ABOUT US

Our Team

Meet our senior leadership staff

Our staff is full of dedicated, caring people who go above and beyond every single day to help the pets and people in our community. We are thrilled to introduce you to our Senior Leadership team!

The Humane Society of Southern Arizona values and champions diversity and inclusion. These values are part of who we are.

Together, we will continue to build an inclusive culture that encourages, supports, and celebrates the diverse voices of our HSSA team and the communities we serve.

Steve Farley, Chief Executive Officer

Steve is a proven leader who served Tucson for twelve years at the Arizona State Legislator and as the longtime owner of Stephen Farley Design. During his time at the Capital, Steve was named Humane Legislator of the Year several times, including for his successful effort to ban the cruelty of greyhound racing in Arizona. Steve also spent three years as a volunteer animal behaviorist at the San Francisco SPCA where he worked gentling hard-case shelter dogs to make them more adoptable and worked their national behavior hotline to help foster parents solve their animals’ behavior problems.

Diana Cannon, Chief Development Officer

Diana Cannon has never spent a day of her life without a dog. A Michigan native, she grew up in a family that loved and valued their pets as members of the family. Beagles were her father’s dog of choice until one day Diana asked if she could have a dog of her very own. Her parents took her to the humane society and there she found and adopted her childhood friend “Penny.” For 14 years, until Diana left for college, Penny was her constant companion.

Diana is a longtime resident of Tucson and deeply involved in the affairs of the Tucson community through her career and volunteer involvement. She has extensive experience in business development in both corporate and nonprofit. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Western Michigan University and numerous accreditations in sales management and leadership. Diana has a strong sense of volunteerism and has been involved in a variety of Tucson nonprofit organizations over the past 25 years.

Diana believes that pets teach us humanity: “They give us their absolute all and we owe them love, faith, and trust.”

Diana and her husband have three miniature dachshunds – Daphne, Dottie, and Dixie – and have since adopted Dory, DD, and Darby from the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.

Christian Gonzalez, Chief Programs Officer

Christian Gonzalez is HSSA’s Chief Programs Officer, dedicated to the sheltering and placement of the thousands of pets that enter HSSA’s facility each year. In his 12 years of service, which started as a kennel technician, he has been an advocate for implementing new programs and creating a holistic approach to animal care.

Growing up on the Arizona/Mexico border, Christian knows all too well the number of stray and unwanted pets in our Southern Arizona communities. As a young boy, he would sneak injured and homeless pets into his bedroom and nurse them back to health. In his current role as Chief Programs Officer, he has been a driving force over the past 16 months to help find better ways to care for the pets needing temporary shelter. His tireless efforts have helped 95 percent of the animals entering our facility find new homes or alternative placement.

In his spare time, Christian displays great talent in the kitchen. However, his other true passion is spending his time caring for and rescuing reptiles. He has been involved in the rescue and placement of hundreds of reptiles nationwide.

Eileen Ratajczak, Chief Financial Officer

Eileen is not your typical CFO – she doesn’t ‘do taxes’. Working with not-for-profit organizations is her passion. Over the past 25+ years, she’s held leadership positions at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Tucson Medical Center, and Planned Parenthood of Southern Arizona, to name a few, and she’s served on several nonprofit boards.

Eileen graduated from the University of Arizona in 1992 with a BS in Accounting, received her Arizona CPA license in 1998, and has spent thousands of hours in continuing education to stay on top of the annual changes in the rules and regulations of financial accounting and reporting.

Tucson’s been her home town since she was 2, even as she lived in other cities around the US during her high school years. After buying a house in a new neighborhood on the west side twenty years ago, rescuing stray dogs running through the wash was practically a weekly ritual, but she hasn’t seen a single stray in the past few years. Eileen love animals of all kinds, but there’s a special place in her heart for big, black dogs. Oni, Noche, and Dante will stay in her heart forever, and she’s looking forward to finding her next pack member.

Inge Koopman-Leyva, Director of Education and Outreach

Inge Koopman-Leyva is recognized throughout the region as an innovative, creative and organized leader in Humane Education serving Tucson, Arizona for almost two decades in Humane Education. She is an active member of the Association of Professional Humane Educators and the Animal Cruelty Taskforce of Southern Arizona.

Inge moved to Tucson in 2003 from her birth state of New York where she lived in Brooklyn while working in New York City for many years as a Veterinary Technician and Membership Associate for the American Museum of Natural History. She has her B.A. in Anthropology, with a minor in Sustainable Development, from Hunter College in NYC.

Dave Eshbaugh, Director of Donor Relations

Dave Eshbaugh has 25+ years of experience working and volunteering for nonprofits, including managing organizations, developing community and donor support, and raising funds. Dave was formerly director of philanthropy for Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, chief development officer at Oregon College of Oriental Medicine, individual partnership officer for the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation, executive director of the Oregon State Parks Trust, executive director and vice president of Audubon Oregon (the Oregon state office of the National Audubon Society), and executive director of Audubon Society of Portland. Previously, he worked as a consultant, college instructor, and archaeologist. He received his M.A. (anthropology/archaeology) from Arizona State University and B.A. (anthropology) from Miami University in Ohio.

Dave loves spending time with his artist and acupuncturist wife, Dawn-Starr, and two Labrador Retrievers, Katie (a “repurposed” guide dog for the blind) and Sadie (a rescue dog). He is a lifelong nature enthusiast and an avid birder. He enjoys traveling, getting to know new people and cultures, and has visited all 50 states, 34 other countries, and Antarctica. He also likes activities that require strategy and concentration, from chess to fly-fishing.

Kelley Smith, Director of Finance

Kelley Smith has worked for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona since 2013 and was a volunteer before that. She has a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Accounting and Economics. Animals have always been an important part of the family growing up, and all of her current animals have come from HSSA. She has two bunnies, Zero and Peanut Butter, and a Pit Bull, Mika, who’s afraid of them.