Board Members

Clyde Brooks, DVM
Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. Graduated from Georgia Tech in 1963 and served in the Air Force for four years and achieved the rank of Captain. Manager of industrial engineering for Eastern Air Lines for four years and left that position to attend veterinary school at the University of Georgia. Graduated and received degree of Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1976. Established Mountain View Veterinary Hospital in 1977. In 2005 he sold his practice to Brevard Animal Hospital where he is currently practicing. He has authored two books. The first book is a humerous account of veterinary practice and the second is a picture-story book that aids parents and teachers address handicap issues with children.

He is married to Linda DeLoach Brooks of Atlanta, Georgia and will celebrate forty-mome years of marriage in June 2013. They have three sons, six grandsons and one grand daughter.

 

William (Bill) H. Briggs

Was born on July 1, 1937 in Asheville, North Carolina where he spent most of his childhood. His father raised bird dogs, English Setters and Pointers. They also had quail, pheasants, and other small animals including a pet crow. Bill started attending Christ School in Arden, NC in his sophomore year and graduated in 1955.

He then attended Lehigh University and received a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1960. After college he went into the US Army for six months and then fulfilled his six-year Army Reserve obligation.

In December of 1967 Bill married Sandy Burns. They currently have three children, and 6 grandchildren. They have owned multiple dogs and four cats over the years. Most of the animals were adopted.

In September 1962 he joined IBM and worked with them for 31 years, until September 1993. Initially at IBM, he was in the field working on installing small systems and telecommunications. Next, he was in an application software development laboratory, working on manufacturing, distribution, and motor freight applications. During this time he was a project manager and the manager of advanced technology. Next, he went into application software acquisition dealing with vendors in the education industry, during which he had multiple consulting jobs with vendors who were having development and financial problems. After he retired from IBM, he consulted with a division of IBM that needed marketing and sales advice.

From 1985 – 1987 Bill attended Georgia State University’s Executive Master of Business Administration program and graduated with a Master’s degree in business management.

When Bill retired from IBM in 1993 he took up many hobbies and projects including pottery making, woodturning, golf, hiking, and traveling. Currently he is a member of the Brevard Lions Club and St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Brevard.

Nancy DePippo
Nancy DePippo and her husband Joe moved to Brevard in 2002 along with their 2 rescue cats. This move was a personal choice after a career of being sent to corporate locations that included Texas, Maryland and Alabama. (the same cats accompanied the couple to all these places). Joe has always been in the food business and soon after relocating here, plans started on what would become Poppies Market. After the years of planning and building the store, it operated for 5 years before closing in August of 2011 when the building was sold at auction and Poppies lost their lease. During the time of operation, Poppies hosted many pet adoption events working with both Friends for Life and Charlie’s Angels. Earlier in her life in Brevard, Nancy and a friend worked with Animal Lighthouse to have a feral colony of farm cats spayed and neutered at Noah’s Arc which cemented her commitment to help animals.

The DePippos have always adopted cats from local shelters, even convincing her brother in Delaware to adopt a Transylvania dog that she saw in the paper 7 years ago. Currently, Joe and Nancy are owned by Angus, Essie Mae and Gadget (who came from the feral colony).
Susan Miller
Susan Miller, is a retired executive public servant who also has more than ten years of nonprofit experience, including six years as an executive director and Board Member for local Humane Societies in Florida. She has a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of West Florida and includes, among her accomplishments, a successful capital campaign for a new humane society shelter in Marion County, Florida. She is an absolute animal advocate who has fostered more than 100 kittens, and has six cats and one little doggie who currently “own” her. Susan believes that all kittens and dogs should have that forever home and while they wait they should have a safe, caring place that humans can come and rescue them.

Sandy Briggs

Sandy was born in Athens, GA and grew up in Gainesville, GA.  She graduated from Florida State in 1960 with a degree in English.  Moved to Atlanta, where she was a legal secretary for 8 years.  Married  to fellow board member, Bill Briggs, they have 3 children and 6 grandchildren.

The Briggs’ lived in Milan, Italy for 1 1/2 years when Bill was on assignment for IBM They moved back to Atlanta before becoming “full-timers” in Brevard in 2010.  Sandy stays overly-active in volunteer, church and civic activities. She has always loved animals from childhood on. Bill & her have shared their home with dogs and a few cats (occasionally) for the past nearly 40 years.
Dr. Ann Holshouser    Dr. Ann Holshouser has over 20 years of experience in veterinary medicine. A graduate of Clemson University and the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine, she has worked in both large and small animal medicine throughout her career.

Dr. Ann has experience with many facets of the needs of animals in our region, including working with the Humane Alliance, a high volume spay/neuter clinic in Asheville, for 4 years. She is also a consulting veterinarian for two local non-profit animal rescue groups: Friends for Life Forever Farm and Transylvania Animal Alliance Group (TAAG).

Dr. Ann is the owner of Riversong Veterinary Clinic, a holistic small animal practice in  Brevard. She is also a member of the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the Association of Holistic Veterinary Medical Association (AHVMA). In addition, Dr. Ann enjoys raising two children with her husband Nick, trail running, and listening to live, local music.

Cathy Heuser

Cathy is a native of Fremont, MI.  After attending Western Michigan University, she moved to the south.  She lived in Asheville before starting her interior design business in Orlando Florida and Atlanta Georgia. Over the last 40 years, she has utilized her talents to decorate, re-model and in new construction design.  Her commercial designs have been implemented from Miami to the Silicon Valley.

Cathy has been an animal lover her entire life.  She has always had multiple cats and dogs.  Before moving to Brevard, she had 13 pets including purebred and rescue dogs, cats and a parrot. Cathy and Kent have been married for 40 years and live with the dogs Toulouse and Allie and Papillion the kitty.  Cathy has been involved with numerous fundraising efforts through the years.

Dr. Nancy Kay    Dr. Kay wanted to become a veterinarian for just about as long as she can remember. Her veterinary degree is from Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine, and she completed her residency training in small animal internal medicine at the University of California—Davis Veterinary School.

Dr. Kay is a board certified specialist in the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine and worked as a specialist in private practice for more than 25 years. She is published in several professional journals and textbooks and lectures professionally to regional and national audiences. One of her favorite lecture topics is communication between veterinarians and their clients. Since the release of her book, Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life,

Dr. Kay was selected by the American Animal Hospital Association to receive the Hill’s Animal Welfare and Humane Ethics Award. This award is given annually to a veterinarian or nonveterinarian who has advanced animal welfare through extraordinary service or by furthering humane principles, education, and understanding. Dr. Kay was selected to be a recipient of the Leo K. Bustad Companion Animal Veterinarian of the Year Award, presented every year by the American Veterinary Medical Association to a veterinarian whose work exemplifies and promotes the human animal bond.

Dr. Kay’s personal life revolves around her husband (also a veterinarian), her three children (none of whom aspire to be veterinarians) and their menagerie of four-legged family members. When she’s not working or writing, she spends her spare moments in the garden or riding atop her favorite horse. Dr. Kay and her husband reside in Hendersonville, North Carolina.