welfare organization that helps dogs like her rescue, Duke. She jumped in feet-first into the Volunteer Director position with a drive to help grow the Volunteer Team and ensure that all volunteers feel connected and valued at PawsCo. When Mallory isn’t volunteering with PawsCo, she works for a benefits administration technology company in the Denver Tech Center. Mallory is a proud Colorado native and grad of CU Boulder!
Pets: Duke (a rescue pup who thinks he truly is royalty)
Emily Lowe, Volunteer Associate Director
Emily is from Georgia and moved to Colorado in 2022 after a seasonal job left her with a love for the state. She joined PawsCo in January 2024 with a desire to pour into her new community and share her love for animals. Emily has always had a passion for animals but discovered her passion for people recently. The Volunteer Team felt like the perfect combination of helping people feel connected to and get involved in their community while also helping shelter animals have a real chance. Outside of PawsCo, Emily works in property leasing and loves reading good books, finding the best hikes, cooking, painting and spending time with those she loves. She’s the proudest mom to a 9 year old pit bull/red heeler mix, Winston.
Esther Books, Relinquishment Director
Esther has been following the PawsCo mission through her friend and PawsCo Director Lisa Frazer for many years. When she lost both her rescue dogs in 2022, she decided to finally join as a foster. Her first foster dog, Lizzie, delivered 8 puppies in her home and from there her ‘foster count’ quickly staggered to 24 dogs in 1 year. Luckily, her loyal ‘top dog’ Molly is tolerant and the most easy-going foster sibling any pup could ask for. When her day-job as an Enterprise Customer Success Manager required her to travel, she became our Relinquishment Director to help the cause while on the road. The decision to relinquish a pet is never an easy one, so Esther is looking to provide support to those having to consider it. Her goal is to coordinate resources in collaboration with the Leadership Team to help rehome pets and avoid surrendering to a shelter.Mary Ervin, Relinquishments Associate Director
Mary joined PawsCo in memory of her former PawsCo rescue, Dooder, after moving back to the Denver area in the fall of 2023. She’s had rescue pets her entire life and started fostering with PawsCo to help dogs on their journey to find their forever homes. She has a soft spot for the shutdown dogs trying to adjust and trust again! She enjoyed fostering so much that she wanted to become more involved in helping other dogs to avoid difficult situations and the shelter environment. Outside of PawsCo, Mary works as a speech language pathologist in skilled nursing communities, and enjoys spending time with friends, reading, travel, and scuba diving.
Khali Okazaki, Technology Director
Khali has been with PawsCo since July 2023. She started out as a foster and eventually joined the bio, pics, and web posting teams. In her spare time, you can usually find her running, reading, or walking around the neighborhood with her husband, daughter, and two dogs. Khali is looking forward to getting more involved with PawsCo and supporting our tech tools and processes!
Pets: Roman the happiest Doodle and Cora the Sheltie/Dachshund bundle of love!
Catherine Layden, Biographies Director
Catherine has always adopted rescue pets and can’t imagine life without animal companionship. (Rest in purrs, beloved Caruso, Big Bear and Maddie!) Her husband found their PawsCo cat Juniper the very same day as their overcrowded shelter cat Fluffy arrived from out of state in a rescue pilot’s private jet! Since few pets get that lucky, Catherine began transporting shelter pets on freedom rides and joined PawsCo. She enjoys working across many teams, writing pet biographies, engaging volunteers and helping with adoptions. She is the owner/founder of a nutrition practice focused on digestive wellness.
Katie Dahm, Partnerships Director
Katie started volunteering in animal welfare after she lost her 14-year-old rescue pup, Gomez. She joined PawsCo in 2016 and has since served as a foster and in various director and senior director roles. She has a soft spot for fostering bully breeds and special needs cases. She currently enjoys connecting community partners with PawsCo to help support our fosters. During the day, Katie is a clinical psychologist in a trauma clinic.
Jake Guggenmos, Transport Director
Jake became involved with PawsCo after transitioning from a dog groomer to an office job and missing the four-legged companionship. He has always been passionate about animal welfare and loves to look for unique ways to get involved – specifically, ways to help when fostering isn’t right for your household. When not volunteering, Jake enjoys challenging hikes, rock climbing and spending time with his dog (Baby Ruth) and cat (Kit Kat).
Cristina Taormina, Transport Associate Director
Cristina is a passionate animal lover and devoted advocate for animal welfare. She joined PawsCo to lend a hand in helping vulnerable animals find their forever homes and live their happiest lives. She works on different teams within PawsCo and is always eager to pitch in where needed. She believes that while you can’t change an animal’s past, you can create a brighter future for them. When not volunteering, Cristina is an avid reader, classic movie buff and loves snapping pictures of her foster pets with silly filters.
Charlene Emory-Proctor, Marketing Director
Emma Firnett, Events Director
