Board of Trustees
Michelle Inserra
President
Michelle graduated with a BS in Business Administration and specialized in Marketing and Management and Organization. She worked for Raytheon Engineers for 18 years with the last 12 years as Administration Manager. She completed her 20 year career as a Financial Advisor in October.
Michelle has been in animal rescue for the past 14 years, starting with BFHS as a Board Trustee for 6 years, then moving to ASAP for 4 years and the rest has been at TCAS in various volunteer positions. Michelle has 3 rescue pets, 1 dog, Coco and 2 cats, Scooter and Mitzi. She has always had animals her whole life.
Her mission for this organization is to insure the funds that are donated by the public through legacy planning, grants or monetary donations are left with TCAS in perpetuity. The past 4 directors had their own non-profit, 501(c)(3) and took the funds with them.
George Hagen
Secretary
Prior to my retirement in 2021, my professional career span was over 30 plus years of organization and supervisory experience. The last 12 years I was the Records Officer for one of the three prime contractors at the Hanford site in Washington state. The budget for the records area was 3.2 million dollars annually. The group was comprised of 70 professionals that handled and processed 9 million electronic records during the 12 years I managed the group.
I have worked in the rescue world for over five years. During that time, I joined a rescue group called Adopt Shelter Animal Pets (ASAP) as a volunteer doing adoption events and doing their records. During my time with ASAP, I became the President of the organization. As such I was responsible for daily functions which included working with the other members of the board, ASAP volunteers, businesses for donations, and helping to organize fundraisers. This experience will aid in supporting Friends of TCAS to achieve its goals in supporting the TCAS.
Blandina Valenzuela
Treasurer
Blandina has a science background and previously worked as a chemist for PNNL. She has been a member of Soroptimist International of Three Rivers (SI3R) in the roles of President, Treasurer, and Board Member. While an SI3R member she participated in a variety of volunteer activities to enhance the lives of women and girls. Currently, she volunteers as a dog walker with the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter, a remote volunteer for Best Friends Animal Society, and helps local fire departments apply for grants.
Diane Hart
Trustee
Diane graduated with a degree in Recreation and Park Administration. With this credential she worked for the Washington State Parks, Spokane Parks, Richland, Pasco, and Kennewick parks departments. Later she realized she had a desire to teach so she returned to school and got a degree in Elementary Education. She taught at St. Patrick School in Pasco and eventually she taught and retired from the Pasco School District after 20+ years.
Diane has a passion for animals and she has always had pets of many varieties. They have always “found” her, including chickens, but mostly cats. Over the years several of her pets turned into special needs animals which has taught her a lot about how to care for their medical issues. She will do anything for her pets! She currently has one dog, Molly, one cat, Scruffy, and one fish, Albert Finney.
Diane’s compassion and empathy for animals has led her to the Tri-City Animal Shelter so that she is able to volunteer alongside other like minded people, in order to provide what is needed to improve the well being of Tri-Cities Animal Shelter pets
Cindy Hudon
Trustee
Cindy currently works for CPCCO & has been working on site for 33 years as a Planner/Scheduler. She volunteered for CARE rescue back in 2000 for several years & she has been a volunteer for TCAS for 3+ years. Cindy has always had a passion for animals even as a child, she was known for bringing strays home to convince her parents to keep them. Her heart goes out to the senior dogs that are harder to adopt so she’s been known to foster/adopt those that are less fortunate to find a loving home.
Cindy currently has 2 dogs, Maggie & Bear that are very spoiled. Bear was a TCAS dog until we adopted her in October 2023. She’s been a great addition to our family & will live out her life on 5 acres in the country. Maggie is 6 years old and keeps us very active, we currently are training her to be certified as Canine Good Citizen.
Being on the board allows Cindy to get more involved with the donations that will go towards helping the Tri-City Animal Shelter with fund raisers, sponsors to donate & being a part of the mission to keep our shelter animals healthy and being able to get adopted to great homes.
Robb Heston
Trustee
Robb has been a communications/ media specialist for nearly 30 years. He came to the Tri-Cities in the fall of 2000 and has no desire to leave. Robb has been involved with a number of charities and non-profits in our community. Making sure that as many animals find loving homes was a big reason Robb got involved with POPP fora number of years beginning in 2012. His focus shifted to the Tri-Cities Animal Shelter after talking with a previous director and seeing the real need facing the dogs and cats in their care. It's why Robb is excited to support TCAS in this way as every animal deserves to find a forever home. Robb currently has two senior dogs, 12-year-old Dutch and 10-year-old-Herbie, and one senior cat, 10-year-old Larry, all of whom are rescues. He is a big advocate for senior animal adoptions as the rest of their lives should be spent with a loving family.