board of directors
Jennifer Mathers | president
Jennifer was born and raised in the Bay Area and comes from a family of animal lovers and advocates. She began working with animals at a local shelter as soon as she was old enough, and her passion for people and animals led her to a 20-year career dedicated to the animal welfare industry, including 15 years at SVACA. In December 2021, she made the difficult decision to leave her role as SVACA’s Shelter Manager, but she couldn’t turn her back on the animals and the community she loves so much— Jennifer now contributes her unique and valuable perspective, and decades of experience, to Friends of SVACA.
Eva Schimtz | co-treasurer
Eva was born and raised in the Bay Area and has always had a deep commitment to her community. In addition to her role on the board of Friends, she socializes dogs at SVACA as a volunteer. Eva is an accounting manager at All Metals Inc and runs a collectibles business at The Willow Glen Collective. Eva has two dogs and two birds.
Alex Leung | co-treasurer
As a child, Alex had pets, but dogs always had a special place in his heart. When he lost a beloved cocker spaniel after 13 years, he came to SVACA looking to fall in love again. A two pound ball of fur named Maia opened his heart again and now keeps him very busy. Alex has been a SVACA volunteer committed to helping animals find new homes ever since.
Sayaka Nethercutt | secretary
Sayaka volunteers with SVACA in addition to acting as the Friends board Secretary. She finds taking animals to offsite events to interact with the public particularly rewarding. Although she works in high tech now, her dream is to one day leverage her animal communication and Reiki skills to team up with an animal to provide therapy-related services to others. Sayaka and her husband have one cat, their beloved Maggie.
Lisa Bourgault | director
Lisa brings her writing, technology, graphic design, and camera skills to Friends of SVACA. She loves all animals, furry, feathery, or leathery and dedicates one day each week to volunteering as a photographer for SVACA. You can see some of her work on the walls of SVACA's Animal Care Center. When not behind a camera, Lisa works as a technical writer for a high tech company in the solar energy field. She and her husband have three cats, all SVACA rescues.
Janine Chew | director
After retiring from teaching in Santa Clara Unified for over a decade, Janine was excited to jump deeper into the world of volunteering. Fostering, socializing, attending events, and reaching out to the community for donations for SVACA brings her great joy. Janine also volunteers with IRC to help support refugees. And should you need tomato seeds, Janine harvests new seeds every year.
Joan Amaratti | director
Joan has been working in animal rescue since she was a child, assisting her parents with wildlife rehab in Ohio. She first became involved with SVACA in 2012 as a foster parent, assisted at events, and then began volunteering as a cat and dog socializer. She is passionate about understanding and mitigating the causes of animal surrender, and to that end spent four years apprenticing and attending classes to become a dog trainer, culminating in the completion of the Marin Humane Society Behavior Academy. Previously, Joan was Treasurer of the Board for Sanctuary One, the first care farm established on the West Coast. She has a decade of professional experience in nonprofit development. She now spends her days as an operations manager at an autonomous driving technology company and her evenings and weekends with her first SVACA foster fail kitty, Denver.
Robin Smiley | director
Robin, a Bay Area native, has recently returned to her roots after spending several years in Idaho. Now that she’s back in the Bay Area, Robin is enthusiastic about getting involved in the community once again. She eagerly looks forward to supporting Friends of SVACA. With over 17 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, Robin brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to her role. Her lifelong love of animals fuels her commitment to the organization’s mission. Robin hopes to bring her knowledge and experience with recruitment, volunteer management, and marketing to help raise funds, engage with the community, and promote awareness. When Robin isn’t working or volunteering, you’ll find her enjoying quality time with her daughter and their beloved fur baby, Moose.