BIG CAT RESCUE ADVISORY BOARD BIOGRAPHIES
Howard
Baskin, (Advisory Board Chairman)
Management Consultant
7106 Riverwood Blvd.
Tampa, Fl 33615-2031
Ph: 813-505-5565 (cell)
Fax: 813-354-3442
Finances@BigCatRescue.org
Mr. Baskin is a semi-retired management consultant who works with early stage
and fast growing companies in the areas of strategic planning, finance and
operations. He now devotes full time to Big Cat Rescue. He spent 11 years
at Citicorp in various assignments, most recently as Director of Strategic
Planning for the Commercial Real Estate Division. Since leaving Citicorp in
1991 he has been an equity participant and general manager in three companies,
one of which he co-founded. Mr. Baskin received his B.S. cum laude from Union
College, Schenectady, NY, his J.D. cum laude from the University of Miami
School of Law in 1978 and his MBA from Harvard Business School in 1980.
Russ Alba
Attorney at Law
101 So. Franklin St, Suite 202
Tampa, Florida 33602
(813) 224-0900
Leigh Kellett Fletcher
Attorney at Law
Suite 2200
SunTrust Financial Centre
401 East Jackson Street
Tampa, FL 33602-5232
Ms. Fletcher has practiced law since 1997 representing clients in matters
related to real estate, local government and land use including permit negotiations,
zoning matters, contract and lease negotiation, preparation of restrictive
covenants, matters related to community development districts, and litigation
of disputes related to breach of contract, construction design defects and
environmental remediation claims. She received her B.A. cum laude from Wellesley
College, Wellesley, MA in 1992, her M.P.A. from Florida State University Askew
School of Public Administration, Tallahassee, FL in 1996, and her J.D. cum
laude from Florida State University College of Law in the same year.
Stan Geda
Stan Geda Associates, P.A.
4514 Pine Hollow Drive
Tampa, FL 33624
Mr. Geda is a land planner/ landscape architect whose career spans nearly
50 years of national and international work on a variety of noteworthy projects.
He is respected in his profession and has received numerous accolades and
honors for his work. Stan has brought exceptional creativity and originality
to the planning and design aspects of a project often leading design efforts
that involve multiple disciplines. His work is known to artfully balance aesthetics
with practical requirements, client's goals, economics, and environmental
concerns.
Bruce T. Kaschyk
Vice President and Division Manager
Genesis Group
3910 North US Highway 301
Suite 140
Tampa, FL 33619
Bruce T. Kaschyk, AICP, is the Vice President and Division Manager for Genesis
Group, a multi-disciplined engineering firm with headquarters in Tampa,
FL. Bruce has over 20 years of combined experience in redevelopment, regulatory,
land use, urban design and master planning for public and private sector
clients throughout Florida. He received his B.A. in Urban Planning and Design
from the College of Architecture and Art at the University of Cincinnati.
Genesis Group offers services in Land Development and Planning, Engineering,
Landscape Architecture and Surveying and has offices in Tallahassee, Gainesville,
Jacksonville and Tampa.
Paul Miller, President Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, LLC
11240 Waples Mill Road
Suite 200
Fairfax, VA 22030
Office: (703) 934-0219
Direct: (703) 930-7790
F: (703) 359-7562
E: pmiller@mwcapitol.com
Web: www.mwcapitol.com
Reputation, Relationships, Results...That's Miller/Wenhold!
Paul Miller approached Big Cat Rescue in 2006 offering his services pro bono to end the trafficking in captive lions, tigers and other big cats.
Paul was born and raised in Racine, Wisconsin. He received a BS in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater. Paul served as an aide to former U.S. Congressman Les Aspin.
In 1996, Paul took a leave of absence from Washington and went back home to Wisconsin to run for the Wisconsin General Assembly.
Currently, Paul has his own lobbying firm Miller/Wenhold Capitol Strategies, LLC.
In addition to his work for his firm, Paul was elected as the youngest President of the American League of Lobbyists, the national association representing the lobbying profession.
Paul also is the founder of the Hoops for Hope charity basketball event that pits members of Congress vs. lobbyists each year in an effort to raise money for children's charities in the Washington, D.C. area. To date this event has raised over $250,000.
Paul has vast experience in the lobbying profession and in January of 2006, he introduced the first lobbying certification program. A program designed to help lobbyists keep pace with the profession and its standards.
Paul has led the fight to bring about changes to the electronic filing system in the House of Representatives. This new change makes it easier for lobbyists to comply and meet with obligations under federal law and allows the general public an opportunity to view lobbying reports online.
Paul was also instrumental in shaping the debate on lobbying reform in 2006. As chief spokesman and lobbyist for the profession, Paul met with leaders from both parties on the issue of reform. He has appeared before both the House and Senate and has appeared on most television programs educating the public on the issue of lobbying and proposed changes to the Lobbying Disclosure Act. He has been a tireless champion in the fight to protect every citizens right to petition their government through lobbying activities.
As a leader in his profession, Paul has traveled abroad to talk with foreign leaders about their efforts to implement lobbying rules and regulations. He has met with leaders from Peru, Indonesia, Great Britain, Viet Nam, Czechoslovakia, Scandinavia, and Japan.
Alex Petrilak, Jr.
Principal
Marketing Systems Management, Inc.
3630 W. Kennedy Blvd.
Tampa, FL 33609
Mr. Petrilak is a management consultant with extensive international as well
as domestic expertise in both public and private entities. His advisory work
includes such diverse areas as business development planning, strategic planning,
capital markets transactions, trade agreements and economic development programs,
grant funding protocols, acquisition and disposition of assets. He attended
Georgetown University School of Foreign Service where he studied International
Economics, received a BBA in Marketing/Finance from Southern Methodist University,
and attended the University of Texas Graduate School of Business, concentrating
in financial management prior to moving to Florida.
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Carole Baskin Tampa, FL MakeADifference@BigCatRescue.org
Carole
Baskin is the founder and CEO of Big Cat Rescue, the world's largest accredited rescue facility for exotic cats. She and her family volunteer for Big
Cat Rescue as unpaid staff and have 100+ volunteers and 13 interns from around
the world. She has run this Tampa based non profit since 1992 and you may
have seen Big Cat Rescue on CNN, Animal Planet, Discovery, People Magazine,
The Today Show, Sports Illustrated, all of the local media outlets and many
more national and international programs. She has been asked to provide lectures
in Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Brazil, and Australia, as well as countless
cities across the U.S. She has lectured on cage construction, legislative
affairs, and sanctuary
standards in Universities, Law Colleges, and in numerous animal
association conferences.
She is licensed by the state as a rehabber and has successfully rehabbed and released a number of bobcats and other native animals. Big Cat Rescue is accredited by, and Carole Baskin served as a past President of, The Association of Sanctuaries (a national accrediting body that is to sanctuaries what the American Zoological Association is to zoos.
She serves on the board of the Humane USA PAC and has been the legal liaison to the Captive Wild Animal Protection Coalition, and responsible for representing The Association of Sanctuaries at their meetings. She supplies CWAPC with all of the current data on exotic cat issues, including the numbers being displaced, the maulings, escapes and killings of both the public and the cats involved. She scans the media daily for news regarding exotic cats and reports to some 300 people of three different groups with the daily headlines.
In 2005 she was appointed by Hillsborough County Commissioner Brian Blair as a member of the Animal Advisory Committee to assist Animal Services in their service to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners and was unanimously elected as Chairperson the following year. Big Cat Rescue is a member of the Florida Association of the Restoration of Ethics, a member of the Tampa Chamber of Commerce, the Upper Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, The Tampabay Visitors and Convention Bureau, the American Zoological Association, No More Homeless Pets, and many other animal welfare groups.
Big Cat Rescue assists other sanctuaries by helping them build cages, train their volunteers and they lend their people and resources to help them recover from natural and man made disasters. Big Cat Rescue is licensed by and in good standing with FWC, USFWS, USDA and is registered with the state of Florida as a charity.
Big Cat Rescue's founder, Carole Baskin, is elected to serve on Humane USA's board of directors.
The Chief Executive Officer of the Humane Society of the United States, Wayne Pacelle and the President of The Fund for Animals, Mike Markarian, who are founding members of the Humane USA Political Action Campaign, nominated Carole Baskin to the board of directors and she was unanimously elected on August 9, 2005.
Formed in late 1999, Humane USA is the nation's first major political action committee devoted to the task of electing humane-minded candidates to public office at the federal and state levels.
Humane USA has been formed by leaders of major animal protection organizations, including The Humane Society of the United States , The Fund for Animals, Farm Sanctuary, ASPCA, Doris Day Animal League, Animal Welfare Institute, The Ark Trust, Animal Rights Foundation of Florida, and others. Its board of directors, advisory board, and advisors are top grassroots and national animal protection leaders.
Strong animal protection laws are produced by humane-minded elected officials, and the best way to secure a large crop of animal friendly legislators is to support them during their election campaigns. Humane USA distributes hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to ensure the success of humane-minded politicians.
Because
of their charitable status with the Internal Revenue Service, other animal
protection groups - such as Big Cat Rescue - are legally barred from endorsing
candidates. Humane USA is the only national animal protection group that is
allowed to participate in candidate election campaigns.
Since 1999 - after Humane USA launched its operations - the Congress passed many new laws to protect animals, including laws to prevent the sale of big cats across state lines as pets, to protect great apes, to establish chimpanzee sanctuaries, to ban the sale of dog and cat fur, to ban cock- fighting, to validate non-animal tests, and to halt barbaric practices such as "animal crush" videos and shark finning.
Humane USA will be involved in hundreds of races at the state and federal level during the primary and general elections. Legislation is now pending before Congress to combat puppy mills and dog fighting, ban canned hunts and steel-jawed leghold traps, protect horses from slaughter, and enact other enormously important reforms. Humane USA can be the decisive factor in pushing these bills and amendments toward passage.
Now the Tampabay area has a voice. Visit Humane USA at HumaneUSA.org
For background on Humane USA: http://www.humaneusa.org/humaneusaabout.htm
For background on the members of the board of directors: http://www.humaneusa.org/humaneusaboard.htm