Colorado Animal Welfare Conference Session

Emma Hudson is the owner and principal of Emma Hudson Consulting, LLC, a mission-focused communications and public affairs firm. Hudson’s background spans nonprofit and government experience as an advocate and a government relations strategist specializing in health care, business, and social justice policy. She holds a master’s degree in Public Affairs.

Ali Mickelson is the advocacy director for the Dumb Friends League where she leads the league’s policy and advocacy work. She has more than a decade of legislative experience and has been involved in the passage of a number of laws that improve the lives of animals, including preventing suffering in shelters and rescues, repealing breed-specific legislation and updating Bureau of Animal Protection laws. She is also a leader of the league’s work on Socially Conscious Sheltering.

Anna Stout is the chief executive officer of the Roice-Hurst Humane Society and mayor of the City of Grand Junction. She has almost 20 years of nonprofit and business experience and has served on state- and national-level boards and committees for issues ranging from language equity to animal welfare. She currently sits on the Animal Welfare Association of Colorado board of directors and is the co-chair of its Advocacy Committee. In that role, Stout has helped lead successful legislative efforts at the state capitol, including the passing of HB21-1160 (known as the Socially Conscious Sheltering Bill).

 As CEO at Roice-Hurst, Stout has focused much of her effort on building and strengthening innovative local and regional collaborative relationships with animal and non-animal welfare agencies, especially as they relate to the role of companion and shelter pets in improving human and community health. Under her leadership, Roice-Hurst was one of the first shelters in the country to hire a human social worker to address pet homelessness, and the organization launched the innovative Community Health through Shelter Pets Initiative in 2018 and Homeward Hounds in 2021, a first in the nation collaboration to provide private shelter to people experiencing homelessness with their pets.

Stout is an alumna of the 2020 cohort of the prestigious Colorado Governors Fellowship and the 2022 class of the Gates Family Foundation Harvard Public Leadership Fellowship. She has served on the Grand Junction City Council since 2019.