February 3, 2025 • 30 mins
Since her appointment as President and CEO in 2010, Dr. Ganzert has spearheaded unprecedented growth and transformational change at the historic 145-year-old nonprofit, American Humane. American Humane has reemerged as the most effective humane organization, directly impacting the lives of more animals around the world than any other organization through innovative, life-changing and life-saving programs that set the gold standard in animal welfare and protection
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This week's episode of CEOs You Should Know features the
President and CEO of American Humane, Robin Gansert, PhD. She's
overseen the growth and development of innovative and life saving
programs while also being a celebrated author and an executive
producer of an award winning documentary. We're chatting with her
about leading the nation's first national humane organization in animal rescue.
(00:21):
She's a transformative leader, and she's joining us today. Our
conversation with doctor Robin Ganzert is right here on CEOs
You Should Know.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I grew up in the South.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
If you can't tell by my accent, but actually I
was born in Florida. My dad was in the Navy
at the time, so I was initially a military brat,
and then we moved around this great country, mostly focusing
on Southern states. I went to wake Forest University, go Deacons.
Then I finished my master's at wake fores my PhD
(00:51):
at the University of North.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Carolina in Greensboro.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And so I come to you with a great deal
of Southern background, but a lot of work in the nonprofits,
and that's why I'm here today.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Well, we're thrilled to talk to you, and we have
a little bit in common because I used to live
in Raleigh for years, So I know your schools very
well and they're Greade schools, and I'm glad you got
a great education. And that's where I'd like to start
about going out of school now. Obviously we're here to
talk a lot about American Humane and there's so many
cool things starting in eighteen seventy seven, what you've done
over almost fifteen years now, which is absolutely incredible, about
(01:23):
the programs and ways to give and all the cool
things and what you exactly do. But coming out of school,
what did you want to do? Because you've got a
really diverse background. I mean, you've been in finance and
then a nonprofit. But what do you want to do
coming out of school?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
So when I graduated from Wake Forest, I knew I
knew that I wanted to be a university treasurer.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Really yes, that's very specific, very specific.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I said, I'm going to get my PhD, I'm going
to finish my MBA, I'm going to have lots of certifications.
In fact, I have a lot of financial and accounting
certifications for a career as a university treasurer. And my
mother said, stop getting so many certifications, since you have
more certifications than you do children, so I think you've
proven a point.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I said, thank you, mom, I guess I did.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so when I finished up my PhD, I was
still working full time at wake Forest University. I loved
my time at that gorgeous campus, both as a student
and then as a staff member assistant dean for Finance
and administration with the NBA School and all. And I
had an opportunity, you know, those opportunities come and knocking.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Sometimes sometimes out of nowhere, out of.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Nowhere, and it was Walkkovia Bank and they said to me, Robin,
we're creating a new think tank and philanthropy and we
know that you have the financial skills that will align
you nicely with our wealth management division, but we would
like for someone to specialize in the nonprofit space.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And we believe you have those skills.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So I became the first ever director of the Center
for plan Giving in the Center for Philanthropy at Walkovia.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
And before I turned.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Around, I was fortunate to have over five thousand nonprofit clients.
Our team's book of business that I ran and went
around the country, met with all these incredible charities and
I knew then that this was my heart and my
life was that I was going to work in the
philanthropic sector, and that I wanted my life to be
(03:16):
devoted not just to serving as a university treasure, which
is noble and indeed very for yes, but to be
more engaged in meaningful social impact. And that's was learned
through my first career step at Walcovia Bank, leading their
Center for plan Getting and their Philanthropic Strategies Unit and Robin.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
That takes us to twenty ten, about fifteen years ago. Now,
I do want to ask you this, yes, because we're
leading into the job at American Humane. Now you've talked
a little bit about your diverse background and what you've done.
I can certainly see why they were interested in you
joining the organization, but why did you want to join them?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So I felt that this was an opportunity for me
to learn the philanthropic space from a key driver. You
cannot build social good in the NGO sector without financial resources,
and I had a skill set in the financial resources,
as my mother told me, more certifications than children right,
and a PhD in nonprofit finance.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So I knew that I.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Had a talent where that was and that that could
be a very important factor in working in social impact.
I wasn't sure which side I would stay on. Would
I stay on the wealth management side serving to drive
assets into the nonprofit sector, or would I actually go
into the nonprofit sector. And that's when again opportunity came
(04:37):
a knocking, as we say in the South, and it
was the Pew Charitable Trust. The Pew Charitable Trust grew
from a bank. Did you know that, Yes, it's fascinating story.
And so when Pew came to me and offered me
a very unique position, it was a wonderful opportunity to
join one of the world's top think tanks in philanthropy
(04:59):
to drive social good. And so I immediately took that
opportunity and spent some formative years in my career with
the Pew Charitable Trust, which again was the launching pad
for me to become the CEO for American Humane.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Right and also probably just a great training ground too
for you right for the next level.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Well remarkable.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Rebecca Raimel was the CEO at Pew at the time.
I learned so much from Rebecca. I learned so much
from the senior leaders at Pew importantly, how to drive
incremental change, how to evaluate effective programs. So while I
knew the financial resources of the nonprofit sector, the program
impact and program effectiveness, the evaluation of those the key
(05:38):
performance indicators for social good, it was a question mark.
I didn't have that skill set until I had the
opportunity to experience Pew.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, I am glad you brought that up. I wanted
to divert just a little bit because I think there's
a good teaching lesson for our future entrepreneurs of people
who would like to lead a company. Yes, and my
daughter is now an aspiring filmmaker in New York, and
we've talked about this a lot since our high school
years about learning everything behind the scenes. If you want
to be a director or cinematographer, learn what everybody else does,
learn about blocking, lighting, audio, da da da da da
(06:07):
da da. That way, when you're in a little bit
more charge, you know what everybody's doing around you. That's
kind of what you did. You were getting all these
skill sets before becoming president and CEO of American Humaney.
And I imagine I'm not going to assume, but it paid.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Off, right, paid off.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I'm still I'm still here. We have incredible impact. We've
taken our work, as you know, from one country to
forty five countries is very definitely incredible in fourteen years.
And the number of animals we impact again, we count them.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Hoof print, Paul print, footprint, you know, you name it.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
We count these incredible creatures that we serve are over
one point five billion each and every year that we
have touched through our programs. And I feel very fortunate
and blessed every day to be in the space.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Well you should, and I know you're working very hard too,
because you're an accomplished author and podcaster and running a company.
I don't know how I have time for everything, but
I always know that CEOs and presidents have a lot
of extra energy like a rock musician, and I think
you have that. So let's talk about American Humane. Let's
do this first, because we're going to go into the
history and what you do. But what's the mission statement?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know what it's At American Humane. We are there
to uplift the healing power of the human animal bond.
We are the nations and I dare say the world's
biggest champion and protector of animals So when I think
about American Humaine, I think about rescue, care and protect
animals no matter where they are, they know no geographic bounds.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
So some of our listeners are going to be new
to American Humane even though it's been around since eighteen
seventy seven. And I want you to talk about that
in just a second, because it's truly incredibly one of
the first organizations out there that is charitable. But if
you were to give somebody maybe a thirty thousand foot
view robin about what you do, what would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
We're the largest certifier of the protection of animals around
the world. American Humane serves as global humane outside of
our country, and we protect over one point five billion
animals in all areas of our lives, from conservation, from
animals on farms and ranches, from animals and zoos and aquariums,
animals and entertainment and working animals. So wherever we see
(08:15):
an animal, American Humane has an initiative to ensure that
that animal has a humane life. How do we determine
what is to be humane? We get so emotional about
puppies and kittens, don't we But what we go to
is one of our fundamental core values is science. So
we have a group of the world's top scientists who
provide the critical success factors for each of our programs.
(08:39):
And then we added something else very important as we
talk about animals in our lives, and that's ethics. So
we have the world's top ethicist for animals also serving
at American Humane. So when I think about what we do,
we rescue, we care, protect, we serve as the globe's
largest voice for animal protection, and importantly, we define what
(09:00):
it is to be humane through science and evidence based practices.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Wonderful. So we mentioned eighteen seventy seven a couple times,
and I imagine that you did your research on the history.
Can you tell us about the origins of it and
exactly what it was back then to what it is today.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, my children think I was around in eighteen seventy seven,
so of course they think I was always the CEO
of American Humane because they've been raised with this great
charity in their lives, this great nonprofit. So in eighteen
seventy seven, our country was coming to terms with the
ravages of the Civil War. They were coming to terms
with cruelty and abuse and all of those horrific, horrific
(09:40):
changes that were going on in society, and what a
group of people started was this great organization called the
International Humane Society. I love that at the very formation
of this entity, they thought global. They were the very
first champions for farm animal protections. And you might say
why farm animals, It was because the railroads were going
(10:01):
into place. Then think about the transportation of herds and
flocks from the East coast out west and the unimaginable
losses to those animals lives that happened because there were
no stops for water, no food, and inhumane standards of care.
So it was farmers and ranchers who gathered forces with
American Humane to create the very first transportation laws for animals.
(10:25):
And that was American Humane also known as the International
Humane Society, who created that in the first years of
our founding. Since then we were behind the first ever
child cruelty actions and laws because child welfare was associated
with animals animals and children had no rights, and so
we were the very first advocates for children and animals
(10:47):
in the eighteen seventies and eighties and nineties, in the
turn of the century, and every single major advancement we'd
take for granted today for child protection and animal protection
was actually promulgated by American Humane.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So yes, eighteen seventy seven. People say, oh, we rescue
animals today, and I say to them, did you know
the very first rescue program occurred on the battlefields of
World War One. Think about trench warfare. Think about the
movie Warhorse, the Steven Spielberg so putts on the screen
and touches our hearts and our minds and our souls.
(11:23):
That was American Humane rescuing calvary horses and mules in
World War One. It was the Secretary of War of
our country that called my predecessor, doctor William Stillman, and said,
doctor Stillman, we need you, We need you to go overseas.
Before US boys went overseas, it was American Humane wo
(11:43):
caring for sixty one thousand war horses a month in
World War One. That was the very first idea of
animal rescue. And it was American Humane.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
It was there, and how historic incredible. Well, this is
a good segue into programs. And you've got nine that
are featured on the website, and I don't know if
you want to go through all of them. Very quickly,
but maybe you can touch on some of them, and
not necessarily the more important than the others, But can
you go through some of the programs.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
For us, absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
We talked about rescue, and to this very day we're
rescuing animals that were left behind in the ravages of
Hurricane Aleen and Hurricanes Milton. We're there for fires and
floods this very day with six rescue caches stationed in
high prone disaster areas. American Humains there to reunite you
with your furry best friend in a time of disaster
and crisis. We've been doing that for well over one
(12:29):
hundred years. We think about the idea of animals and
film and entertainment, and you already know us. There are
no animals We're harmed program. We're on thousands of production
days every year ensuring that animals you see in film
and entertainment are humanly treated and that those animal stars
are given the care they so deserve. You already know
us through our American Humane Certified program. If you eat
(12:52):
a cage free egg or enjoy a butterball turkey at
Thanksgiving time, those are all American Humane certified. That program
has been around almost twenty five years and allows us
to make sure that animals aren't farms and ranches have
a humane life. It's very, very important you already know
us through our conservation program if you enjoy some of
(13:13):
the world's top zoos and aquariums where you're introduced to
an incredible megafauna and you fall in love with a
rhino or elephant. Those zoos and aquariums that have our
Good Housekeeping Silver approval, our American Humane Certified Seal are
the world's very best, and we're very proud of that initiative.
And of course you may know us, particularly if you're
(13:34):
a veteran, through our Pups Repatriots Service Dog program. We
founded that over seven years ago, providing wounded warriors with
those healing paws and healing leashes, and we actually save
both ends of the leash. We've placed over three hundred
healing leashes on this very day and saved both lives
and the ends of the leash.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And that's just a tip of the iceberg, everybody. It's
just absolutely amazing. I do want to ask you a
question about Lead to Robin, and you're such a large
organization and I know you have staff and then you
have managers, and then you have people that work across
the globe with you. Yes, when it comes to the
vision of the organization, but also your vision, morals, ethics,
and how you want things to go down. Because there
(14:16):
are so many people, how does the work get trickled
down to make sure that the culture is stole there?
Your message is still there. Everybody's having a great time
with those work life balances, but still saying this is
American Humane. We're doing all the same thing. It's the
same mission for everybody right across the board.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
With that many people, well, we do have a lot
of people, and most importantly, all of our people care
about those animals. So this mission is personal. This mission
is we act professionally in terms of the way we
follow our core values that we instituted fourteen years ago.
Core values of a culture that embraces kindness, compassion, personal excellence,
(14:56):
accountability to the mission. Those are entwined and everyone's individual
performance goals.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Isn't that wonderful?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So when we talk about a culture of civility, it's
because we are running the world's oldest humanitarian organization. So
those values of what is to be humane to animals
are reflected in our culture, and I believe I'm the
number one culture champion, right I have to be. I
have to be, and so I recognize that I have.
It's what Betty White told me before she passed. She said, Robin,
(15:26):
I'm handing over to you heavy mantle of responsibility. I said,
oh no, Betty, I don't know about this. She said,
I'm getting old and I want to hand over to
you that heavy mantle of responsibility of animal welfare and protection.
Gave me goosebumps. It still does, and I share that
story to each and every colleague of American Humane. It's
(15:50):
our heavy mantle of responsibility to be that voice for
animals to be humane, and that starts with how we
are with each other and how we hold each other
to excellence, accountability, kindness, compassion, and most importantly love.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I love that. That's fantastic. And Betty Waite, if you
don't know, just loved animals, all animals. She was wonderful
and uh quite a treasure. So I'm glad you've got
some time with her. I think that's really special.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
She was our oldest supporter and champion seventy five years
of her ninety nine year life. She was engaged with
American Humane.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Amazing, absolutely amazing. I do want to talk to you
about challenges, and I always tell people in this series
that when we talk to leaders and CEOs and entrepreneurs
and presidents of the series that it's always windyst at
the top, and sometimes you know, when you have your issues,
there's not a lot of people that you can relate
with and talk to you about your problems. So I'm
here for you. So, but challenges in the industry, are
(16:48):
there any presenting you and your team right now?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, first of all, let me tell you who I
do tell my challenges to. His name is Julius Caesar,
and he's his most perfect cat in the world.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
So I have to sell of it. Julius Caes. Here's
it all. Listen. Oh, he's a great listener. He pers
right running through it.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
And he also gets his tuna every morning at six
am because he's an early riser.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
But I respect that. So he is certainly a great confident.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But when I think about challenges in this space, first
and foremost, there's always the challenges of resources, and there's
never enough to protect the animals in Africa, to the
animals in our own backyard, and so I say resources
are always a challenge, but that's where I think I
had early on in my career a great talent with finances.
(17:34):
So I ensure that there are key performance indicators with
every dollar that we spend, and that we hold each
other accountable to using our financial resources with excellence, to
expect that we have impact and accountability, and that we
measure our social impact. So first and foremost is a challenge,
never enough resources, but that makes us more responsible with
(17:56):
the resources that we have. Secondly, I don't think people
understand the crises with animals. They think, oh, Robin, you
get to work with puppies and kittens all day, and
I say, on some days those are the great ones.
Of course, I had the best cat ever with Julie
Is at home. But I also think about those animals
who have no voice, and we are facing what people
don't understand is real, and that is the sixth mass extinction,
(18:21):
where one million species will be gone in our children's
lifetime twenty twenty five years. The very web of life
on this earth as we know it will not be
the same. So as I think about those animal advocates
out there, it's important for us to understand that it's
more than our companion animals in our lives. We must
(18:42):
be better stewards of the earth because the loss of
species and the loss of individual animals matters today.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
More than ever.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
All right, let's talk about a good story. Now. I know,
with almost being fifteen years at the organization, yes, that
there are probably hundreds of great stories. But maybe you
could just share one with us about And this is
how I present it when I talk to people like
you that are in charge of organizations that are doing
some incredible things. This is why we get up every
day because that happened. Do you have a story for us?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I have lots of stories.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I know I do.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
That's an unfortunate question for me.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Given a limited time of a podcast.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So I'll tell you one. I'll talk you about Mighty Mitchell.
Mighty Mitchell is very very cute and charming boy, and
his T shirt said Mighty Mitchell. I took Mighty Mitchell
to Capitol Hill one day. Man, you know why. Mighty
Mitchell was winning his battle against a horrible form of
childhood cancer. Mighty Mitchell was one of the first kiddos
to participate in one of American Humane's innovative clinical trials
(19:40):
that work to prove the efficacy of the use of
therapy dogs for kids with cancer. This is one of
my dreams when I joined American Humaine, and so let's
talk about how we can show and prove in clinical
trials and drive great effective public policy by showing the
healing power of the human animal ball of I brought
my Mitchell to Capitol Hill and he told his stories
(20:02):
to members of Congress and we actually had the most
unbelievable study outcomes in eight children's hospitals around our great
country that prove the efficacy of the use of therapy
dogs for kids with cancer. And that is one of
the stories of Mighty Mitchell that gives me great hope
for the future because Mighty Mitchell not only a cancer survivor,
(20:23):
but an animal lover. And I'll have to tell you
it's the next generation of animal lovers who I will
transfer this heavy mantle of responsibilities to be the animal's
voice that Betty White gave.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Me to them.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Outstanding thanks for sharing that. I really appreciate that. Why
don't we stay on that Capitol Hill because part of
your job, I know, is advocating yes and not only
I will talk about ways to give it, and there's
many ways to give with American Humane We'll talk about
that in just a moment. But you're probably constantly advocating,
whether you're going to be going up on Capitol Hill
or you're going around the world. Can you expand on
that just a little bit for us.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yes, we just finished.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I just finished my second documentary film, Escape from Extinction Rewilding,
narrated by the legendary Meryl Streep. What a joy it
is to have her voice associated with this great message
and cause I'm so honored that Merrill gave up her
time and talent to participate in this incredible initiative. I
took Escape from Extinction and Rewilding on Capitol Hill. I
(21:22):
wanted to make sure that members of Congress had an
opportunity for a private screening that really exposed and indicated
the most pressing challenges that we faced, the biodiversity crisis
and the loss of animals in our lives. That was
an incredible opportunity to advocate for a work for to
protecting dangered species, work in their own backyards, to promote
(21:44):
community gardens, work to promote the healing power of the
human animal Bond. That's one example. I'm taking the film
to show to the EU Parliament. I'm scheduled to do
that in January. I'm scheduled to show the film in
November to the UK Parliament. I'm taking this one document
and every film to halls of government around the world
to indicate that we need to work together to create
(22:07):
communities have change. Those can happen globally, those can happen locally,
but it's important that we create communities of conversation around
this very pressing issue.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Well, I'm glad you have the opportunity to do this.
As I watch films all the time, especially documentaries, they
can be so powerful, yes, and that you're just watching
that for ninety minutes or however long a documentary would be,
and just being able to see it right there, all
in front of you. So I'm glad you're getting the
opportunity to do that. I think it's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Let's talk about ways to give because what's really cool.
When I got on the website several weeks ago, when
I found out I was going to chat with you,
I said, here's an organization as button Nut, because there
are a lot of ways to give, Yes, which is
cool because we're living in an age that you know,
if you're just doing this one donation, that's okay. But
it's so different how people give money today, or cars
(22:54):
or anything. It doesn't matter or crypto, it doesn't matter
what it is. You have many ways to give.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Can you talk about that.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
A little bit?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yes, absolutely so. Anyone that wants to make a difference
in the life of animals, have meaningful impact, create a
legacy of compassion, actually inspire your next generation by giving
your children an opportunity to make those gifts happen. You
can visit Americanhumane dot org and actually explore our many options.
I love their sophisticated gifting mechanisms through charitable trust and
(23:24):
legacy giving through wills and iras, which are always tax
advantage giving for sure. But there's also ways to make
a monthly gift, which is really important to create a
program that your family identifies and resonates with. We have
many veterans who make monthly donations to our Pups for
(23:45):
Patriots Service Dog program in honor of their own service,
in honor of somebody who might have passed away on
a field of battle. That's a really important opportunity to
have that person's legacy live on through a veteran and
service dog team. Wonderful is that to be able to
give that opportunity. We also see communities hit by disasters,
and those are our neighbors. I've lived for a long time,
(24:07):
as I shared with you in North Carolina, and Hurricane
Helene provide a great devastation there. I give to our
rescue program there. We have rescue trucks you could name
after your favorite dog. So I actually have a lot
of my dogs and my mother's dog on one of
our rescue trucks because my mother inspired me, so I
wanted to give a gift in her honor, and that's
her dog on our rescue truck that provides so much
(24:30):
services in our home of North Carolina. So when I
see all of there's many ways to give. Where is
your heart? Where is your passion? If you want to
give to save animals in Africa? I just bought a
farm in Africa. Can you imagine we're going to rewild
a place that hasn't seen white and black rhino in.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Two hundred years.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I'm cutting down.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Those fences in April and I'm so excited, so join
me in translocating in Rhino.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Well name the rhino after you. I love that, right.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I guess my point to ask you about this was
there's so much variety of ways you can give and
I love that you guys do that, so many options.
So thank you, and we'll give the website a couple
more times as we finish up the conversation. If you're
already having Google that we've given them once full, we'll
do that again. I did want to do this before
I get some final thoughts from Robin about advice. You've
been in this job, as we mentioned, for almost fifteen years,
and once again there's a lot of current CEOs and
(25:24):
entrepreneurs listeners program, but also a lot of young people
that want to do whatever their journey in there is
and yours is exclusive to you when we realize that.
But just maybe a little advice on your journey about
going because you did a lot of things before this
and now you've invested almost fifteen years in this job,
can you part a little advice to people that want
to maybe do something someboday like you do.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I've always known I wanted to have a life with
impact and so I do believe the first part of
my career was building those tools that I needed to
be able to effectively run an NGO such as American Humane.
And again when you're at the CEO in the geospace,
but I think this applies across a for profit areas
as well. Your passion has to be evident every single day.
(26:09):
So my advice is you have to truly love what
you do, and then you have to remember something that's
so important.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You have to.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Walk that talk every day. As I tell you, I'm
Chief Culture Officer, I work really hard, but I wouldn't
expect any of my colleagues to work any harder than
I do. I live this life of compassion, kindness and
love because this is the space I choose to be in.
(26:41):
I choose to be a humanitarian. Those are the values
that I share in a spouse, and that is how
I lead American Humane. And I expect our colleagues to
follow along in this journey that we're on together because
we have to lead by example. The world today needs
(27:02):
much more unconditional.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Love, agreed max kindness, passion, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
More kindness, and while we are showing this through the
Voice of Animals, Animals make.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Us better people.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
They sure do, They sure do, well said, and I'm
glad that you talked about passion. That's a common theme
with all of our leaders in this program. It's almost
the number one deal beside surrounding yourself with people that
are smarter than you and doing what they do and
just let them run at it. But I will say this,
and I relate my experiences in my industry to our
(27:35):
listeners as well too. All the years I've gotten jobs
and some real fun jobs as it taken me across
North America. The hiring manager once it got to know
me and told me, hey, you know why I hired you.
It was not because of your skill set or you're
good at this. I hired you because of your passion
for this business. Yes, and people really appreciate that and
they can feed off it. Yes, And I just think
(27:58):
that so powerful, folks said, I just don't want you
to underestimate is you go into whatever turns you on
to be super passionate about it, and that will take
care of almost everything else.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It does get you up in the morning, It sure does.
And despite whatever else is happening in the world, if
you can make a difference through your passion and importantly,
you know, what is driving me every day is the
fact that I have the privilege of working with volunteers
and staff who are literally humane heroes. These are people
(28:32):
who stop their own lives to rush into a disaster.
These are people who are connected with veterans ensuring that
suicide does not enter into their DNA and that their
lives have ever change by the matching with the service dog.
These humane heroes are inspiring to me, and I know
(28:54):
they make a huge difference in our communities around the
world and.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
A lot of selflessness too, and I think that's just wonderful.
As we wrap up our conversation in the last thirty minutes, Sarrea,
I've enjoyed it so much. But what I'd like to
do is get some final thoughts from you, Robin, and
I should really encourage people, as Robin will give the
website after some final thoughts for you, we're just hitting
the tip of the iceberg about what American Humane does.
It really truly is incredible, and you have to check
(29:18):
out the website and all they do, ways to give
and how you can be a part of it. But
if you could maybe do some final thoughts for us,
the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I always say, you can't protect what you don't love,
you can't love what you don't know. So many of
us have lost the connection to animals in our lives.
So many of us have lost the understanding how animals
make us better people. We've lost that connection to the
earth as well. So I would say to all listeners,
(29:48):
find that connection to animals, find the way that you
can fall.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
In love again.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Visit your local zoo and aquarium, Bring an animal into
your home. If you can't do so, volunteer at a
shelter plant, a butterfly garden, or a hummingbird feeder in
your yard. Bring animals into your life, and that, I
will tell you, will allow you to love, love your
life so much and allow you to change the world.
(30:17):
I know that many corporate leaders are listening to this
podcast today, and I'd like to encourage them to reach
out to American Humane. Perhaps we can provide rescue training
and education through an employee giving program as well. So
there's many ways to partner with American Humane to bring
animals into your employees' lives.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Such good words to live by. Let's give the website
one more time.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Robin americanumaane dot org.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Thank you so much for this and you've given a
lot and I know there's so much more to do
with you and your team, the volunteers and the world
than what American Human does. Thank you so much for this.
We really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Thank you so much for having me
This week's episode of CEOs You Should Know features the
President and CEO of American Humane, Robin Gansert, PhD. She's
overseen the growth and development of innovative and life saving
programs while also being a celebrated author and an executive
producer of an award winning documentary. We're chatting with her
about leading the nation's first national humane organization in animal rescue.
(00:21):
She's a transformative leader, and she's joining us today. Our
conversation with doctor Robin Ganzert is right here on CEOs
You Should Know.
Speaker 3 (00:29):
I grew up in the South.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
If you can't tell by my accent, but actually I
was born in Florida. My dad was in the Navy
at the time, so I was initially a military brat,
and then we moved around this great country, mostly focusing
on Southern states. I went to wake Forest University, go Deacons.
Then I finished my master's at wake fores my PhD
(00:51):
at the University of North.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Carolina in Greensboro.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
And so I come to you with a great deal
of Southern background, but a lot of work in the nonprofits,
and that's why I'm here today.
Speaker 4 (01:01):
Well, we're thrilled to talk to you, and we have
a little bit in common because I used to live
in Raleigh for years, So I know your schools very
well and they're Greade schools, and I'm glad you got
a great education. And that's where I'd like to start
about going out of school now. Obviously we're here to
talk a lot about American Humane and there's so many
cool things starting in eighteen seventy seven, what you've done
over almost fifteen years now, which is absolutely incredible, about
(01:23):
the programs and ways to give and all the cool
things and what you exactly do. But coming out of school,
what did you want to do? Because you've got a
really diverse background. I mean, you've been in finance and
then a nonprofit. But what do you want to do
coming out of school?
Speaker 2 (01:35):
So when I graduated from Wake Forest, I knew I
knew that I wanted to be a university treasurer.
Speaker 5 (01:42):
Really yes, that's very specific, very specific.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
I said, I'm going to get my PhD, I'm going
to finish my MBA, I'm going to have lots of certifications.
In fact, I have a lot of financial and accounting
certifications for a career as a university treasurer. And my
mother said, stop getting so many certifications, since you have
more certifications than you do children, so I think you've
proven a point.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
I said, thank you, mom, I guess I did.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
And so when I finished up my PhD, I was
still working full time at wake Forest University. I loved
my time at that gorgeous campus, both as a student
and then as a staff member assistant dean for Finance
and administration with the NBA School and all. And I
had an opportunity, you know, those opportunities come and knocking.
Speaker 5 (02:26):
Sometimes sometimes out of nowhere, out of.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Nowhere, and it was Walkkovia Bank and they said to me, Robin,
we're creating a new think tank and philanthropy and we
know that you have the financial skills that will align
you nicely with our wealth management division, but we would
like for someone to specialize in the nonprofit space.
Speaker 3 (02:46):
And we believe you have those skills.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
So I became the first ever director of the Center
for plan Giving in the Center for Philanthropy at Walkovia.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
And before I turned.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Around, I was fortunate to have over five thousand nonprofit clients.
Our team's book of business that I ran and went
around the country, met with all these incredible charities and
I knew then that this was my heart and my
life was that I was going to work in the
philanthropic sector, and that I wanted my life to be
(03:16):
devoted not just to serving as a university treasure, which
is noble and indeed very for yes, but to be
more engaged in meaningful social impact. And that's was learned
through my first career step at Walcovia Bank, leading their
Center for plan Getting and their Philanthropic Strategies Unit and Robin.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
That takes us to twenty ten, about fifteen years ago. Now,
I do want to ask you this, yes, because we're
leading into the job at American Humane. Now you've talked
a little bit about your diverse background and what you've done.
I can certainly see why they were interested in you
joining the organization, but why did you want to join them?
Speaker 2 (03:54):
So I felt that this was an opportunity for me
to learn the philanthropic space from a key driver. You
cannot build social good in the NGO sector without financial resources,
and I had a skill set in the financial resources,
as my mother told me, more certifications than children right,
and a PhD in nonprofit finance.
Speaker 3 (04:14):
So I knew that I.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
Had a talent where that was and that that could
be a very important factor in working in social impact.
I wasn't sure which side I would stay on. Would
I stay on the wealth management side serving to drive
assets into the nonprofit sector, or would I actually go
into the nonprofit sector. And that's when again opportunity came
(04:37):
a knocking, as we say in the South, and it
was the Pew Charitable Trust. The Pew Charitable Trust grew
from a bank. Did you know that, Yes, it's fascinating story.
And so when Pew came to me and offered me
a very unique position, it was a wonderful opportunity to
join one of the world's top think tanks in philanthropy
(04:59):
to drive social good. And so I immediately took that
opportunity and spent some formative years in my career with
the Pew Charitable Trust, which again was the launching pad
for me to become the CEO for American Humane.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Right and also probably just a great training ground too
for you right for the next level.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
Well remarkable.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Rebecca Raimel was the CEO at Pew at the time.
I learned so much from Rebecca. I learned so much
from the senior leaders at Pew importantly, how to drive
incremental change, how to evaluate effective programs. So while I
knew the financial resources of the nonprofit sector, the program
impact and program effectiveness, the evaluation of those the key
(05:38):
performance indicators for social good, it was a question mark.
I didn't have that skill set until I had the
opportunity to experience Pew.
Speaker 4 (05:46):
Well, I am glad you brought that up. I wanted
to divert just a little bit because I think there's
a good teaching lesson for our future entrepreneurs of people
who would like to lead a company. Yes, and my
daughter is now an aspiring filmmaker in New York, and
we've talked about this a lot since our high school
years about learning everything behind the scenes. If you want
to be a director or cinematographer, learn what everybody else does,
learn about blocking, lighting, audio, da da da da da
(06:07):
da da. That way, when you're in a little bit
more charge, you know what everybody's doing around you. That's
kind of what you did. You were getting all these
skill sets before becoming president and CEO of American Humaney.
And I imagine I'm not going to assume, but it paid.
Speaker 5 (06:19):
Off, right, paid off.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I'm still I'm still here. We have incredible impact. We've
taken our work, as you know, from one country to
forty five countries is very definitely incredible in fourteen years.
And the number of animals we impact again, we count them.
Speaker 5 (06:33):
Hoof print, Paul print, footprint, you know, you name it.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
We count these incredible creatures that we serve are over
one point five billion each and every year that we
have touched through our programs. And I feel very fortunate
and blessed every day to be in the space.
Speaker 4 (06:51):
Well you should, and I know you're working very hard too,
because you're an accomplished author and podcaster and running a company.
I don't know how I have time for everything, but
I always know that CEOs and presidents have a lot
of extra energy like a rock musician, and I think
you have that. So let's talk about American Humane. Let's
do this first, because we're going to go into the
history and what you do. But what's the mission statement?
Speaker 2 (07:12):
You know what it's At American Humane. We are there
to uplift the healing power of the human animal bond.
We are the nations and I dare say the world's
biggest champion and protector of animals So when I think
about American Humaine, I think about rescue, care and protect
animals no matter where they are, they know no geographic bounds.
Speaker 4 (07:35):
So some of our listeners are going to be new
to American Humane even though it's been around since eighteen
seventy seven. And I want you to talk about that
in just a second, because it's truly incredibly one of
the first organizations out there that is charitable. But if
you were to give somebody maybe a thirty thousand foot
view robin about what you do, what would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
We're the largest certifier of the protection of animals around
the world. American Humane serves as global humane outside of
our country, and we protect over one point five billion
animals in all areas of our lives, from conservation, from
animals on farms and ranches, from animals and zoos and aquariums,
animals and entertainment and working animals. So wherever we see
(08:15):
an animal, American Humane has an initiative to ensure that
that animal has a humane life. How do we determine
what is to be humane? We get so emotional about
puppies and kittens, don't we But what we go to
is one of our fundamental core values is science. So
we have a group of the world's top scientists who
provide the critical success factors for each of our programs.
(08:39):
And then we added something else very important as we
talk about animals in our lives, and that's ethics. So
we have the world's top ethicist for animals also serving
at American Humane. So when I think about what we do,
we rescue, we care, protect, we serve as the globe's
largest voice for animal protection, and importantly, we define what
(09:00):
it is to be humane through science and evidence based practices.
Speaker 4 (09:05):
Wonderful. So we mentioned eighteen seventy seven a couple times,
and I imagine that you did your research on the history.
Can you tell us about the origins of it and
exactly what it was back then to what it is today.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Well, my children think I was around in eighteen seventy seven,
so of course they think I was always the CEO
of American Humane because they've been raised with this great
charity in their lives, this great nonprofit. So in eighteen
seventy seven, our country was coming to terms with the
ravages of the Civil War. They were coming to terms
with cruelty and abuse and all of those horrific, horrific
(09:40):
changes that were going on in society, and what a
group of people started was this great organization called the
International Humane Society. I love that at the very formation
of this entity, they thought global. They were the very
first champions for farm animal protections. And you might say
why farm animals, It was because the railroads were going
(10:01):
into place. Then think about the transportation of herds and
flocks from the East coast out west and the unimaginable
losses to those animals lives that happened because there were
no stops for water, no food, and inhumane standards of care.
So it was farmers and ranchers who gathered forces with
American Humane to create the very first transportation laws for animals.
(10:25):
And that was American Humane also known as the International
Humane Society, who created that in the first years of
our founding. Since then we were behind the first ever
child cruelty actions and laws because child welfare was associated
with animals animals and children had no rights, and so
we were the very first advocates for children and animals
(10:47):
in the eighteen seventies and eighties and nineties, in the
turn of the century, and every single major advancement we'd
take for granted today for child protection and animal protection
was actually promulgated by American Humane.
Speaker 4 (11:01):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
So yes, eighteen seventy seven. People say, oh, we rescue
animals today, and I say to them, did you know
the very first rescue program occurred on the battlefields of
World War One. Think about trench warfare. Think about the
movie Warhorse, the Steven Spielberg so putts on the screen
and touches our hearts and our minds and our souls.
(11:23):
That was American Humane rescuing calvary horses and mules in
World War One. It was the Secretary of War of
our country that called my predecessor, doctor William Stillman, and said,
doctor Stillman, we need you, We need you to go overseas.
Before US boys went overseas, it was American Humane wo
(11:43):
caring for sixty one thousand war horses a month in
World War One. That was the very first idea of
animal rescue. And it was American Humane.
Speaker 4 (11:51):
It was there, and how historic incredible. Well, this is
a good segue into programs. And you've got nine that
are featured on the website, and I don't know if
you want to go through all of them. Very quickly,
but maybe you can touch on some of them, and
not necessarily the more important than the others, But can
you go through some of the programs.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
For us, absolutely well.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
We talked about rescue, and to this very day we're
rescuing animals that were left behind in the ravages of
Hurricane Aleen and Hurricanes Milton. We're there for fires and
floods this very day with six rescue caches stationed in
high prone disaster areas. American Humains there to reunite you
with your furry best friend in a time of disaster
and crisis. We've been doing that for well over one
(12:29):
hundred years. We think about the idea of animals and
film and entertainment, and you already know us. There are
no animals We're harmed program. We're on thousands of production
days every year ensuring that animals you see in film
and entertainment are humanly treated and that those animal stars
are given the care they so deserve. You already know
us through our American Humane Certified program. If you eat
(12:52):
a cage free egg or enjoy a butterball turkey at
Thanksgiving time, those are all American Humane certified. That program
has been around almost twenty five years and allows us
to make sure that animals aren't farms and ranches have
a humane life. It's very, very important you already know
us through our conservation program if you enjoy some of
(13:13):
the world's top zoos and aquariums where you're introduced to
an incredible megafauna and you fall in love with a
rhino or elephant. Those zoos and aquariums that have our
Good Housekeeping Silver approval, our American Humane Certified Seal are
the world's very best, and we're very proud of that initiative.
And of course you may know us, particularly if you're
(13:34):
a veteran, through our Pups Repatriots Service Dog program. We
founded that over seven years ago, providing wounded warriors with
those healing paws and healing leashes, and we actually save
both ends of the leash. We've placed over three hundred
healing leashes on this very day and saved both lives
and the ends of the leash.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
And that's just a tip of the iceberg, everybody. It's
just absolutely amazing. I do want to ask you a
question about Lead to Robin, and you're such a large
organization and I know you have staff and then you
have managers, and then you have people that work across
the globe with you. Yes, when it comes to the
vision of the organization, but also your vision, morals, ethics,
and how you want things to go down. Because there
(14:16):
are so many people, how does the work get trickled
down to make sure that the culture is stole there?
Your message is still there. Everybody's having a great time
with those work life balances, but still saying this is
American Humane. We're doing all the same thing. It's the
same mission for everybody right across the board.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
With that many people, well, we do have a lot
of people, and most importantly, all of our people care
about those animals. So this mission is personal. This mission
is we act professionally in terms of the way we
follow our core values that we instituted fourteen years ago.
Core values of a culture that embraces kindness, compassion, personal excellence,
(14:56):
accountability to the mission. Those are entwined and everyone's individual
performance goals.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Isn't that wonderful?
Speaker 2 (15:04):
So when we talk about a culture of civility, it's
because we are running the world's oldest humanitarian organization. So
those values of what is to be humane to animals
are reflected in our culture, and I believe I'm the
number one culture champion, right I have to be. I
have to be, and so I recognize that I have.
It's what Betty White told me before she passed. She said, Robin,
(15:26):
I'm handing over to you heavy mantle of responsibility. I said,
oh no, Betty, I don't know about this. She said,
I'm getting old and I want to hand over to
you that heavy mantle of responsibility of animal welfare and protection.
Gave me goosebumps. It still does, and I share that
story to each and every colleague of American Humane. It's
(15:50):
our heavy mantle of responsibility to be that voice for
animals to be humane, and that starts with how we
are with each other and how we hold each other
to excellence, accountability, kindness, compassion, and most importantly love.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
I love that. That's fantastic. And Betty Waite, if you
don't know, just loved animals, all animals. She was wonderful
and uh quite a treasure. So I'm glad you've got
some time with her. I think that's really special.
Speaker 2 (16:18):
She was our oldest supporter and champion seventy five years
of her ninety nine year life. She was engaged with
American Humane.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Amazing, absolutely amazing. I do want to talk to you
about challenges, and I always tell people in this series
that when we talk to leaders and CEOs and entrepreneurs
and presidents of the series that it's always windyst at
the top, and sometimes you know, when you have your issues,
there's not a lot of people that you can relate
with and talk to you about your problems. So I'm
here for you. So, but challenges in the industry, are
(16:48):
there any presenting you and your team right now?
Speaker 2 (16:50):
Well, first of all, let me tell you who I
do tell my challenges to. His name is Julius Caesar,
and he's his most perfect cat in the world.
Speaker 5 (16:57):
So I have to sell of it. Julius Caes. Here's
it all. Listen. Oh, he's a great listener. He pers
right running through it.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
And he also gets his tuna every morning at six
am because he's an early riser.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
But I respect that. So he is certainly a great confident.
Speaker 2 (17:13):
But when I think about challenges in this space, first
and foremost, there's always the challenges of resources, and there's
never enough to protect the animals in Africa, to the
animals in our own backyard, and so I say resources
are always a challenge, but that's where I think I
had early on in my career a great talent with finances.
(17:34):
So I ensure that there are key performance indicators with
every dollar that we spend, and that we hold each
other accountable to using our financial resources with excellence, to
expect that we have impact and accountability, and that we
measure our social impact. So first and foremost is a challenge,
never enough resources, but that makes us more responsible with
(17:56):
the resources that we have. Secondly, I don't think people
understand the crises with animals. They think, oh, Robin, you
get to work with puppies and kittens all day, and
I say, on some days those are the great ones.
Of course, I had the best cat ever with Julie
Is at home. But I also think about those animals
who have no voice, and we are facing what people
don't understand is real, and that is the sixth mass extinction,
(18:21):
where one million species will be gone in our children's
lifetime twenty twenty five years. The very web of life
on this earth as we know it will not be
the same. So as I think about those animal advocates
out there, it's important for us to understand that it's
more than our companion animals in our lives. We must
(18:42):
be better stewards of the earth because the loss of
species and the loss of individual animals matters today.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
More than ever.
Speaker 4 (18:50):
All right, let's talk about a good story. Now. I know,
with almost being fifteen years at the organization, yes, that
there are probably hundreds of great stories. But maybe you
could just share one with us about And this is
how I present it when I talk to people like
you that are in charge of organizations that are doing
some incredible things. This is why we get up every
day because that happened. Do you have a story for us?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
I have lots of stories.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
I know I do.
Speaker 5 (19:12):
That's an unfortunate question for me.
Speaker 4 (19:14):
Given a limited time of a podcast.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So I'll tell you one. I'll talk you about Mighty Mitchell.
Mighty Mitchell is very very cute and charming boy, and
his T shirt said Mighty Mitchell. I took Mighty Mitchell
to Capitol Hill one day. Man, you know why. Mighty
Mitchell was winning his battle against a horrible form of
childhood cancer. Mighty Mitchell was one of the first kiddos
to participate in one of American Humane's innovative clinical trials
(19:40):
that work to prove the efficacy of the use of
therapy dogs for kids with cancer. This is one of
my dreams when I joined American Humaine, and so let's
talk about how we can show and prove in clinical
trials and drive great effective public policy by showing the
healing power of the human animal ball of I brought
my Mitchell to Capitol Hill and he told his stories
(20:02):
to members of Congress and we actually had the most
unbelievable study outcomes in eight children's hospitals around our great
country that prove the efficacy of the use of therapy
dogs for kids with cancer. And that is one of
the stories of Mighty Mitchell that gives me great hope
for the future because Mighty Mitchell not only a cancer survivor,
(20:23):
but an animal lover. And I'll have to tell you
it's the next generation of animal lovers who I will
transfer this heavy mantle of responsibilities to be the animal's
voice that Betty White gave.
Speaker 3 (20:35):
Me to them.
Speaker 4 (20:37):
Outstanding thanks for sharing that. I really appreciate that. Why
don't we stay on that Capitol Hill because part of
your job, I know, is advocating yes and not only
I will talk about ways to give it, and there's
many ways to give with American Humane We'll talk about
that in just a moment. But you're probably constantly advocating,
whether you're going to be going up on Capitol Hill
or you're going around the world. Can you expand on
that just a little bit for us.
Speaker 3 (20:58):
Yes, we just finished.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
I just finished my second documentary film, Escape from Extinction Rewilding,
narrated by the legendary Meryl Streep. What a joy it
is to have her voice associated with this great message
and cause I'm so honored that Merrill gave up her
time and talent to participate in this incredible initiative. I
took Escape from Extinction and Rewilding on Capitol Hill. I
(21:22):
wanted to make sure that members of Congress had an
opportunity for a private screening that really exposed and indicated
the most pressing challenges that we faced, the biodiversity crisis
and the loss of animals in our lives. That was
an incredible opportunity to advocate for a work for to
protecting dangered species, work in their own backyards, to promote
(21:44):
community gardens, work to promote the healing power of the
human animal Bond. That's one example. I'm taking the film
to show to the EU Parliament. I'm scheduled to do
that in January. I'm scheduled to show the film in
November to the UK Parliament. I'm taking this one document
and every film to halls of government around the world
to indicate that we need to work together to create
(22:07):
communities have change. Those can happen globally, those can happen locally,
but it's important that we create communities of conversation around
this very pressing issue.
Speaker 4 (22:17):
Well, I'm glad you have the opportunity to do this.
As I watch films all the time, especially documentaries, they
can be so powerful, yes, and that you're just watching
that for ninety minutes or however long a documentary would be,
and just being able to see it right there, all
in front of you. So I'm glad you're getting the
opportunity to do that. I think it's wonderful.
Speaker 3 (22:33):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (22:33):
Let's talk about ways to give because what's really cool.
When I got on the website several weeks ago, when
I found out I was going to chat with you,
I said, here's an organization as button Nut, because there
are a lot of ways to give, Yes, which is
cool because we're living in an age that you know,
if you're just doing this one donation, that's okay. But
it's so different how people give money today, or cars
(22:54):
or anything. It doesn't matter or crypto, it doesn't matter
what it is. You have many ways to give.
Speaker 5 (22:58):
Can you talk about that.
Speaker 4 (22:59):
A little bit?
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Yes, absolutely so. Anyone that wants to make a difference
in the life of animals, have meaningful impact, create a
legacy of compassion, actually inspire your next generation by giving
your children an opportunity to make those gifts happen. You
can visit Americanhumane dot org and actually explore our many options.
I love their sophisticated gifting mechanisms through charitable trust and
(23:24):
legacy giving through wills and iras, which are always tax
advantage giving for sure. But there's also ways to make
a monthly gift, which is really important to create a
program that your family identifies and resonates with. We have
many veterans who make monthly donations to our Pups for
(23:45):
Patriots Service Dog program in honor of their own service,
in honor of somebody who might have passed away on
a field of battle. That's a really important opportunity to
have that person's legacy live on through a veteran and
service dog team. Wonderful is that to be able to
give that opportunity. We also see communities hit by disasters,
and those are our neighbors. I've lived for a long time,
(24:07):
as I shared with you in North Carolina, and Hurricane
Helene provide a great devastation there. I give to our
rescue program there. We have rescue trucks you could name
after your favorite dog. So I actually have a lot
of my dogs and my mother's dog on one of
our rescue trucks because my mother inspired me, so I
wanted to give a gift in her honor, and that's
her dog on our rescue truck that provides so much
(24:30):
services in our home of North Carolina. So when I
see all of there's many ways to give. Where is
your heart? Where is your passion? If you want to
give to save animals in Africa? I just bought a
farm in Africa. Can you imagine we're going to rewild
a place that hasn't seen white and black rhino in.
Speaker 3 (24:50):
Two hundred years.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
That's incredible.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
I'm cutting down.
Speaker 2 (24:53):
Those fences in April and I'm so excited, so join
me in translocating in Rhino.
Speaker 5 (24:58):
Well name the rhino after you. I love that, right.
Speaker 4 (25:02):
I guess my point to ask you about this was
there's so much variety of ways you can give and
I love that you guys do that, so many options.
So thank you, and we'll give the website a couple
more times as we finish up the conversation. If you're
already having Google that we've given them once full, we'll
do that again. I did want to do this before
I get some final thoughts from Robin about advice. You've
been in this job, as we mentioned, for almost fifteen years,
and once again there's a lot of current CEOs and
(25:24):
entrepreneurs listeners program, but also a lot of young people
that want to do whatever their journey in there is
and yours is exclusive to you when we realize that.
But just maybe a little advice on your journey about
going because you did a lot of things before this
and now you've invested almost fifteen years in this job,
can you part a little advice to people that want
to maybe do something someboday like you do.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
I've always known I wanted to have a life with
impact and so I do believe the first part of
my career was building those tools that I needed to
be able to effectively run an NGO such as American Humane.
And again when you're at the CEO in the geospace,
but I think this applies across a for profit areas
as well. Your passion has to be evident every single day.
(26:09):
So my advice is you have to truly love what
you do, and then you have to remember something that's
so important.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
You have to.
Speaker 2 (26:19):
Walk that talk every day. As I tell you, I'm
Chief Culture Officer, I work really hard, but I wouldn't
expect any of my colleagues to work any harder than
I do. I live this life of compassion, kindness and
love because this is the space I choose to be in.
(26:41):
I choose to be a humanitarian. Those are the values
that I share in a spouse, and that is how
I lead American Humane. And I expect our colleagues to
follow along in this journey that we're on together because
we have to lead by example. The world today needs
(27:02):
much more unconditional.
Speaker 4 (27:04):
Love, agreed max kindness, passion, yes.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
More kindness, and while we are showing this through the
Voice of Animals, Animals make.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Us better people.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
They sure do, They sure do, well said, and I'm
glad that you talked about passion. That's a common theme
with all of our leaders in this program. It's almost
the number one deal beside surrounding yourself with people that
are smarter than you and doing what they do and
just let them run at it. But I will say this,
and I relate my experiences in my industry to our
(27:35):
listeners as well too. All the years I've gotten jobs
and some real fun jobs as it taken me across
North America. The hiring manager once it got to know
me and told me, hey, you know why I hired you.
It was not because of your skill set or you're
good at this. I hired you because of your passion
for this business. Yes, and people really appreciate that and
they can feed off it. Yes, And I just think
(27:58):
that so powerful, folks said, I just don't want you
to underestimate is you go into whatever turns you on
to be super passionate about it, and that will take
care of almost everything else.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
It does get you up in the morning, It sure does.
And despite whatever else is happening in the world, if
you can make a difference through your passion and importantly,
you know, what is driving me every day is the
fact that I have the privilege of working with volunteers
and staff who are literally humane heroes. These are people
(28:32):
who stop their own lives to rush into a disaster.
These are people who are connected with veterans ensuring that
suicide does not enter into their DNA and that their
lives have ever change by the matching with the service dog.
These humane heroes are inspiring to me, and I know
(28:54):
they make a huge difference in our communities around the
world and.
Speaker 4 (28:57):
A lot of selflessness too, and I think that's just wonderful.
As we wrap up our conversation in the last thirty minutes, Sarrea,
I've enjoyed it so much. But what I'd like to
do is get some final thoughts from you, Robin, and
I should really encourage people, as Robin will give the
website after some final thoughts for you, we're just hitting
the tip of the iceberg about what American Humane does.
It really truly is incredible, and you have to check
(29:18):
out the website and all they do, ways to give
and how you can be a part of it. But
if you could maybe do some final thoughts for us,
the floor is yours.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
I always say, you can't protect what you don't love,
you can't love what you don't know. So many of
us have lost the connection to animals in our lives.
So many of us have lost the understanding how animals
make us better people. We've lost that connection to the
earth as well. So I would say to all listeners,
(29:48):
find that connection to animals, find the way that you
can fall.
Speaker 3 (29:54):
In love again.
Speaker 2 (29:55):
Visit your local zoo and aquarium, Bring an animal into
your home. If you can't do so, volunteer at a
shelter plant, a butterfly garden, or a hummingbird feeder in
your yard. Bring animals into your life, and that, I
will tell you, will allow you to love, love your
life so much and allow you to change the world.
(30:17):
I know that many corporate leaders are listening to this
podcast today, and I'd like to encourage them to reach
out to American Humane. Perhaps we can provide rescue training
and education through an employee giving program as well. So
there's many ways to partner with American Humane to bring
animals into your employees' lives.
Speaker 4 (30:37):
Such good words to live by. Let's give the website
one more time.
Speaker 3 (30:40):
Robin americanumaane dot org.
Speaker 4 (30:42):
Thank you so much for this and you've given a
lot and I know there's so much more to do
with you and your team, the volunteers and the world
than what American Human does. Thank you so much for this.
We really appreciate you joining us on CEOs. You should know.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Thank you so much for having me
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