Katie is a life-long animal advocate specializing in government and public affairs, media relations, and advocate engagement. Since joining the Austin Pets Alive! team, she has successfully passed state laws in Texas to eliminate sales tax on pet adoptions and promote microchipping for pets. At the national level, her team created the first ever Government and Policy toolkit and bill tracker for animal shelters. Prior to this, Katie worked at the Humane Society of the United States for more than a decade, serving in a variety of roles. As Regional Director, she managed ten states in guiding priority policy initiatives for the organization. Prior to that, Katie was the Texas State Director and successfully worked to pass laws and increase enforcement on the issues of puppy mills, animal fighting, the shark fin trade, bestiality, animal cruelty, and exotic animal ownership and abuse. She works with local city governments to pass meaningful ordinances to help animals and serves as Mayor Adler’s appointee to the Austin Animal Advisory Commission and the District 8 appointee to the San Antonio Animal Care Services Advisory Board. She has managed on-the-ground responses to large-scale cruelty investigations and disaster response operations in Texas, including HSUS’ response to Hurricane Harvey. Katie is a proud Longhorn, having received her degree in Journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in San Antonio with her husband and three dogs, Bella, Yuci and Pitufo.