Our Board
Interested in serving on our Board of Directors? Learn more here.
Kate Hooper, DVM, President
Kate Hooper is a veterinarian who loves practicing here in the Pacific NW. She is an active veterinary volunteer with PAW Team and regularly participates in on-site clinics and off-site events. She feels that the mission and services of PAW Team fill a critical and unique need in our community and joined the board in 2023 to help further the goals of the organization.
As a Portland native, Kate has been able to see how the city, community, and veterinary medicine have changed and evolved over the years. She believes there is no more important time than now for PAW Team to reach people and their animal companions and she is grateful to work alongside the amazing people that make this work possible.
Outside of veterinary medicine, Kate enjoys running, cooking, spending time with her two dogs (Finn and Steady), and traveling with her partner who is also a veterinarian.
Joanna Sekowska, DVM
Joanna heard about the PAW Team soon after moving to Portland in 2016. She found herself volunteering at the PAW Team more and more over the years, and she is so glad she did. Working with PAW Team has proven to be extremely rewarding. Joanna believes that every animal is deserving of veterinary care and that the human–animal bond is a vital relationship worth protecting.
Dr Sekowska’s commitment to PAW Team’s mission reflects her conviction that expanding access to veterinary services strengthens both pets and their families, and is a crucial component of a healthy community.
In her free time, Joanna tries to spend as much time as she can in the mountains and forests, and can be seen in her running shoes scurrying through the woods.
Ina Zucker
Growing up in a family that prioritized animal welfare and environmental conservation, Ina began working to protect animals in fifth grade by collecting funds to adopt a whale. Since then, some part of her professional or volunteer work has included advocacy for the future of the planet, its animals and people. She has worked as a junior lobbyist in Washington, DC in support of ending hunting and trapping on national wildlife refuges, a cook in a vegetarian restaurant, and a public interest environmental lawyer.
Working at Oregon Metro, where the voters of the region recently have approved two measures for Metro to tackle affordable housing and homeless services in the Portland area, Ina saw the connections between the PAW Team mission and the work Metro and others are doing to support folks experiencing homelessness. She joined the board in 2022.
When not working, Ina and her husband can be found gardening on a small scale at home, and helping old friends build larger scale, vineyard-adjacent gardens and fruit orchards on beautiful land in Yamhill County.
Lillie Reder
Lillie strongly supports animal welfare organizations, especially those dedicated to maintaining and advocating for human-animal companionship like PAW Team. In 2020 she moved from Alaska, where she was a member of the Board of Directors for Bethel Friends of Canines, to Portland to pursue her graduate studies.
Thus far, Lillie has enjoyed volunteering at one PAW Wellness Clinic and in the supply room and looks forward to many more volunteer opportunities in fundraising, events, and operations.
Lillie works for Central City Concern as a Quality Consultant, a PAW partnering non-profit in the Portland Metro area providing housing, healthcare and employment services to folx experiencing homelessness. In her free time she enjoys being outside with her two Alaskan pups or exploring beautiful Portland.
Barb Kessel
Barb derives joy volunteering for PAW Team, and is honored to be part of the team providing vital services to people and pets experiencing poverty and/or houselessness. She believes our community is strengthened by increases in compassion and kindness. These qualities continually bounce between staff, volunteers, clients, and pets at PAW Team.
Barb graduated from the PCC Veterinary Technician program in 2010 and started to live her dream of caring for animals and the people that love them. She returned to live in Portland a few years ago, but still works remotely for The Grand Lake Veterinary Hospital in the California Bay Area.
She also has a degree in library science and worked as a librarian for many years before entering the veterinary field, including in Washington County.
Joe Carlisle
Joe is an attorney and partner at Dunn Carney, LLP, who has the pleasure of representing individual veterinarians and small veterinary practices in Oregon and Washington.
Joe loves his 3 dogs and cat, and the Portland metro area. Joe’s love of his animals, Portland and his veterinarian clients, and the opportunity to use his legal skills to further PAW Team’s mission, inspired him to join the Board in 2024.
He is grateful for the opportunity to give back to the community through the work of the PAW Team.
Nikki Graff, DVM
Nikki began volunteering with PAW Team when she was working as an ER veterinarian, seeking a way to prevent the burnout that is so common in this field. What she found was a compassionate and dedicated organization of like-minded volunteers working together to provide access to veterinary care while honoring the human-animal bond.
She has continued to volunteer with PAW Team as her veterinary career shifted away from the ER/critical care world to practice ownership and general medicine. She joined the board of directors in 2025 with the firm belief that through providing access to care, we make positive impactful and meaningful changes in our community. PAW Team fills her cup.
Outside of veterinary medicine, Nikki spends time with her two kids and husband, and their sweet pit bull/bull terrier Darrell. She loves the Oregon coast, ceramics, cooking, and traveling.
Danielle Works
Danielle brings her enthusiasm for community-building and animal welfare to her role on the PAW Team Board of Directors. With a background in animal sheltering, she recognizes the power of the human-animal bond and is passionate about PAW Team’s work to keep pets with the people who love them.
With more than a decade of experience in animal sheltering, Danielle currently serves as Community Engagement Manager for RedRover, where she consults with organizations nationwide to develop pet-inclusive services for survivors of violence and those experiencing houselessness.
Her experience spans direct animal care, community outreach, emergency response, and program management. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biology from Willamette University and is FEMA-certified in Emergency Animal Sheltering. Danielle lives in Tigard with her husband, Anuj, and their cat, Phoebe.