Staff Members

Jae has worked in animal hospitals and is excited to join the team to work toward the Pets Alive mission. Jae lives in Bedford with her 7 pets! She has 4 dogs, Kuma, Twiggy, C.C., and Bruiser; and 3 cats, Peter, Rukia, and O’Malley. In her free time, Jae enjoys hiking, taking care of her plants, and just spending time outdoors.

Dr. Ferguson graduated from Purdue University’s School of Veterinary Medicine with her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) in 1985. After eight years of private practice, she began working with spay/neuter clinics and participated in the Association of Shelter Veterinarian’s Task Force to Advance Spay and Neuter. In 2005, Dr. Ferguson was the first veterinarian to join the Pets Alive team, performing the first spay surgery at the clinic. In 2015, she also performed the 100,000th surgery.

Emily has several years experience working at vet clinics and doggie day car. She has a passion for animals and is excited to be a part of the Pets Alive team to spay and neuter animals to prevent pet overpopulation. Emily absolutely loves animals and has been rescuing and fostering animals at her house for years and currently has about 20 animals at home.

Suzanne has lived in Bloomington for 30 years and came to us in March 2019 after 15 years of customer service. She wanted to work somewhere that matters and loves that she gets to make a positive impact on the lives of cats and dogs. Suzanne enjoys working with her co-workers, and the animals she gets to cuddle is an awesome perk! She has lots of pets herself including 3 dogs – Glorria, Daphanne, and Twiggie. Suzanne adopted her dogs after fostering them and has rescued and fostered/adopted many cats as well.

Allison Hess is a long-time member of the Pets Alive board of directors and a former veterinary technician. She earned degrees in Animal Behavior from the University of Michigan and Education from Indiana University. Allison cares for numerous Pets Alive and Bloomington Animal Shelter graduates, as well as a flock of hens rescued from factory farms. She has lived in Bloomington since the last century and has a broad range of nonprofit leadership experience.

Jasmin is originally from Columbus, Indiana and attended Three Rivers College in Missouri. She has been working with Pets Alive since March 2019. She loves to be around animals and has been working with animals her entire life, including horseback riding and care since she was 8 years old. She plans to always work with animals and loves interacting with all the pets we serve. She goes home to her own animals every day. Ace, Axle, Bolt, and Bandit are all German Shepards and Grimm and Toothless are cats she adopted from shelters that came through Pets Alive.

Mary is from Connecticut but she has lived in Bloomington for over 20 years. She was previously an office manager for 14 years before joining our team in January 2019. She loves greeting the animals every day and working for a cause that she believes in. Mary has 4 dogs and 5 cats of her own that greet her every day when she comes home.

Angie has over 20 years of experience working with animals including owning her own grooming shop for 18 years. She received a veterinary degree from Harrison College is 2011 and worked as a head surgery nurse at BloomingPaws. Angie has a passion for affordable animal welfare and enjoys assisting surgeries to help animals. She has a Boxer at home named Gibbs, a Boston Terrier named Anna and a rescue ferret named Ferrett Bueler.

Christy has 25 years of experience as a veterinary technician before joining our team in 2021. She is enjoying working with the team at Pets Alive towards the mission of minimizing unwanted pets. Christy lives in Mitchell with her dog Reese and cat Sissy.

Cathy grew up in Nashville, Indiana where she helped her father train Beagles. She joined the Pets Alive team in 2006. Cathy works to keep the recovery rooms clean and enjoys giving all the animals love like they are her own. She believes in our mission and enjoys working to help keep animals out of shelters. Cathy has rescued 3 dogs and a cat she now calls her children – Minnie Moo, Allie, Sarah and Birdie.

Jamie began her career in animal welfare at White River Humane Society and has over 16 years of experience in shelter medicine and animal behavior. She joined our team in May 2013 as a Veterinary Assistant to help decrease pet overpopulation in our area. With over 7 years’ experience in many capacities of Pets Alive, Jamie is currently our Operations Director. She shares her home with dogs Sunny, Daisy Mae, Ruger, Rocket, Ally and several cats.