Ashley Bradley

Board President

Ashley has a long history of helping those in need, with a particular soft spot for animals. Her passion started at an early age when Ashley found a badly neglected and abused dog cowering under a picnic table. The dog touched her heart in a profound way. After much work getting him to trust, he became a long-time loving family member.

Her work at Second Chance started in 2010 when she and her ten-year-old son started volunteering at the shelter in Ridgway and Telluride Farmers’ Market adoption events. Soon Ashley was asked to join the Board of Directors, a position she holds to this day.

Ashley’s other long-term community involvements include being an adaptive ski instructor with the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program. She feels blessed every day to be making a difference in the lives of others in a place as beautiful and special as southwest Colorado!

Heather Cammisa

Vice-President

Heather has twenty-five years of experience in community animal welfare, innovation, and mission impact, with more than a dozen of those years as the chief executive of two non-profit organizations.

She has a master’s degree in economics from Rutgers University and worked in both financial and social economics before devoting her career to the humane ethic. She is a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator, holds a graduate certificate in Wildlife Forensics and Conservation, and is a certified animal control officer and animal cruelty investigator.

Heather is a frequent speaker at regional and national conferences and was the keynote speaker at the New Jersey Veterinary Medical Association in 2018 following a collaborative effort with the NJVMA to respond to Hurricane Maria. She has served on the Thought Leadership Council of PetSmart Charities and was an early recipient of Maddie’s Fund’s Hero to Animals award.

She has served on the boards of diverse animal welfare and advocacy organizations. Heather is currently an advisor for Project Coyote and a board member of her local wildfire department.

She is a principal with a mission-based consultancy, Adisa, and the Chief Enterprise Officer at Open Door Veterinary Collection, a non-profit working to expand access to veterinary care nationwide.

She shares her off-grid home with beloved adopted pets Roger, Cato, Sunny, Polly, and Bruno.

Chris Copeland

Secretary/Treasurer

Chris recently fulfilled a longtime dream of moving to the mountains of Colorado after he and his wife Kelli retired from careers in the veterinary field in Austin, Texas in 2022. Having served as General Counsel/Director of Government Relations and then Executive Director of the Texas Veterinary Medical Association over the last two decades, Chris has a wealth of experience in animal-related issues and nonprofit organizations. He has a particular interest in animal and veterinary law, having served as president of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association.

Chris and Kelli enjoy spending time with their two French bulldog rescues, Kenzie and Squirrel, and exploring all that their new home in Colorado has to offer. They also devote a few hours each week to walking dogs at Second Chance in Ridgway and are perhaps lucky that their homeowner association limits the number of dogs to two per family, otherwise Chris would be bringing home a new dog on a weekly basis after becoming attached to so many.

Ashley Coady Smith

Member

Ashley, founder of Sage Advice (a capacity building service consulting firm for nonprofits and start-up businesses), has worked in nonprofit management, event production and marketing for over 13 years.

During that time, Smith also worked in outdoor recreation with Telluride Academy as a field instructor, then assistant program director, and ultimately program director. Before that, Smith worked as a veterinary technologist after studying animal sciences and veterinary technology at St. Petersburg College where she received her bachelor’s degree in 2006. Following her deep passion for helping others and for animal welfare, Smith is excited to bring her animal background to play with her career knowledge of nonprofit development and administration. Smith has lived in Telluride since 2008.

Bob Hennessy

Member

Bob has owned and operated a number of successful businesses during his working career. One of the main reasons he started his first business was so he could take his dog to work. He has always been strongly in tune with dogs and has learned all he can about the human/dog connection. This led him to work with high level, working dogs such as German Shepherds and Malinois and was able to learn from some of the best dog trainers in the country.

Bob loves to share his knowledge and commitment to building a better relationship with our canine companions.