Kelli Brisbane is getting her hands dirty in her new job.

There’s nothing nefarious about it — it’s just part of being the new executive director at Animal Friends of Westmoreland.

Since taking over the role on Dec. 14, Brisbane already has fostered a dog and pitched in at the organization’s Youngwood shelter and large animal sanctuary in Unity.

“It’s not as scary as I imagined,” she said of caring for farm animals on the 62-acre site. “They know their routines — as soon as you open the gate at the end of the day, they go right in.

“The only one I’m afraid of is one of the larger pigs.”

It’s a bit different from her previous jobs, as director of corporate engagement and events for Westmoreland Cultural Trust and as IT service coordinator for InTech Solutions in Greensburg, but she says she relishes the challenge.

“I’ve been stressing to the staff that I wouldn’t ask them to do anything I wouldn’t do,” she said. “I’m willing to get dirty.”

Brisbane was chosen after an 18-month search to fill the newly created position, taking over from organization founder Candy Valentino, who served as CEO in a volunteer capacity since the organization’s inception in 2006.

Valentino sold her Pittsburgh-based company and relocated to Arizona in December 2019. She will continue with Animal Friends in the founder’s role and as a board member.

Valuable lessons

“Expanding our leadership team and securing an executive director was my number one goal going into 2020,” Valentino said. “Although covid delayed those plans, I believe everything happens for a reason, and we truly couldn’t be more thrilled to have Kelli on board.”

Brisbane will be responsible for overseeing programs and developing a strategic plan for the organization. Other key duties include fundraising, acquiring grants, donor and sponsor contributions, as well as marketing and community outreach.

That’s where her previous experiences come in, she said.

“I understand the nonprofit world, and this is another world on top of that,” she said. “The biggest challenge is navigating covid and keeping everyone safe.”

She said she also brings valuable lessons learned from her time at InTech Solutions.

“No disrespect to the IT world, but IT is just not for me,” she said. “I’m a mission-oriented person and I wanted to be passionate about my work. This is a really cool opportunity. I’ve been a vegetarian since I was 5 years old, and I’m an animal lover. I wanted to go back to the nonprofit world, and I share (Animal Friends’) vision.”

At Westmoreland Cultural Trust, Brisbane managed a team of more than 100 volunteers, and worked with donors, sponsors and other supporters. She was involved in creating new events and initiatives to support local artists and musicians, including the Trust’s Art in the Alley, Incubator for the Arts, Wings Across Westmoreland and Greensburg Music Fest.

She and her husband, Dashiel Harster, are parents to Luke, 12.

Jumping in

A Westmoreland native, Brisbane and her family moved back to the area in 2013 from New York City, where she was a professional actress, a company manager of the Flying Karamazov Brothers and a corporate event planner on Fifth Avenue at LVMH for Givenchy Fragrance Brands.

Brisbane said her intention with Animal Friends was “to come in and learn, observe and listen,” but unexpected temporary staff shortages led to her “jumping in and taking animals to vet appointments and working farm shifts. And I’m doing what I know from the Trust.”

As things settle down, she said, she’ll focus more on fundraising.

“Like other nonprofits in 2020, we have faced many challenges due to covid-19. Volunteer illness and pandemic concern attributed to less volunteering hours, which resulted in an increase of staff hours needed to provide care for the 150+ animals at our facilities,” Valentino said. “We also experienced an increased need for our programs and services due financial hardships in the community and having to cancel all in-person fundraising events and initiatives (which account for more than half of our annual budget).

“It was by far our most challenging year,” she said.

“It’s rewarding to see how much the staff and volunteers do for the organization,” Brisbane said. “At Christmas, it was amazing to see how much the community does, too, not just in monetary donations, but in in-kind donations, too.

“It felt like Santa’s workshop.”

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