Thank you for taking time to review the questions and answers prepared by the newest members of ESRA's Board of Directors. As the board notified members, the election was uncontested. After consulting with ESRA's lawyer, ESRA declined to conduct the election and has appointed Rosemary Orsini and reappointed Shari Stanforth to the two open board seats. (Our other incumbent, Linda Plate, did not seek re-election.) Their three-year terms will run through summer 2025.

Click on each name to review their responses. Presented in alphabetical order by last name.

The views presented are those of the candidates and do not necessarily represent the views of English Springer Rescue America, Inc., its members, or its board of directors.

If you have questions, please email elections@springerrescue.org.

How long have you been an ESRA member?
I joined ESRA on September 14, 2019. I became active with ESRA in 2016 and thought my membership was active back then.

What volunteering have you done for ESRA?
I volunteered to transport Springers, get Springers out of shelters and evaluate homes for adoptions in Colorado. I joined Best Friends Strut Your Mutt Campaign for Colorado and Utah and was part of the Top Fundraising Team for Strut Your Mutt Day. I also researched states for shelter license requirements, prepared a spreadsheet of states’ requirements and agreed to take on a bigger role in ensuring ESRA meets state shelter requirements. I have transported Springers in California.

Where do you see opportunities for continued growth in ESRA, and in what ways can you help bring about this growth?
Members/volunteers are our future. We need to welcome new members and provide continued opportunities for members to interact with ESRA. By increasing and maintaining a strong base of members and volunteers, we can help more dogs by having more eyes to locate abandoned or abused Springers, increasing fosters for rescued Springers and also provide a resource that will help keep Springers in the home.
I am a team builder and would provide more personal interaction with members and volunteers to inspire and become more engaged with ESRA. My experience as an owner and partner of three law firms and President of my Homeowners Association would help to create more formalized procedures for welcoming calls to new members and annual follow up calls, creating toolkits on opportunities in ESRA, who to call for help or if you have located an abused or abandoned Springer or even help in raising your Springer. I would be happy to moderate panels on what it means to foster a dog or lead town halls for member engagement. I also would coordinate more interaction among state members by helping to organize state/regional picnics for members to get to know one another.

What would be your top three goals as a board member?
1. Increase members and volunteers and retain them
2. Educate members and the public about fostering. A foster home may not be a prior Springer owner.
3. Support and increase fundraising opportunities.

Click here for Rosemary Orsini's ESRA Service Resume.

How long have you been an ESRA member?
A friend at work had a litter of Springer Lab mix puppies. I brought home Gabby and discovered the breed. A few years later I purchased Wembley from a breeder and then adopted Lucy. I was completely in love. I attended my first Springer National in 2007 and discovered ESRA. Gabby, Wembley and Lucy brought me so much joy and love that I knew I wanted to give back and help other Springers. I went back to Texas and began volunteering with ESRA in 2008. I adopted my first ESRA Rescue Linus in 2010. I adopted my second ESRA Rescue Lila in 2016. Linus and Lila are such amazing representatives of this breed with their silliness, loving nature and intelligence.

What volunteering have you done for ESRA?
I currently serve on the ESRA Board of Directors and also act as Corporate Secretary. I am a member of the Newsletter Committee, Social Media Team, and various other projects that crop up while serving on the board. I served on the Election Committee in 2020 and served as Chair in 2021. I've also been involved in a variety of activities in both Texas and Illinois, including phone interviews, home visits, inter and intra-state transports, and anything else that I was asked to do by the local coordinator. I've had the opportunity to attend several National Specialties and helped with the ESRA booth tear down.

Where do you see opportunities for continued growth in ESRA, and in what ways can you help bring about this growth?
ESRA has an outstanding group of dedicated volunteers but I believe we could do more with more hands. My team-building experience and training and a cohort based MBA, along with my work on various teams and the Board, would be used to help grow our membership base and better use the talents of our volunteers. As a member of the communications team, we've begun talking about communication strategies and processes to improve how we communicate, what we communicate, when we communicate and to whom we communicate. In an organization with so many talented people, this is something we need to do well. We've made so many positive changes in recent years to our organization and I would like to continue to work on improving our image and standardizing national processes using my background in process improvement, technology and business experience at a variety of companies, including as a Compliance Manager at a Fortune 50 company.

What would be your top three goals as a board member?
1. Grow our membership base and better use the talents of our volunteers
2. Improve communication processes within the organization
3. Continue to work on improving our image and standardizing national processes

Click here for Shari Stanforth's ESRA Service Resume.