Our Board

John Weil is a practicing attorney and has been a resident of Yuma for over 30 years. John joined the HSOY board of directors to help champion their noble mission of improving the quality of life for the countless lost and abandonded animals here in Yuma county and to promote the campaign for a new shelter.

Chuck Nordquist moved to Yuma in 2002 and works for the City of Yuma. Chuck is a proud graduate of the University of Washington where he headed a study of captive Killer Whales for the Department of Psychology. He and wife Bobbi Ukura have two rescued cats, Pearl and Dinah, and three rescued dogs, Casey, Grace and Minnie. Chuck has a strong desire to represent those who can not speak for themselves yet give us boundless love. His commitment to the motto “Save One ‘Til There Are None” is unwavering as is his commitment to the creation of a new shelter.

Dan Montoya, born in Yuma, earned a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Arizona and has been a member and affiliated with The Montoya Group, LLC since 1986 where he works in Succession Exit and Transition Planning for businesses.

Dan married Sylvia in '84 and they have two young adult children, a calico cat (rescued) and a little old wiener dog. For many years the children of the household drove pet decisions but now the kids are out of the house and the pets are more "in" than ever.

Dan's community involvement in Yuma spans three decades: a member of Fort Yuma Rotary since '87, he served ten years as a Director of Arizona's Children Association and has experience with Arizona Western College Foundation Board. Dan intends to employ that body of experience to advance Humane Society of Yuma's mission.

Page Misenhimer moved to Yuma in 1987 from Tucson. He is partners in Misenhimer, Aivazian, and Tennant PC. He always had pets growing up and was involved with 4H with his kids. Page joined the Board of the Humane Society of Yuma so his efforts can help all the homeless animals, support the committee for the new shelter and help educated the public. He believes that together with the rest of the board they will make a difference in Yuma County. Page along with his wife currently owns 4 dogs ranging from 6 years old to 15 years old. All have been rescued from a shelter or the side of the road. The most current dog came from Rescue a Golden of Arizona.

Karen has lived in Yuma since 2001, moving here from San Diego. One thing that she loves about Yuma is that it is so animal friendly. After visiting the shelter in order to adopt, Karen decided that Yuma's homeless animals needed her help. She began by volunteering as a Foster Parent and has continued on from there. As a Board Member, Karen will expand her ability to help the shelter pets.

A fifth generation Yuman, Greg Bussell has served on the HSOY board since 2005. Greg has worked for Coca-Cola for over twenty years. Prior to being employed by Coca-Cola, Greg did wildlife management, wildlife habitat constructrion and back country firefighter.

He and his wife have lived on the South Mesa for twenty years, caring for animals, both livestock and domestic which they consider family.

He believes his mission as HSOY board member has been to upgrade our local Humane Society by making the local citizen aware of  the culture change we must possess to shift the overpopulation of our dogs and cats to a manageable level.

Vicki attended schools in Yuma from K-12th. She received an Associate of Arts degree from AWC and her Bachelor of Science degree in education from NAU. She grew up on the Yuma mesa when it was desert and citrus groves with a few pioneering families.

She is a cerified scuba diver having explored the earth's waters, jungle trekked through rainforests, and traveled Africa on an animal photography safari.

During her childhood, her parents allowed a menagerie of pets including mice, rabbits, birds and a baby skunk her father rescued from a ditch. Those small creatures lived along with the family cats, dogs, and horses. She was involved in 4-H projects.

Vicki is married to Jim Kerley and together, they've turned a small construction business into a residential and commercial development company. Their latest projects are Belleza Homes, Patagonia, and Picaflor.

Besides her committment and involvement with the construction of the new animal shelter, she also enjoys saltwater fishing and gardening with a focus growing edible flowers.

Sherrell has been a resident of Yuma since 1984 (when her late husband was transferred here with his job) and a realtor since 1986. She lives in the country with numerous cats, dogs, geese , fish and birds! She became a member the Humane Society of Yuma Board of Directors in 2000 and has remained a member ever since and served one year as President. Sherrell has worked closely with the society helping with day to day operations when needed, fundraisers, newsletters and other aspects of shelter life and the humane movement. She is dedicated to helping provide a better life, not only for the animals of Yuma, but animals worldwide.

Sherrell currently is a Broker Associate with Realty Executives and when not working real estate spends time at her cabin near San Diego, gardening and HSOY.

Larry moved to Yuma in 1952 from Gary, Indiana. He graduated from Yuma High School and shortly thereafter became involved in the farm machinery business. He is currently employed as the regional Sales Manager at RDO Equipment, the local John Deere dealership.

Larry and his wife, Sandy, have been very active supporters of HSOY for many years. Currently they share their home with their two felines, Minnie and Miss Teree.

As a member of HSOY's Board of Directors, Larry will utilize the business skills he uses successfully on a daily basis with the hope of improving the welfare of all homeless animals in our community. Larry is glad that he will also be able to continue to support the New Shelter Project with this more "hands-on" opportunity.

Born and raised in Yuma, Kyla Smith comes from a long line of animal lovers. She currently has five dogs, all girls, which she rescued. Animal welfare, and in particular the welfare of our local animals, is her passion.

John Townsend, an Independent Insurance Agent for 35 years, joined the HSOY board of directors this past year to assist in the valiant efforts of the organization to promote the well being of our animal friends and the value they have in our lives. Growing up on a farm and ranch in Texas, John developed a love for all animals. He strives to help educate the community of the need to reduce the homeless pet population in our community and is dedicated to the organization by actively supporting all efforts in building a new animal shelter in Yuma.

Born & raised on a ranch in Antelope, California, from an early age Jan has had a passion for animals and their welfare.  Jan owned and operated a court reporting firm in Sacramento for 16 years and "retired" to Yuma with her husband, Gary, 12 years ago and now owns and operates properties in Yuma.

Jan began volunteering her first year in Yuma with Friends of the Humane Society, a group which later became Planned Pethood.  After serving on the Board of Planned Pethood for a number of years in various capacities she stepped down from that Board and began focusing her attention on volunteer work for HSOY. 

Jan has four cats of her own and many cat visitors at any given time.  She joined the Board of HSOY to help improve the lives of those animals brought to Yuma's shelter and to promote spaying and neutering to decrease the number of unwanted animals in our community.