The Santa Fe Animal Shelter is governed by a Board of Directors, each of whom brings a deep commitment to the animals and people of our community.
To contact our Board of Directors, please email board@sfhumanesociety.org.

Gretchen Walther • Board Chair

Gretchen began to visit Santa Fe as a young girl when her father moved here and opened his law practice in 1983.  Santa Fe captured her heart and she spent her childhood exploring Santa Fe’s historic architecture, native American culture and art, and the forests of the Sangre de Christos.

Gretchen was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.   After 2 years of college abroad in Switzerland, Gretchen finished her undergraduate education at New York University. Gretchen remained in New York for law school and obtained her Juris Doctorate in 1997. After graduating from law school, Gretchen followed her heart to New Mexico and began her legal career. Gretchen combined forces with her father David Walther and for many years they ran a pre-eminent divorce and family law firm with offices in both Santa Fe and Albuquerque.

25 years later Gretchen decided to close the doors of her law practice and pursue a career in real estate with her partner Mary Guzman.  The Guzman & Walther Real Estate Group work with Sotheby’s International Realty of Santa Fe and their favorite team members are their Golden Retriever “Bruno Mars”, their Boston Terrier “Gus” and their kitty “Hucklberry Finn”.  Gretchen brings the passions she developed in her legal career to being a real estate broker – developing personal connections with people, negotiating win-win deals, creative problem solving and helping people meet their goals and dreams.

Diana Brown • Secretary

Diana grew up in Minneapolis, lived primarily in Los Angeles, and retired full time to Santa Fe with her husband and three rescue dogs in 2020 after having lived here part-time for almost 15 years. 

Diana received a BA from Barnard College, Columbia University and a JD from the University of Michigan. Prior to her retirement, Diana practiced health care law in San Diego and Los Angeles. 

Diana enjoys hiking, traveling throughout the Southwest and learning to play tennis. 

Sheila Vaughn

Sheila is a native of Illinois, but spent most of her adult life in Southern California. After receiving her Ph.D. in psychology, she had a private practice and taught at UC Irvine for 20 years. Since moving to Santa Fe 10 years ago, Sheila has continued her private practice and does consultation with couples in the collaborative divorce process. In her free time, when not being trained by her flat-coated retriever, she does volunteer work, reads, hikes and looks forward to post-pandemic movie-going and traveling.

Mary Mitchell

Mary worked as a major donor consultant in a variety of political, environmental and education organizations in Washington, DC and New York. In 1998 her husband’s job took them to Europe where they lived for 15 years, first in Switzerland, then in England. While in England, Mary earned a diploma in garden design, opened her own landscaping business and became a certified Hatha yoga teacher. She presently teaches classes at her home studio in Santa Fe. Upon moving here, Mary became involved with the newly created Santa Fe Botanical Garden and was asked to serve on its Board. At the SFAS, Mary enjoys fostering animals and working in recovery at the clinic. She has four shelter alumni at home who fill her days with joy.

Elizabeth Rice

Elizabeth has lived in Santa Fe since 1977 and has served on many boards including Girls’ Inc, Santa Fe Community Foundation, and Sky Mountain Wild Horse Sanctuary. Her background in nonprofit experience as well as strategic planning, policy development and finance will benefit our board going forward. Elizabeth has a big dog named Bear.

Bill Feinberg