How We're Governed: Board of Directors and Leadership

Suzanne Roy brings to the Board over 30 years of political, public affairs, and animal welfare advocacy.

She has worked as a press secretary for local and national political campaigns, a public affairs specialist for a Fortune 500 company, and Director of Communications and Programs for two non-profit animal welfare organizations. From 2008-2014, she served as a member of the Orange County, North Carolina Animal Services Advisory Board, and is currently a board member for the California-based Gray Whale Coalition and an advisor to Montgomery Creek Ranch, a private wild horse sanctuary in northern California. Since 2010, she has worked as the Executive Director of the American Wild Horse Conservation. Suzanne has spent most of her career pursuing her passion for animal protection, working to improve the plight of elephants, chimpanzees, marine mammals, and other animals both in captivity and in the wild. An avid horse lover and mother of a horse-crazy daughter, she turned her attention to the fight to save America's wild horses and burros in 2010. Prior to entering the animal welfare field, Roy was a political consultant, working on a variety of campaigns including as New Hampshire press secretary for Senator Gary Hart's 1988 presidential bid. She currently resides in Davis, CA with her family, including a big gray warmblood horse named Cobalt.

Alicia Goetz is a former tech CFO and founder of Freedom Reigns Equine Sanctuary, a non-profit foundation dedicated to the rescue of and advocacy for horses destined for slaughter, including wild free-roaming horses who have been removed from their natural habitats on public lands in the American West. Freedom Reigns' nearly 4,000-acre sanctuary in California provides refuge to over 500 equines, including domestic horses, wild mustangs, burros and even a zorse!

Bill Hake is a litigation attorney with national trial counsel, mediation and litigation management experience. For more than 25 years, Bill has taught and lectured at Harvard University School of Law and Stanford University School of Law on trial advocacy and on trial practice, evidence, civil litigation and mediation for the California State Bar Continuing Education Program and for the University of San Francisco School of Law. Bill also taught alternative dispute resolution and mediation for the U.S. Department of Justice and in the federal practice program for the federal court in Northern California. Bill is a founding board member of the American Wild Horse Conservation, and in 2023 was awarded the organization's Freedom Award for his outstanding service to the wild horse conservation cause.

Stephanie Zill is a Certified Public Accountant and business manager located in Southern California. She has over 30 years' experience in accounting in a variety of fields including entertainment, law, and logistics. Since 2010, Stephanie has had her own practice with a focus on small to mid-sized non-profit organizations. She is a founding board member of the American Wild Horse Conservation and has been active on a variety of non-profit boards including Step Up Women's Network, Full Disclosure in Media and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Patricia Miller's wealth of experience spans Fortune 500 to start-up brand and product launches and management and broad Board of Director leadership. Patricia is a social entrepreneur and climate activist focused in this critical decade on regeneration and the circular economy. Her passion is nature and advocacy for all sentient beings; An avid sanctuary supporter and animal rights activist. As CEO + Visionary of M4 Factory, she is an innovative leader in the field of regenerative, sustainable consumer product manufacturing and design. As Founder of Irving & Judd, she is defining a Factory to Consumer business model with small batch consumer goods with a vertically integrated supply chain and regenerative design/creation. Patricia's expertise is helping guide the American Wild Horse Conservation as we evolve from a small start-up into the nation's leading wild horse and burro conservation organization.

As the owner of Dunstan Wines at Durell Vineyard in Sonoma County and Montgomery Creek Ranch, a 2,000-acre Northern California wild horse sanctuary with more than 200 rescued mustangs and burros, Ellie brings to the Board of Directors business management experience and an extensive knowledge of the issues and challenges of wild horse advocacy and management. Ellie is a founding board member of the American Wild Horse Conservation and is a leader in numerous other charitable and political causes.