We’ve made some changes! In April we finalized a couple of important staffing changes and we want you, our dedicated supporters, to hear about them before we announce them in our upcoming Newsletter in June.
Our Founder, Dr. Guillermo Couto, has decided to step down as President of The Greyhound Health Initiative. After serving four consecutive years of his 2-year term we have agreed that his time would be better spent doing what he does best: seeing patients, researching and teaching. This does not mean he is leaving GHI. He will continue to advise our new President, Tina Kelly, and will remain involved in all other GHI activities, though he will primarily focus on education, consultations, and the blood bank. We are excited to give him the opportunity to focus on what he is most passionate about.
And with that, allow me to introduce you to Tina Kelly! Tina has been supporting Dr. Couto’s work for over a decade and has an even longer history both supporting, and running, nonprofit organizations — specifically in the Greyhound community. She’s been interested in Greyhounds since 2002 and started volunteering with an adoption group even before she adopted her first Greyhound. She has been on boards with local adoption groups and created a Greyhound community support group, Greyhound Trust & Alliance (GT&A), in 2009 that supports the community internationally with fundraising, conferences, seminars and hosted events in Canada and the USA. Working with a group of like-minded individuals she assisted in creating Finding Loving Irish Greyhounds Together (F.L.I.G.H.T) in 2017, a subsidiary of GT&A that works with organizations in Ireland to bring adoptable retired Irish racing Greyhounds into North America. Of course, Tina has also been involved with GHI since its inception in 2013, most recently as Director, Events and Marketing. She will retain those responsibilities while we transition to a new structure and bring on additional volunteers*.
Tina met Dr. Couto in 2007 when he was speaking in Ottawa, Ontario for the Greyhounds Supporters of NCR (GSNCR), and then organized another speaking engagement for him with GSNCR in Guelph, Ontario in 2008. Tina attended the Annual Greyhound Health and Wellness Conferences hosted in Columbus, Ohio in 2010, 2011 & 2013. In 2014 she created an annual fundraising event in Wheeling, WV called Greyt Escape – Kennel to Kouches to support and educate the community with a better understanding of our Greyhounds from birth into retirement. In 2015 and 2016 GT&A and GHI combined Greyt Escape – Kennel to Kouches and the Annual Greyhound Health and Wellness Conferences into a single, stellar event.
We are excited to have Tina lead us into expanding our programs, our international presence and our research into other Sighthound breeds!
*Did I say that we needed to bring on additional volunteers? In fact, we are currently interviewing candidates for Secretary, part of our Board of Directors. This is a key position and the Secretary has wide ranging responsibilities beyond just taking meeting minutes!
And we are always looking for any energized individuals to join GHI… and they don’t have to be from Canada or the US! We are looking for input to assist us in growing internationally to gain an even better understanding of this tremendous breed! Anyone interested in helping can contact us at info@greyhoundhealthinitiative.org.
It’s an exciting time at GHI, and we have a lot of irons in the fire. We’re continually humbled by the dedication of supporters like you and we are honored to serve such a fantastic community. Thank you for being part of the legacy we are creating for Dr. Couto, Greyhounds, and other sighthounds around the world.
Thank you, as always, for your support.
Sincerely,
Brian J. Collins
Executive Director
Read about Dr Couto on this post from 2010