Jan Elster has been a consultant and trainer in the animal care world for almost 40 years.  Having consulted with many different kinds of organizations, Jan took her knowledge of "people skills" and translated it to the realities of animal welfare, protection and rescue.  She has helped many sheltering organizations' staff, management, boards and volunteers to improve their effectiveness, to develop enhanced leadership skills, to design and implement strategic plans and to deal with any kind of customer imaginable.

For her work with shelters and rescue groups, she was awarded American Humane Association's Lifetime Achievement Award for "her long-standing reputation and the tremendous contributions she has made to groups that work with animals."   

Jan lives in Tucson, Arizona with Rocky a Chi-Pug mix straight out of Mexico, Scout, a 50-year old re-homed desert tortoise, three adopted desert box turtles named Pearl, Yolanda and Opal who roam in and out of the house, bask in the desert sun, and hibernate in the cacti garden.