President and CEO, Heather Allen

Heather Allen is President and CEO of HALO Animal Rescue and is also the co-founder.  She has held this position since 2001.  She has worked in every position and has helped create each element of its existence up to this point.  Her job is overall management of HALO's operations, fundraising and strategic/financial planning.

Heather is a Phoenix, Arizona native.  She graduated from Shadow Mountain High School in 1991 and graduated from ASU in 1999.  She has a B.S. in Psychology, and a minor in family studies.   Her mother, Michel Herstam and Heather started HALO in 1994, after working with a cat-only rescue that dissolved.  Heather also worked as an office manager at a vet hospital for several years.

Married to her high school sweet heart since 2001, they are proud parents of a son and daughter.  Their family also includes a menagerie of pets including several dogs and cats.  Heather feels fortunate to be able to mix her family life, her passion for animals and also earn a living all at once.

When asked where she saw HALO in the future, Heather said, "I am hopeful that HALO can continue to grow and grow to cast our safety net further in to the community to help even more animals.  The needs are tremendous with 50,000 dogs and cats put to death in Maricopa County alone.  My goal for HALO is to grow and partner with like-minded agencies in the community to stop the killing of homeless animals and provide the services our community needs to make it happen".

Co-Founder and Thrift Store Mgr, Michel Herstam

Michel Herstam is the co- founder of HALO Animal Rescue. Michel was born in Michigan, but was raised in Phoenix starting at age five.  Michel was a graduate from Arizona State University with an English degree.  Michel worked in Corporate America for 35 years as a customer service manager for Salt River Project.  This job fed her family of three girls, but not her soul.   So while working fulltime and raising a family she dedicated her nights and weekends providing shelter and love to wayward dogs and cats.

Michel began her rescue work while volunteering with Kitty Love, a local cat group, in 1992.  Kitty Love dissolved, but not before Michel had begun to realize the extent of the pet homelessness problem in Maricopa County and was volunteering every weekend at the PetSmart Adoption Center and fostering hundreds of animals in her home each year.  In 1994 Michel's house became HALO Animal Rescue Headquarters where she and her daughter volunteered their time to HALO's operations which was much smaller in scale than it is today. By 2006, HALO had a handful of staff working full time from Michel's home to provide for the animals that she selflessly gave her home to.  In July 2008, Michel finally got her home back as HALO moved in its first physical shelter facility on 35^th Avenue and Camelback Road.  Michel opened up the HALO Thrift Boutique in 2006 and is the full-time mamager (as a volunteer), with all profits going directly to the shelter.

Michel feels, "through respect, honor, sacrifice and commitment HALO, can be part of the solution so that all homeless animals have a loving home".

Director of Operations, Jonathan McDonell

Jonathan McDonell is Director of Operations at HALO Animal Rescue. The majority of Jonathan's professional experience was in the Silicon Valley working in high tech and electronics, specifically manufacturing and sales operations, marketing and business development.  Prior to joining HALO Jonathan volunteered with several rescue and shelter organizations.

However, he always felt he should be doing something more…since joining HALO he feels he's found his purpose.  Jonathan has enjoyed learning & growing with the organization since joining HALO in December 2011.

At home, Jonathan and his wife are the proud parents to a house full of rescue animals, at the moment it's 4-dogs and 4-cats.  Even with that, they frequently find space and time to foster dog in need.

When talking about the road ahead Jonathan said, "The future of HALO is exciting, there is so much good we can accomplish.  While the challenges we face every day can be overwhelming, its important to remember that each of us can make a difference and every one of those furry kid's lives is important."

Director of Finance and Human Resources, Carrie Miller

Carrie Miller is the Director of Finance and Human Resources for HALO Animal Rescue.  Carrie has 3 years of experience working in Animal Rescue, mainly in the business and operations arena.  Carrie came to HALO with experience in business management, accounting, project management, marketing and sales. However, none of that previous experience allowed her to have animals in her office on a daily basis, hence the change in industries.

Carrie is a proud ASU Sun Devil, class of 1989 with a B.S. in Advertising.  An Arizona native, Carrie grew up in Northern Arizona with a menagerie of animals which has continued throughout her life.  Currently at home, Carrie is owned by an incredibly neurotic, slightly insane, but mostly loving (at least to her) 14 year old Siamese named Taz.

Her desire is to see an end to the problem of pet over-population.  "Every animal should have the opportunity to be in a loving, forever home."  With that goal in mind, Carrie is proud to be part of the mission of HALO Animal Rescue.

Resource Manager, Karl Meinhausen

Karl Meinhausen is the Resource Manager at HALO Animal Rescue.  He has worked in this position since 2009 and began working for HALO in 2008.  Karl does a bit of everything around the shelter.  He is responsible for all facility oversight.

Karl was born in Germany and grew up in Tucson, Arizona. His formal education is in Culinary Arts and he enjoys designing furniture, going to the movies and attending concerts with his wife in his spare time.  He is an advocate for all animals and is vegan. Karl is newly married and has a beautiful daughter. He has two dogs and three cats in his family as well.

His hope for the future of HALO is for "one day, to come in and have Heather say, 'Sorry, we are no longer needed, there is no one to rescue'.  Then maybe we can take a guilt-free vacation".

Dog Animal Care Manager, Kim Zikmanis

Kim Zikmanis is the Animal Care Manager for HALO's dog population.  She has worked for HALO since 2005 and has been in this position since she was hired.  Kim oversees all medical and behavioral care for the dogs in HALO's care and is also responsible for managing HALO's dog care staff.

Kim was born and raised in Phoenix Arizona.  She graduated from Shadow Mountain High School in 1990.  Kim was a manager at PetSmart for several years before joining HALO's team.  Kim is married and has two children, a boy and a girl.  Among the family pets are five dogs and one cat. As a child, Kim was involved in the 4-H program for dogs and wanted to learn all she could about their care.

When asked what she loved best about her job, she replied, "being able to make a life-saving difference everyday for animals that wouldn't have otherwise had a chance at love".

Cat Animal Care Manager, Jamie Bonacci

Jamie Bonacci is HALO's Animal Care Manager for the cats.  She started out as a volunteer at age ten and has been involved with HALO for the past fifteen years beginning as an animal care specialist and working her way to the management role. Jamie's focus is to manage the cat population and the staff that cares for them, and is also the emergency cat contact for all 13 adoption locations.

Jamie was born and raised in Phoenix Arizona. She graduated high school in 2004 and has two dogs and three cats, all of them adopted from HALO.

She is extremely passionate about animals and loves her job;  "I know we can't yet save them all, but I sure will try with everything I've got".

Adoptions Manager, Danielle Miranda

Danielle Miranda has been with HALO Animal Rescue since April of 2005.  Her love of animals and passion for HALO's mission motivated Danielle to join the team as the Volunteer Coordinator.  After expanding HALO's Volunteer program by leaps and bounds, she now serves as HALO's Adoptions Manager.  Danielle enjoys getting to help find homeless animals the perfect family to adopt them.

Danielle has known Heather Allen who is President of HALO and Kim Zikmanis, HALO's Animal Care Manager, since 2^nd grade.  "Our entire life we have dreamed of helping animals." says Danielle.  "While we were growing up, if any of us found a stray animal or one showed up at school, we always knew we could take it to Heather's house".

Danielle has been married for ten years and has a beautiful 8 year old daughter.  She also shares her home with three dogs and two cats.

While speaking with Danielle she expressed these thoughts about HALO's future. "I see HALO as a vital piece of the life saving puzzle to save animals in Maricopa County.  I can also see HALO growing in size but never straying from its original idea, that each animal matters.  We may not be able to rescue them all yet but for the ones that we can, it makes all the difference."