Governance
Board of Directors
Jason North - Board Chair
North is the Chief Operating Officer of Team Health Urgent Care Centers, a division of TeamHealth, the Nation’s largest provider of hospital-based clinical outsourcing. As COO he has responsibility for the operations of 29 TeamHealth urgent care and occupational medicine centers. He is a graduate of Palm Beach Atlantic University, where he received a degree in Business Administration.
North founded JSN Consulting providing strategic planning and business development to hospitals and the medical industry. His credentials also include being featured in Executive Files, a national speaker on urgent care development and a contributing editor for Health Matters, as well as other healthcare related publications.
North has served on many not-for-profit boards such as; The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Chairman of Save the Chimps, American Cancer Society, Angels of Charity and the Professional and Business Forum. His committee involvements include the Human Rights Campaign, Hope and Help, Make a Wish Foundation and the March of Dimes.
Prior to joining TeamHealth in February of 2009, North was the Director of Operations for Concentra Medical Centers in Florida, the nation’s largest provider of occupational medicine and urgent care.
Jeff Arnstein
graduated from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. After graduation, he moved to San Diego where he joined the "Big Four" accounting firm, Deloitte & Touche, and earned his CPA designation. Mr. Arnstein lived in Los Angeles for six years before moving to his current home of New York. Mr. Arnstein’s 25+ years of professional experience include working in public accounting, real estate investment, management, finance and private equity investment for high net-worth families. Mr. Arnstein’s passions include his life partner of 14 years, Michael Field; progressive politics; and freedom of speech, thought and expression.
Linda Brent, Ph.D.
Dr. Brent is a behavioral primatologist specializing in chimpanzees. She initiated and directed the environmental enhancement program for all primates at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research for 16 years. Dr. Brent also conducted behavioral research at the Gombe National Park in Tanzania on wild infant chimpanzee development. She received her Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Texas, and has published over 80 manuscripts in scientific journals. She is also the editor of The Care and Management of Captive Chimpanzees. Dr. Brent was a founder of Chimp Haven in 1995 and served as the President and Director of the sanctuary until 2012
Sarah Haney
is a retired registered nurse residing near Toronto in Ontario. She is co-founder of the Canadian Whale Institute and has been involved with several cetacean conservation groups since 1992. Sarah supports Salmon Coast Field Station in its efforts to save the wild Pacific salmon on Canada's west coast.
Tracey Lovitz, CFP®
is a Certified Financial Planner™ with Ameriprise Financial Services, Inc. and has been with the company since 1988. As a Financial Advisor, Ms. Lovitz assists individuals in achieving their short and long term financial goals. Ms. Lovitz is a member of the Financial Planning Association.
Chip Owen
resides in San Diego, California and is an investor in commercial real estate. Mr. Owen is an active supporter of animal conservation and environmental projects both in the United States and Africa. Mr. Owen has a degree in finance and serves on the board of several non-profit organizations.
Jon Stryker
is the Founder and President of the Arcus Foundation, a private foundation with offices in Kalamazoo, Michigan, New York City and Cambridge, UK that supports groups advancing gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) human rights and groups working globally to promote great ape conservation. He is a founding Board Member of the Ol Pejeta Wildlife Conservancy in Northern Kenya, Save the Chimps in Ft. Pierce, Florida and Greenleaf Trust, a trust bank in Kalamazoo. Mr. Stryker is also a registered architect in the State of Michigan and is President of Depot Landmark LLC, a development company specializing in the rehabilitation of historic buildings.
Rachel Weiss
Rachel Weiss began working for laboratory monkeys (squirrel monkeys and marmosets), rats, mice, rabbits and birds at Indiana University in 1993. After graduation from college, Rachel moved to Atlanta, Georgia to work at the Yerkes Regional Primate Research Center. She looked forward to caring for nonhuman primates at a prestigious lab, making a contribution to science and medicine, and learning more about human relationships with our closest relatives. Shortly after beginning to care for hundreds of HIV/SIV infected macaques, Rachel began to understand the tremendous suffering required of these research subjects. She started working for chimpanzees in the summer of 1995, and became the lead care-tech in the Yerkes Chimpanzee Infectious Disease building, home to Jerom Chimpanzee and twelve other HIV+ individuals. After promising Jerom that she'd work toward an end to biomedical research on chimpanzees, and a week after Jerom's death, Rachel quit Yerkes to spend much of the next year habituating wild chimpanzees in Uganda. Soon after her return to the States, Rachel secured a job caring for former pet, laboratory, and zoo monkeys and chimpanzees at the Primate Rescue Center, Inc., in Kentucky, where she was employed until June of 2000. Later that year, she and a group of former primate laboratory workers started the Laboratory Primate Advocacy Group, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending biomedical research on chimpanzees and monkeys. She received her JD from the Northeastern University School of Law in 2004 and currently works for the Federal government.
Advisory Council
Robert L. Crippen (Captain, USN, Ret.)
is a former Naval Aviator and Astronaut. He was pilot of the first Space Shuttle flight into orbit and Commander of three subsequent flights. He also served in NASA management where his last government job was as Director of Kennedy Space Center. In industry he served as President of Thiokol Propulsion, a company that builds large Solid Rocket Motors. He is currently retired living in Florida.
Jane Goodall, Ph.D.
is widely recognized as the world's authority on chimpanzees. She spent more than forty years living with the chimpanzees of the Gombe Stream Reserve in Tanzania. Her popular books, National Geographic documentaries and scientific publications provide a decades-long picture of the development, social behavior, ranging patterns and lifecycle of wild chimpanzees. Dr. Goodall has established several sanctuaries in Africa for chimpanzees confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade.
Dr. Forest "Woody" Hayes
Dr. Forrest “Woody” Hayes is a veterinary consultant helping to provide high quality preventative and emergency medicine for the chimpanzees at Save the Chimps. Prior to specializing in ultrasounds and endoscopy, Dr. Hayes owned a small animal practice for 16 years. His mobile imaging practice has been providing veterinary hospitals all over Florida with advanced diagnostics for 14 years. Although very busy, he always fits us in when one of the chimps needs his help. He is passionate about medicine, compassionate about the chimps and tireless in the pursuit of a diagnosis.
Anjelica Huston
An award-winning actress and director, Anjelica Huston continues her renowned family's legacy in film, which began with her grandfather, Walter Huston and her father, John Huston.
Throughout her career, Anjelica has received honors from the National Society of Film Critics, the National Board of Review, the Independent Spirit Awards, the Los Angeles, New York and Boston Film Critics Awards as well as multiple Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Emmy nominations for her body of work. She recently received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Anjelica won an Academy Award for Best Supporting actress for her portrayal of "Maerose Prizzi" in Prizzi's Honor making the Huston family the first to include three generations of Oscar winners. Huston won a Golden Globe Award for her role in HBO's original movie "Iron Jawed Angels".
Her directorial debut was an unflinching adaptation of Dorothy Allison's best-selling memoir, "Bastard Out Of Carolina", which garnered Huston critical acclaim. She received an Emmy nomination for her work on the controversial drama as well as a Director's Guild nomination. Huston directed, produced and starred in "Agnes Browne", which was presented at the Directors' Fortnight at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.
Huston currently serves on the Board of Directors at the National University of Ireland Galway’s John Huston School of Film and Digital Media. She is a member of the Film Foundation’s Artist’s Rights Council and is a recent spokesperson for PETA and the US Campaign for Burma.
Gary Mastro
former Corporate Vice President of Brand and Product Marketing for UPS™. Under Gary’s direction, UPS launched its most aggressive advertising campaign in its 100 year history. The “What can BROWN do for you?” campaign. He also guided UPS through the largest rebranding program in U.S. Corporate history, and established the company’s International Sales and Marketing organization. Gary served for 7years as a board member for the Georgia Economic Development Council, and was a member of The Conference Board. He is currently the Managing Director of a Marketing Consulting firm and resides in Florida.
Mariana Tosca
Mariana Tosca is an award-winning stage and film Actor who, for decades, has been at the forefront of social advocacy. She founded the Los Angeles Homeless Coalition, offering shelter, relief and skills training to the homeless population there. She volunteers teaching Drama and Voice & Movement at the Academy of Music for the Blind, where she also serves on the Advisory Board. Other Advisory Boards/Honorary Boards: ElephantVoices, DreamCatcher Wild Horse & Burro Sanctuary, the National Equine Resource Network, Voice for the Animals Foundation and Born Free USA. Additionally, she serves on the board of TheTenDollarClub.org a nonprofit that funds poverty alleviation projects around the world. To date, they have undertaken 80 projects in 62 countries, providing life-changing services for thousands of people in underdeveloped countries. Please visit: www.mtosca.com
April Truitt, CRL
is a security specialist, safe technician and the co-founder of the Primate Rescue Center. The Center is a non-profit sanctuary and advocacy organization based in the Bluegrass region of Central Kentucky. Ms. Truitt also serves on the board of Animal Charities of America and provides free security consulting services to primate sanctuaries nationwide. Ms. Truitt looks forward to the day when primate sanctuaries are no longer needed. This will only happen when primates are no longer kept as pets and exploited for human entertainment and financial gain.
Brian P. Vassallo, Esq.
Brian Vassallo is an attorney and the managing partner of The Law Offices of Vassallo, Bilotta, Friedman & Davis. In addition to the law practice, Brian owns and is a franchisee of nine quick service restaurants. Brian Vassallo was a former member of the district advisory committee, regional advisory committee, and profitability committee of the franchise company. He is also a former member of the board of directors for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Palm Beach County. Currently, Brian is a member of the Palm Beach County Bar Association, the National Organization of Social Security Claimants’ Representatives (NOSSCR), the Florida Bar, and the United States District Court for the Southern District.
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