THE TEAM

TOGETHER WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE

COMMITMENT

Our Board

VOCAL is an animal welfare organization made up of board members who are passionate about helping the animals in their community. Read on to learn more about each of our board members.

BOARD PRESIDENT

Lauren Carpenter

Lauren is an Ohio native who moved to Ocala in 2012. Since living in Ocala, Lauren and her husband, Brice, have rescued several stray animals. Even though Lauren received her business degree with a focus in human resources from The Ohio State University, she found her passion for helping homeless animals after adopting a pair of dogs, Brooks & Claire. She sees the need for rescue and outreach in Marion County and is glad to be here to help bring change to the community. Lauren is proud to be part of a community who cares about their animal friends. She is excited to see the future for pets in Marion County and is proud to be raising three little boys who love animals.

BOARD VICE PRESIDENT

Sarah Myers

Sarah has been a long time, animal lover, growing up riding horses in New Jersey.

After graduating from Rowan University in 2007, she and her husband moved to Ocala, where she spent 11 years as an elementary school teacher before transitioning to work full-time with her husband in their electrical contracting business.

Sarah and her husband became involved with VOCAL early-on through fostering and adopting animals. They even spent a year living on site, caring for the animals and the facility when VOCAL first moved onto their current property in 2017.

Sarah is excited to continue her involvement with VOCAL through her new role as a board member.

TREASURER

Rob Bowman

Joining the board of V.O.C.A.L. is a natural for Rob who is an animal lover and counts his Bull Terrier Willie as a member of the family.

Rob began his career with R+L Carriers in 2007 bringing an extensive background in supply chain and logistics management. As president of R+L Truckload and R+L Global Logistics, he leads all of the non-asset and supply chain firms for R+L Carriers.

He is a veteran of the U.S. Army and was deployed to Desert Shield and Desert Storm. It was during his career in the military that Rob was able to blend his passion for logistics with supply chain management.

Rob is a loyal University of Alabama fan, "Roll Tide". He is also an avid golfer and looks forward to teeing off whenever his schedule allows. Also ranking high on Rob's list of priorities is spending time with his adult children and grandchildren.

FOUNDER - BOARD MEMBER

Linda Norman

Linda is our board President and co-founder. Linda is a CFP and an owner of the financial planning firm, Norman and Furlong, Inc. Previously, she and her husband Gary owned an Allstate Insurance agency, and she was recognized by the Ocala/Marion Chamber of Commerce as the Small Business Person of the Year in 1996.

Linda is well-known in the community as a passionate animal advocate and was recognized as the Governor's Volunteer of the Year in Marion County in 2014 for her efforts on behalf of chained and neglected dogs.

FOUNDER - BOARD MEMBER

Kate Rengel

Kate's passion for animal welfare began over ten years ago when she adopted her first dog, Riley. After graduating with a bachelors degree in Finance from Florida State University in 2010, Kate and her husband, Stephen, settled in Marion County. Kate realized through exposure to community shelters that there were many animals being discarded and euthanized, simply because they had nowhere to go. With a focus on growing VOCAL's community outreach programs, Kate's biggest objective is to keep pets healthy and happy in their homes, and to keep them out of shelters.

BOARD MEMBER

Patti Hitchcock

Patti, and her husband, David, fell in love with Marion County in 1995 while visiting family here. They purchased some acreage in 1999 and were able go relocate from South Florida in 2007. Patti met Kate and Linda after becoming involved locally in animal welfare matters. She is honored and humbled to be a member of VOCAL. Her dog, Jake, is a rescued "Florida Brown Dog" that is living the good life (as all dogs should).

BOARD MEMBER

Rob Carney

Rob graduated from Purdue University with an engineering degree and subsequently opened his floor-covering business, then known as Foxy Carpet, later as Foxy Carpet One. You may recognize Rob by his beloved canine star, Miss Shelby, who was in all of his commercials. Together, they sold a lot of floor covering.

Rob is the current owner of Foxy Rug & Furniture Galleria and is a past president of Ocala Business Leaders. Rob and his wife, Debbie, have many four-legged children. Rob and Debbie have a strong passion for animals and have tried to help clean up the feral cat population in Marion County. They have personally trapped more than 60 cats and after spaying and neutering them, have found them forever homes.

Rob's goal is to educate the public on the importance of spaying and neutering pets so that no animals will have to suffer being alone, hungry and left to fend for themselves, a situation that is completely avoidable.

ARE YOU INTERESTED IN BECOMING PART OF OUR ORGANIZATION? LEARN HOW YOU CAN GIVE SOME OF YOUR TIME TO VOCAL!

FOCUS

Our Staff

We have a small but mighty group of dedicated staff members who are all focused on one mission: helping animals in our community!

OPERATIONS MANAGER

Karen Lancaster

CLINIC VETERINARIAN

Dr. Natalie Isaza

TNR VETERINARIAN

Dr. Kat Fleck

CLINIC MANAGER

Kayla Johnson

CLINIC TECH

Savannah

VET TECH

Andy

CLINIC TECH

Tina

CLIENT CARE ADMINISTRATOR

Caleanna

KENNEL MANAGER

Dorothy Collection

OFFICE COORDINATOR

Leah

KENNEL TECH

Matt

KENNEL TECH

Beverly

KENNEL TECH

Arianna

KENNEL TECH

Alyssa

CLINIC TECH

Ann

MAINTENANCE TECH

Joe

DEDICATION

Key Volunteers

VOCAL is not your typical animal welfare group. Our dedicated group of volunteers set the pace for efforts to help the local pet population. We all work together for the betterment of the animals in our community. To learn about our key volunteers, please continue reading.