From the basics of the no-kill movement, to challenging beliefs about how to get pets adopted with data that might surprise you, to an overview of how communities across the United States have gone no-kill, the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance has you covered!

Three board members of MPFA will be speaking at the "Getting to the Goal" Conference in Troy, Mich., on Sept. 4-5, 2014.

Deborah Schutt

Deborah Schutt and Cutty

Deborah Schutt is chair and one of the founders of the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance. She is an urban planner by profession.

After 21 years working for the public sector, she established her own consulting firm 17 years ago, which allowed her to volunteer as a foster parent for puppies. As she became more familiar and more involved with animal welfare, Deborah became acutely aware of the lack of planning, collaboration and use of systematic approaches, which were successfully used in other areas of her profession, to solve and address problems and issues in animal welfare. She became convinced that animal homelessness in Michigan could be solved, including saving the more than 100,000 animals who die each year in shelters, if a different approach was taken.

Since the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance has been providing information on best practices and supporting advocacy, Michigan shelters have reduced the number of animals killed annually in shelters from 120,000 to 44,000.

Chris Anderson

Chris Anderson and Tyler

Chris Anderson began his journey in animal welfare in 2007 volunteering with his wife, Lorene, at the Almost Home animal shelter in Southfield, MI. Later he joined the board of directors of the Michigan Pet Fund Alliance.

Chris is the chair for the 2014 MPFA No Kill conference and has served on various planning committees for previous conferences. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Michigan Political Action Committee for Animals.

Chris currently resides in southeastern Michigan, where his cat Tyler is frequently on his mind.

Christie Keith

Christie Keith and Lita

Christie Keith is social media manager for The Shelter Pet Project, the first public service campaign promoting an animal welfare cause in the Ad Council's 60-year history. She also consults on social media and communications for a number of veterinary and animal welfare organizations, including Maddie's Fund and Dr. Marty Becker, the veterinarian on "The Dr. Oz Show" and "Good Morning America." She'll be presenting, "What if Everything You Know About Marketing Pets for Adoption is Wrong?"

As a writer and editor, Christie's work has appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle/SFGate.com, Bark Magazine, and the nationally-syndicated newspaper feature "Pet Connection." She is the past director of The Pet Care Forum on America Online as well as of the Veterinary Information Network's pet owner website, and was founding editor of VeterinaryPartner.com. She has spoken on marketing, PR, and traditional and new media at a number of animal sheltering conferences including the National No-Kill Conference, Best Friends' No More Homeless Pets, and HSUS Animal Care Expo.