Board of Directors

Laura Godfrey - Board Chair

Laura is a retired faculty and administrator from Fort Lewis College where she spent nearly 25 years involved in international education, sociology and writing programs as well as serving as the Director of Assessment. She has extensive experience with grant evaluation and is currently a grant consultant with San Juan College, Fort Lewis College and the University of West Florida. Laura has know Lisa for over 20 years and has seen her passion for rescuing abandoned, unwanted dogs grow over the years from a random rescue from Burger King in Kayenta to a thriving organization. Laura has fostered mothers and litters several times and her dog Mia (a husky, aussie, shepard, chow and who knows what mix) is from the first litter with teen mom, Juno, and 8 puppies.

Michelle Sainio - Treasurer

Michelle Sainio is the Audit Engagement Director and an owner of FredrickZink & Associates, PC. With more than eleven years of experience working on audits of nonprofit organizations, Michelle supervises, reviews and manages the work performed by others. Michelle is a graduate of Fort Lewis College and is a licensed CPA in Colorado and New Mexico. She currently is the Treasurer for Durango Food Bank, President of the Four Corners Chapter of the Colorado Society of CPAs, and is a graduate of Leadership La Plata. Michelle and her husband, Kevin, have two children: Aubrey, 5 and a half years old, and Aiden, 16 months old. In addition, we have a couple of fur babies: our twelve year old cat named Andy and Rugby (almost 3 years old) which we were fortunate enough to adopt through Lisa Parker's Puppies. Michelle and Lisa became friends after Lisa inquired of accounting work with FredrickZink & Associates, PC. Michelle quickly inquired about the cute, innocent little puppy named Rugby who was still available for adoption.

Erin Van Winkle - Secretary

Erin is a 5th grade school teacher in Bayfield, Colorado. She has been a resident of Durango for 26 years and absolutely admires dogs. Erin and Lisa became friends after a Face Book post to rescue an adult male Pitt Bull. (Ziggy) Erin volunteered to foster this amazing dog and as they say the rest is history. Erin rescued her dog Eddy 14 years ago and he was introduced to another rescue from Kayenta, Keel. Keel and Eddy are no longer with us but those 2 dogs started the path of doing all she could for unwanted pups. Erin has a Parker's Animal Rescue adopted dog named Aggy that her and her partner John fostered and fell in love with. Erin continues to support Parker's Animal Rescue, helping out as needed with various activities and fostering. Erin and John enjoy their now 2 dogs (Rufus and Aggy), camping, hiking, dirt bike riding, river running and skiing. Erin also serves on the board for Animas River Days.

Gary Coraggio - Board Member

A commercial pilot, Gary Coraggio has spent more than 23 years in the private aviation industry, volunteering with his pilots' union for more than a decade. Gary and his wonderful wife Allyson were introduced to Parker's Animal Rescue when they adopted their beloved chiweenie, Pinot, who has brought them an immeasurable amount of joy ever since. In his wife's words, Parker's Animal Rescue and Pinot have changed their lives forever and they never could have imagined how much love the little "hotdog" would both give and receive.

His passion to work with animals began when he was a child, but Gary has always held a special place in his heart for helping and training dogs. He can often be found working as a handler with Parker's Animal Rescue's trainers. Gary's knowledge and experience in working with dogs and his earnest desire to find every pup their loving forever home, made it an easy decision to accept the appointment to the Parker's Animal Rescue Board.

John Watson - Board Member

John is the founder of the Evergreen Education Group, which helps public school educators and their supporters create innovative learning options using technology. John and his wife Sharon split time between Durango and Tempe, where she is a professor at Arizona State University working in conservation biology and related issues. Their pup Cedar joined them from the Farmington animal shelter six years ago. John was an early board member of Colorado Wild (now Rocky Mountain Wild), and has been involved as a volunteer with other regional and national environmental conservation organizations.

Maria Baker - Board Member

Maria Baker was raised in Ignacio, graduated from Fort Lewis College and is the Vice President of Human Resources for the Southern Ute Growth Fund. She has worked for the Southern Ute Indian Tribe for over 21 years, starting her career with the Tribe's Education Department and then transferring to the Growth Fund HR department.

Maria has been a board member for Los Amigos and Durango Adult Education, was a long time board member and past board president of KSUT, and sat on the SUIT's Wildlife Advisory Committee for over 10 years.

Maria and Isadore have been long time supporters of animal rescues and programs and have one fur baby, Emma Sue.