The Board of Directors and shelter staff of the Santa Cruz SPCA are an extraordinary team of well-qualified leaders who are commited to excellent animal care and welfare. 

Sheri Billings has served on the Board since February 2011. She is a CPA and owner/principal of the Summit Accountancy Group, Inc., in Soquel, specializing in income taxes and business valuations. A fancier of all things feline, Sheri shares her home with two rescue cats, Buddy and Bentley.  Her hobbies include fly fishing.

Hedy Nochimson joined the Board in April 2016.  A lifelong animal lover, she became a SCSPCA volunteer in 2012, in the spirit of giving back and in gratitude for all the wonderful animal companions that had shared her life.  With a special fondness for felines, Hedy has been very involved in the welfare of SCSPCA cats. Not being able to resist the other residents of the shelter, she has also fostered and adopted a little Maltese/Poodle now known as George. After working for 20 years as a software engineer in the high-tech industry, Hedy retired and began a second career as a chef, opening her own business and becoming an active member of the growing food scene in Santa Cruz. Besides cultivating her passion for food and family, Hedy enjoys travel, home design, and sports activities.

Linda Powers joined the Board in October 2021.  She has been a Kitty Parent most of her adult life.  When her precious Roscoe died in 2009, she first looked to the cats at the SCSPCA for feline companionship.  The mention of a planned new facility, where the cats would have daylight and fresh air, had her hooked.  Linda and her husband Bob have been contributors to making this dream a reality, and she looks forward to helping the dedicated SPCA staff realize the full potential of this wonderful place.  Linda and Bob worked as a 2-person bubble of cat socializers during the pandemic.  Their new passion is fostering cats who have special needs — including a year with the infamous Pluto — or cats who simply are not thriving in the shelter environment.  Linda’s educational and career background is in mathematics and physics, having spent over 25 years as a theoretical researcher in Inertial Confinement Fusion.  Since retirement she has more time to dedicate to travel, fitness, piano, and creating stained glass “masterpieces.” 

Nina believes that people who love and respect animals will be better stewards of the planet, and be kinder human beings in general. Given the opportunity as a child, she always chose to cat-sit or dog-sit versus babysit. Nina joined the board of directors in April 2017, and brings an extensive financial and tax background. She earned her J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and her LL.M., Taxation from New York University. Nina recently retired from a career with Apple, Inc. as Senior Director, International Tax & Senior Tax Counsel. In addition to their daughters, and many animal companions throughout the years, Nina and her husband have raised three golden retrievers.

Shortly after retiring, Malcolm and his wife adopted a wonderful tabby kitty from Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV). He sent them a couple photos of their new kitty with a note stating how wonderful she was. Marketing staff asked if he would be willing to volunteer and photograph shelter cats and kittens for the HSSV website, newsletters, calendar, and other collateral. Thus began his volunteer life in 2008. Malcolm has also participated in the HSSV Volunteer Advisory Committee, aimed at enhancing collaboration between volunteers and staff.

During his 10+ years as a volunteer, Malcolm has thoroughly enjoyed the interaction (mainly with cats, but dogs too), and the photographic opportunities offered. Cats, of course, are not the most cooperative of photographic models, but he feels that patience is worth the end result. Malcolm has also photographed felines for Town Cats and The Dancing Cat in San Jose, and conducted photography classes at the latter. He also enjoys reading, with a glass of wine, and a cat on his lap.

When a family pet is brought out of a shelter kennel, s/he's scared, sometimes completely shut down, sometimes literally shaking with fear. The constant noise, uncertain fate and shelter environment all contribute to this. And then there's whatever neglect, mistreatment or even cruelty they endured in the past. But when they leave the shelter something magical happens. They can sense they're safe. They relax, often drinking an entire bowl of water before falling asleep. On arrival at the SPCA they can't wait to get inside, sensing something good is waiting for them. And because of people like you they're right.