Kathy Stevens
Founder and Director
Kathy Stevens, Founder and Director of CAS, spent her childhood on a Virginia horse farm. Kathy moved to Boston for graduate school, and after a decade of teaching high school English, she was asked to head a charter school. Instead, one year later, she opened Catskill Animal Sanctuary, one of the country's leading havens for farm animals and a center for raising public awareness of their sentience and their suffering. She is the author of two critically and popularly-acclaimed books, Where the Blind Horse Sings and Animal Camp, a blogger on farm animal issues for the Huffington Post, and a frequent contributor to books and articles on farm animals, vegan living, and related issues. Kathy is an avid reader, loves to hike, swim, and bike, and spends rare quiet time with her close friends.
Linda Soper-Kolton
Senior Director, Communications and Outreach & Vegan Culinary Instructor
Linda originally came to CAS to fill the role of vegan chef and culinary instructor for our Compassionate Cuisine program. She graduated from Manhattan's Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts where she studied health-supportive cooking and whole food dietary theory. As the owner of a vegan cafe, she had been cooking and teaching professionally in order to inspire people to explore veganism as a way to improve their overall wellness and support a more compassionate world. While working as our chef/instructor, Linda was asked to draw upon her other professional background, non-profit management, to help guide and support the efforts of the Outreach and Communications team. In her dual role, she hopes to increase the impact of our mission. Chef Linda lives in Connecticut with her husband, 11-year-old son, two pugs and cat.
Julie Barone
Business Manager
Julie was born and raised in Ulster County, New York, and holds degrees in Mathematics, Interactive Multi-Media Technology, and Nutrition. Her formal training serves her well, as she runs the main office and handles everything from database administration, online and printed communications, financial book keeping, the volunteer program, and animal intake and adoptions. When she's not on the farm, Julie can be found hitting the heavy bag at the local muay thai kickboxing gym, studying aromatherapy, expanding her private practice as a holistic health counselor, and taking long walks with her beautiful dog, Gabriella.
Michelle Alvarez
Outreach Director
Born and raised in New York City, Michelle joined the staff in 2009, after volunteering for over a year. Her responsibilities include recruiting new supporters, overseeing CAS's fundraising efforts, increasing public awareness of CAS, and planning special events. Prior to CAS, Michelle spent over a decade as a public interest lawyer, with a focus on environmental justice litigation and policy initiatives. When she's not at the farm, Michelle can be found in New York City with her partner and their four rescued cats, where she obsessively practices samurai sword fighting and kickboxing. She also enjoys off-road mountain biking and white water rafting.
Leah Craig Chumbley
Communications Director & Assistant to the Director
A North Carolina native, Leah Craig graduated from North Carolina State University with a degree in Communications and minors in Non-Profit Studies and Animal Science. Her commitment to working with non-profit organizations and deep passion for animal welfare brought her to CAS. Leah Craig's duties include managing CAS's online and printed communications, assisting with fundraising, increasing public awareness of CAS, and overseeing the CAS website. In her dual role, Leah Craig also provides administrative support to Director Kathy Stevens. She moved to NY in 2011 and loves exploring the great restaurants, stores, outdoor activities, and music scene that make the Hudson Valley region so special!
Rebecca Moore
Program Director
Rebecca became vegetarian at age eleven when confronted with caring for a chicken on a rare childhood trek out of NYC. Since then, she has evolved to a vegan lifestyle and brings to CAS decades of personal and professional advocacy on behalf of our animal friends, be it working as animal caretaker for rescued farm animals, fundraising and administrative efforts on behalf of animal organizations, overseeing a herd of rescued alpaca in California, or ferrying animals to safety in her former hometown of NYC. At CAS Rebecca oversees the development and implementation of educational programs such as Camp Kindness, group visits, Compassionate Cuisine, and more. In her off-hours she is a musician who shares her world with two chickens and two cats.
Caleb Fieser
Construction Manager & Carpenter
Caleb grew up in Germantown, NY. He was raised learning and perfecting carpentry from his father, who has done restoration work with Historic Hudson Valley for many years. Caleb leads CAS's construction projects including: the Homestead, CAS at 32, and the building and maintenance of barns and shelters. He is also responsible for the overall upkeep of our grounds. Caleb has renovated old farmhouses, and loves to kayak and craft furniture.
Kathy Keefe
Farm Manager
A small business owner/manager for many years, Kathy joined the CAS crew part-time in 2006. She has served in many different volunteer and staff roles since then, and we are thrilled to have her join us full-time! As Farm Manager, Kathy oversees the daily care of all of our animals and manages barn staff and volunteers. Kathy lives in Catskill with her beloved dogs, ducks, cats, and partner Alex. In her free time she enjoys hiking, reading, watching movies, gardening, and talking to her favorite person: her 22 year old daughter.
Jenn Mackey
Animal Care Coordinator
Born and raised between Woodstock and Saugerties, Jenn loves the Hudson Valley. She has a background in veterinary tech and is responsible for the healthcare of all the animals at CAS. Jenn has a horse farm in Saugerties where she does boarding, training, and lessons. She lives happily with her wonderful son William, husband Russ, and lots of furry friends. Jenn loves spending time with her family, her wonderful horse Beauty, and her potbelly pig Ceasar.
Russ Mackey
Animal Care Staff
Born and raised in New Paltz, Russ managed retail stores before discovering his true love: animals. He now lives surrounded by many of them on his farm in Saugerties where his family includes his wife, step son, horses, goats, pigs, dogs, cats, and amphibians. Russ is responsible for animal feed routes, cleaning shelter areas, and assisting with animal health care. In his spare time he can be found on the golf course or in the bowling alley.
Erin Murphy
Animal Care Staff
Originally from Fishkill, Erin migrated to Ulster County where she earned her M.S. in Elementary Education. Erin is responsible for animal feed routes, cleaning shelters, and animal care at CAS. She resides in Kingston with her husband Tim, dog, cats, bearded dragon, and ball python. In her spare time, Erin enjoys taking trail rides with her equine soulmate, Honey, gardening, practicing archery, crafting, and reading.
Judi Boruta
Gardener
Judi received her BFA degree in sculpture and painting from the San Francisco Art Institute before migrating to the Hudson Valley where she has lived in the Town of Olive ever since. The Hudson Valley is where her passion for art and the environment blossomed and for the past eight years she has worked as a professional gardener for private, organic gardens. Judi is in charge of CAS's organic garden that serves as a CSA and supplies food for our programs (and sometimes feeds the pigs as well!) between April and October. When Judi isn't in the garden she enjoys hiking, swimming, cooking and spending time with her three children.
Sara Allexander
Bookkeeper
Sara grew up in the suburbs of Boston and the Sugarbush Valley of Vermont. She always dreamed of living on a farm, and since joining the staff in September 2012, this is the closest she has gotten to date! She has spent the past 25 years providing accounting and finance management to creative companies in NYC, and now serves as CAS's bookkeeper. Sara’s other skills and interests are swimming, hiking, and exploring the great restaurants of the Hudson Valley. Her greatest joy at CAS is hanging with the goats!
