Susan M. Hansen Ed. D.
Executive Director

Susan Hansen holds her doctorate in Human Development and Education, and from 1995-2008 was the Executive Director and Chief Housing Officer at San Jose University in California. While in this position she developed and managed a $25 million dollar budget, 85 full-time and 250 part-time employees, and over 2 million square feet of operational space.

She has received numerous awards and certifications including the Salzburg Global Seminar Fellowship in Salzburg Austria, and the Foundation of Excellence Award granted by the Association of College and University Housing Officers International.

While in California she began volunteering at WildLife Associates which sparked an interest in non-profits, wildlife conservation, and making a difference at a smaller organization. She gladly accepted her position at CFW in April, 2011 and has been applying her leadership expertise in human resources management, program development, public speaking, and financial management to enhance and support the Center's work and mission.

Karen McElmurry
Senior Wildlife Specialist

Karen is a licensed wildlife rehabilitator with 25 years of experience. Karen grew up in Michigan, and always had a passion for helping animals. She worked at the Michigan Humane Society, first with the dogs and cats, then moved to the wildlife wing in 1984… and has not stopped working with wildlife since.

In 1986 she interned at the Treehouse Wildlife Center in Brighton, Illinois, then headed to the renowned Owl Foundation in Ontario, Canada for another internship. The famous Kay McKeever inspired in Karen an undying passion for owls, which is still evident to anyone who sees Karen with CFW barred owl Bianca on her arm. She then moved to New Hampshire and became the weekend wildlife coordinator for the New England Wildlife Center in Hingham, MA - an overwhelming but very educational job. After spending two years gaining valuable experience there, she moved to Maine and began her career at the Center for Wildlife, which was then only a couple years old, and was housed in a trailer with no running water.

Karen has been at the Center ever since in various capacities, sharing her love and knowledge of wildlife and rehabilitation. With dreams, determination, and a lot of help from the community and staff, she helped bring the Center plumbing, a building, plus several expansions and renovations; including the current beautiful permanent raptor enclosure. In 2000, Karen was named “Maine Rehabilitator of the Year” by Re-Maine Wild, and she is frequently asked to be a presenter at state and regional conferences on wildlife rehabilitation. She lives in Cape Neddick with her dogs, goats, chickens, bunnies, a snake… and an infinitely patient family of Mike, Laurel, and Dillon, all of whom help to make CFW the success it is by generously sharing their wife and mom, not to mention being constantly co-opted into CFW projects.

Lorisa Ricketts
Intensive Care Director

Lorisa Ricketts was always doing something with animals as a child, whether it was playing with salamanders and spiders she found, or making playground equipment for the chipmunks in her yard. When at age 10 she realized that she was getting too tall to be a jockey, Lorisa decided to become a biologist. Eight years later, she went to University of Wisconsin-Madison to do just that, and earned her BS in Zoology and Environmental Studies, taking a little time to learn ballroom dance along the way.

She fell in love with birds while studying ornithology and volunteered as a chick parent at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, WI, where she spent a good deal of time running and flapping her arms to encourage the chicks to exercise their wings. She planned to continue her work at ICF after graduation but fate intervened when she met her husband-to-be, an Englishman named Pete, and she surprised her friends and family by moving to Britain to marry him.

For six years, they lived in northern England where Lorisa worked for a non-profit agency as an environmental consultant to businesses in the largest industrial park in Europe. But her heart was with the wildlife and in 2003 she and Pete moved back to the U.S. and settled in Maine. After a bird hit her window later that year, Lorisa discovered the Center for Wildlife. She began volunteering at the Center that summer, fostered her first baby squirrels the following spring, and was offered a paid position soon after.

In December 2004 she and Pete moved with their two British housecats, two mice, and their dove to a haunted farmhouse on 10 acres. Lorisa promptly took over the basement as her rehabilitation space and is currently working on turning the backyard into a haven for “the beasts”.

Kristen Lamb
Director of Education and Outreach

Kristen Lamb grew up playing in the woods of Dracut, MA, until she accidentally strayed out of the forest and into business school. However, it didn’t take long for Kristen to realize that the indoor life was not for her, and she found her way to the Wildlife Management Department at UNH for a second college try. Kristen immediately knew she had found her calling: she adored her classes, and she earned additional credits for research projects.

Her favorite project was the radio-tracking of moose in the White Mountains, where she was lucky enough to creep up on a mother and her calf. During her second year at UNH, Kristen began volunteering at CFW. On her first day, she got a baptism by fire when a staff member put her in a small room with a bald eagle and asked her to force-feed it; Kristen was relieved to discover this was only a joke, but she was also totally hooked.

A couple months later, a position opened up, and Kristen gladly joined the CFW staff, ready for eagles or anything else. She learned a lot about rehabilitation, and also began doing educational programs with the Center’s permanent animals. In the summer of 2006, she took a hiatus from the CFW to work as a Park Interpreter at the Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. This sparked an already growing interest in environmental education. In the late fall, she returned to the Center full-time, armed with her experience from Plum Island and unstoppable determination, and has taken on the development of CFW’s education programs: designing, enhancing, and presenting education programs both new and old.

Kristen attained her BS degree in Wildlife Ecology at UNH in 2005. She is a certified Project WILD, Project Learning Tree and Project WET instructor, and she is a founding member of both the Gateway to Maine: Outside! partnership and the Friends of Mt. Agamenticus advisory group.

Her goal is to help counteract the human-caused impact on wildlife through a combination of both rehabilitation and education. She lives in Nottingham NH with Ed and a beautiful (if slightly mischievous) cat named Tiny Dancer and an equally beautiful and goofy rescued puppy named Macie! .
Amy Pierce
Volunteer and Intern Coordinator

Amy Pierce has always been attracted to the natural world. Loving being outside, Amy grew up spending the summers with her family on Mousam Lake, just a ten minute drive from their home in Shapleigh, Maine. She remembers playing barefoot, getting lost with her dog in the back woods, catching frogs, keeping a turtle journal, and swimming in the lake she loves so much.

Pursuing her passion, Amy starting volunteering at Center for Wildlife in 2004. She interned at the center for a year and just recently jumped aboard our rehab team in summer 2009. Amy graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2009 with a Wildlife Biology degree.

While attending college she traveled to New Zealand with a program called EcoQuest, where she spent a semester with a group of 25 students from the US learning about ecological restoration and working on the Maguatartri Ecological Island Project (an enormous predator proof fencing system). While in New Zealand Amy received an email explaining that the staff at the center really wanted her to join the team when she returned back to the States. Amy gladly accepted this amazing opportunity that was open at the center, since it was the only place she really could see herself working.

Amy is currently living where she grew up in Shapleigh with her parents Barry and Karen. They have a beautiful dog Chloe and a very handsome cat named Lucky.
Center for Wildlife Board of Directors

Board Chairman:
Steven Corrigan, Wells, Maine

Board Treasurer
Karyn Scharf Morin, S.Berwick, Maine

Secretary:
Mike Cannon, S.Berwick, Maine

Other Voting Members:

Dawn Dickinson, Rochester, NH
Sarah Wilkinson, Ogunquit, Maine

Center for Wildlife Advisory Committee

Non-Voting Members:

Patty Cherry, Kittery Point, Maine
Michael Goslin, Cape Neddick, Maine
Mike Herlihy, S.Berwick, Maine
Sally Herlihy, S.Berwick, Maine
Hans, Hug Jr., Exeter, NH
Michael Robinson, Buxton, Maine
Neil Rolde, York, Maine
Glenn Shwaery, Rye, NH
Lee Sullivan, Eliot, Maine
Marge Titcomb, Yarmouth, Maine
Joe Tucker, Rye, NH

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