Business Person of the Year Finalists

Debbie Ahl

Debbie Ahl can name all of the people working at Olympic Health Management Services when it was founded in 1988: founder Paul Gauthier, herself and two others. It would be a bit more difficult to list all of the 800 people Ahl now oversees as president and chief executive officer of Olympic Health Management Services and Olympic Health Management Systems, Bellingham-based subsidiaries of Aon Corp.

Ahl has manned the top posts since Gauthier retired Dec. 31, 1999. Olympic Health has experienced phenomenal growth in revenues during her tenure: 70 percent in 2000 and 38 percent in 2001, which Ahl credits to implementation of a company strategy developed in the mid-1990s. Aon Corp. purchased Olympic Health in 1998.

Ahl is modest about her abilities. “I have a grasp on the overall picture; the ability to facilitate and coordinate,” she remarks.

Her expertise is in the complex and constantly evolving sector of Medicare. Ahl directs and oversees the general operations of the Olympic Health companies, which include product development, strategies for the provider and insurance markets, product distribution and comprehensive product administration for Medicare supplement plans. Olympic Health now services products in all 50 states and sells products in 25 states. About 450 of its employees are in Washington, mostly in Bellingham.

Ahl strayed far away from her original plan to become a foreign correspondent. She earned a degree in a self-designed interdisciplinary major that combined study in business, journalism and television production.

Ahl then took a public-relations position at St. Luke’s General Hospital (now part of St. Joseph Hospital) in Bellingham. She assisted in its marketing, communication, adult day health and rehabilitation efforts and helped in establishing the St. Luke’s Foundation, which still is providing major grants to local organizations. She moved on to ElderMed of Washington, which offered a Medicare supplement program and was another affiliate of the same company that owned St. Luke’s General Hospital.

She has been with Olympic Health since Gauthier founded it in 1989. The company started as a consultant to hospitals and became a third-party administrator of plans, with a focus on data collection and management, before moving into sales. Ahl’s prior positions included executive vice president of corporate development, where she was responsible for network development, government relationships, compliance and regulatory filings and new product development.

Ahl is a nationally recognized expert in the healthcare insurance industry and has testified before Congress on issues of Medicare reform. She also has spoken on topics related to health insurance and senior insurance products for a number of key industry associations, including the Health Insurance Association of America and the National Congress on Managed Care.

Olympic Health supports Whatcom Hospice and Junior Achievement programs but Ahl says its role in this community focuses on being a stable and quality employer. “That is important for us,” she says.

— Dave Brumbaugh

 

 Ray Caldwell

The idea of keeping good employees seems to be a bit of wishful thinking in fast-food restaurants, where the rate of turnover isn’t far behind the average service time. But Ray Caldwell doesn’t march to any drummer but his own.

About 65 percent of his Little Caesars Pizza managers have worked for the company for more than 10 years, thanks in part to above-average pay and benefits. He also emphasizes flex-time schedules that accommodate part-time employees for athletic and religious reasons.

“How we treat our employees is how they treat our customers,” Caldwell observes.

The customers must be treated well since they have enabled Caldwell and his brother, Bob Nevitt, to open in Everson this month their eighth restaurant. Their sales goal this year is close to $6 million.

Caldwell has been working in the hospitality industry since he started washing dishes when his parents owned the Lighthouse Inn at La Conner. He graduated from Washington State University’s respected hotel-restaurant administration program in 1971 and began operating restaurants and food-service operations for various companies, including Host International and Amtrak. In 1984, he started his own chain of restaurant, specializing in chicken and ribs, that grew to eight locations in the Seattle area before selling it in 1986.

But Caldwell was drawn to one particular type of restaurant. “I’ve always had this passion for pizza,” he remarks.

When Caldwell and wife started their family with son Tyler, his thoughts returned to Bellingham, where he lived for some of his school years.

“Bellingham’s a great place to live,” he notes. “Plus, it’s a great place to raise kids.”

Nevitt also like the idea of moving to Bellingham and the pair became the Little Caesars franchisee for Whatcom, Skagit, Island and north Snohomish counties in 1988. Their first venture was in a strip mall at the corner of Alabama and Yew streets, a small pocket of commercial activity in a predominantly residential area. “Real estate people thought we were a little crazy coming here,” Caldwell chuckles.

He didn’t have to wait long for the last laugh. By 1990, the restaurant ranked first in sales among 4,000 Little Caesars franchises nationwide and has been close to the top since then.

Besides attracting and keeping quality employees, Caldwell has emphasized placing more ingredients on pizza than the national minimum and using fresh ingredients from local suppliers such as Claus Meats of Bellingham.

A key component of success for Caldwell has been involving the restaurants in their neighborhood and community. Little Caesars frequently supports DARE programs, bands and athletics at schools and participates in community parades. The effort had paid long-term dividends.

“Even though sometimes you feel there’s no loyalty out there, there is,” Caldwell remarks.

Besides their original franchise and the new one in Everson, Caldwell and Nevitt have added two more franchises in Bellingham, plus single ones in Ferndale, Lynden, Mount Vernon and Stanwood. All of them tend to double the Little Caesars national average in sales for a franchise.

“We’ve just had an attitude of slow growth,” says Caldwell, who adds that he can see eventually opening five or six more restaurants in their franchise area.

— Dave Brumbaugh

 

Roger Jobs

Roger Jobs knows the stereotype of the car salesman — a slick, fast-talking guy ready to talk you into buying a lemon. He can laugh at the jokes and cartoons because he knows that’s not the image projected at Roger Jobs Motors.

Jobs has owned the dealership since 1985, becoming part of a remarkably stable group of auto dealers in Bellingham. He takes a long-term view, believing that treating customers right will bring them back when they’re ready to buy again.

“It’s a long-term philosophy of fair dealing and customer satisfaction,” he remarks.

Jobs made the biggest move of his career in February 2001, moving the dealership from Samish Way to the corner of Iowa and Woburn streets. The significant investment was a cost of success for Roger Jobs Motors, which sold nearly $25 million worth of vehicles last year.

The new location is bigger and better in numerous areas.

• At approximately 18,000 square feet, the building has more than twice as much space as the dealership’s former location. It features cutting-edge showrooms for each of the dealership’s four lines — Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi and Jeep — that can hold 14-16 vehicles, “which makes it a lot easier to show a car in our lovely Northwest weather,” Jobs says with a chuckle. The Porsche showroom was the first of its kind on the West Coast and the one for Volkswagens was only the such showroom in the state.

• The service department has grown to nine stalls and service volume consequently rose more than 50 percent in 2001. Growth in this area led Jobs to increase the number of employees to 35 in a year when many other businesses were laying off personnel.

• With a 2.5-acre lot, Roger Jobs Motors now has much more room for parking by customers and employees and also is able to display more cars.

Jobs was born and raised in Des Moines, a suburb on the southern edge of Seattle. After working in service repair and parts sales for two dealerships while attending the University of Washington, he left before graduation to work on a full-time basis in the car industry. Jobs then spent five years in sales and five years in management at an Everett dealership before buying the Rathausen dealership in Bellingham in 1985.

Although the dealership’s upscale vehicles would seem to guarantee success by themselves, that’s not the emphasis for Jobs. “We have a pretty heavy focus on customer satisfaction,” Jobs says.

While overseeing his employees and the dealership’s relations with manufacturers, Jobs also finds time to volunteer for and financially support the Mt. Baker Council of Boy Scouts. Roger Jobs Motors also has supported events and programs such as the Whatcom Museum of History and Arts, the Bellingham Festival of Music, the Bellingham YWCA and Western Washington University athletics.

— Dave Brumbaugh

 

Small Business of the Year Finalists

 

Northwest Propane

Northwest Propane has been a Whatcom County institution for more than half a century. A family business for decades, the company is currently owned by Gaylon VanderYacht, who became sole proprietor in the early 1980s, and his son Steve.

Steve VanderYacht, who became a partner last spring, is buying his father out with the intention of continuing the family tradition. “It’s now going to be Northwest Propane, LLC,” he says, “but it’s still the same company.”

Northwest Propane sells retail propane and related equipment, including heaters and barbecues. The main office is located at 8450 Depot Road, Lynden, the same property where the company was started in 1947. Shortly thereafter, the company’s Ferndale store and storage facility was also added. The company also now has a storage facility in Sedro-Woolley.

Northwest Propane operates with a business philosophy of “service, honesty and reliability,” says the younger VanderYacht. “A lot (of businesses) have been swallowed up by national companies. We’re still independent and like it that way.” The company has a staff of 17 employees and is known for employee loyalty and lack of staff turnover.

“We’ve got great employees,” enthuses Steve VanderYacht. “They’re a major reason we’re doing well.”

Gaylon VanderYacht’s involvement and contributions to the local community are as notable as his business contribution, say those who know him, but they also will tell you he tends to keep a low profile in that department.

“I think few people understand, or know of, Gaylon and (wife) Joanne’s generosity,” says Renee Reimer, executive director of Lynden Chamber of Commerce. “The whole county is a recipient of their generosity.”

In 2001, VanderYacht’s donations benefited more than 40 different charities, causes and organizations, most of them local. They ranged from Special Olympics and Boys and Girls Clubs to the Boy Scouts, the Salvation Army, Whatcom Hospice and dozens more.

Instrumental in setting up the Lynden-Our Town Foundation, Gaylon VanderYacht is a charter member of the Mt. Baker Rotary Club and is on the founding board of the new Lynden nonprofit group, Dollars for Scholars. He has also served on the board of directors of the Northwest Propane Gas Association, the regional propane dealers’ organization.

His father just “quietly contributes to lots of things,” says son Steve. His father’s philosophy is of giving something back to the community. “He is just very generous,” Steve adds, but “He doesn’t need his name hanging on it. He doesn’t want people to know that he’s helping people out. He’s not a flaunter.”

“In addition to their philanthropy,” Reimer adds, “Gaylon is one of the people I look to as a real community leader. He has the respect and a reputation for being well informed. People really respect what Gaylon does. If there’s a political issue, or a community issue, people listen to what Gaylon says. His opinion carries a lot of weight in this community.”

Northwest Propane serves approximately 7,000 customers and sells 4 million to 5 million gallons of propane each year.

— Heidi Henken

 

Sonotech

One might say she’s a mother of invention. In November, Peg Larson — founder, owner, president and chief executive officer of Sonotech, Inc. — was awarded a patent for an invivo ultrasound coupling media and lubricant. She received the patent with John Rutter and Larry Smith, also of Sonotech.

Sonotech develops, manufactures and distributes ultrasound couplants worldwide. The company has two product lines, one medical and the other industrial. Ultrasound couplant is the gel that is used between skin and an ultrasound machine’s transducer.

What makes newly-patented VivoSonic special is that it’s designed to biodegrade if it gets inside the body through a wound or other skin break. This means it doesn’t remain in the body — maybe ending up somewhere it isn’t wanted, like the lymph system — but instead is excreted through normal body functions.

An example of VivoSonic’s uses is in the performance of ultrasound guided biopsy procedures, where gel tends to be carried into body tissues and fluids like breast tissue or amniocentesic fluid by the procedure.

Larson founded Sonotech in Pennsylvania in 1988 and moved the company to Bellingham in 1991 because, she explains, “I loved Washington and wanted to be here.” Also, “There are no manufacturers on the West Coast and we felt we would have a competitive edge.”

In 1996, Sonotech purchased its current location, a 12,750-square-foot building at 774 Marine Drive and renovated it for couplant manufacture. The company presently has 12 employees.

Sonotech is the fifth business Larson has participated in founding and is the second that she has founded independently. The company holds a major market share position in industrial ultrasound couplants, of which it manufactures more than 37 products. Customers include most U.S. power plants, the military, airlines and refineries, as well as various other industries.

Peggy Zoro, Bellingham-based president of the Trans-Mountain District of KeyBank, has known Larson since they were students at Grove City College in Pennsylvania. At Zoro’s invitation, Larson served on a district advisory board composed of community leaders who advised the bank.

In her capacity as an advisory board member, says Zoro, Larson “provided advice as to how we could do a better job connecting with the community.” Larson was also invited into the Bellingham Rotary Club and has become an active member of that organization as well, Zoro notes.

Larson is proud of what Sonotech has accomplished and is particularly proud of its medical gels. “Our medical gels have very few irritants in them,” she notes. “We probably have fewer reactions to our gels than anyone else on the market. The object of a product should always be first to do no harm. One of our goals has been to offer products that give a value-added (quality) to the patients and to the physicians. We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations in the quality of our products.”

As a mother of invention, Larson really is a mother, too. Along with her other accomplishments, she’s also raised three daughters.

— Heidi Henken

 

T. D. Curran

It’s a day in the life of Troy Curran, owner of T.D. Curran, the computer company. He’s in the middle of a magazine interview and an employee, manning the 800-line phone bank, turns to tell him that one of his coffee stands in Marquette, Mich., just got hit by a bus.

Curran makes a quick call. Apparently, a man tried to take a bus through the drive-through, and wound up taking off part of the building’s roof instead. No one was reported hurt. It’s so bizarre, it’s funny. As Curran says, it’s a day in the life.

Coffee shops, along with a land development and rental company, may seem like odd sidelines for a computer entrepreneur, but they’re actually necessary to the main business, Curran explains. The real estate backs up a credit line that allows him to do volume computer business with schools, which take a longer time to pay their bills.

T.D. Curran is the local Apple computer specialist, handling all Apple products and services, as well as service and repair for all micro products, both Apple and PCs. Products are sold from the company’s Bellingham sales floor at 800 Marine Drive and online at www.tdcurran.com. Its customers include approximately 5,000 school districts, covering all 50 states.

Curran started the business in 1991 from a double-wide trailer in Peaceful Valley, a development about 15 miles east of Nooksack. The company spent seven years in a warehouse on Haxton Way, before moving to the current location in 2001 after the purchase of Alpha Tech Computers, through which T.D. Curran acquired its Apple Specialist status.

From a small start-up, T.D. Curran has expanded to more than $3.5 million in sales in 2001. Curran believes that being the Apple Specialist will “double our business.” This year, he says, “We expect to do about $6 million in sales.” After starting with only one employee, now he has a staff of 16.

Curran grew up in Los Angeles and started working in the computer industry in 1985. In 1990, he moved to the Northwest to run a Canadian company in Abbotsford, B.C. Fortunately for Curran, that didn’t work out. But he learned a lot. He took his experience and applied it to working with schools on computer memory and hard-drive upgrades. The business expanded by supplying networking components and accessories needed for school computer labs.

Eventually needing a larger location and more staff, the purchase of Alpha Tech Computers was the logical next step. This summer, Curran plans to add 9,000 square feet of warehouse space behind the existing building.

Taking care of his customers and his employees are two of Curran’s primary strategies. He doesn’t believe in upsetting customers — especially schools — because he wants their repeat business. So, he says, “If anything ever goes wrong, we’ll take care of it.”

Curran also nurtures local talent, bringing in high school interns. In fact, he notes, his lead technician started as an intern. Now the former intern does all of the company’s warranty work, Curran says, and “He’s doing really, really well.”

 

— Heidi Henken

 

True Log Homes

It’s a classic Whatcom County story. Illinois boy comes for a visit in the mid-1970s, meets hitchhiker who’s built a log home for free out of salvaged materials and decides to try the same thing himself, while falling in love with the Northwest. Illinois boy puts down roots, never leaves, ends up some 25 years later the owner of a thriving log-home building business near Deming.

Jim Maushak came to Whatcom County in 1974 and started True Log Homes in 1975. Beginning with two employees, he spent the decade building primarily in Washington State, mostly in Whatcom, Skagit and Snohomish counties. In 1988, he began expanding into the rest of the United States as well as Japanese markets. Now, customers outside this state account for around 65 percent of his business and he’s expanded to from 12 to 22 employees, depending upon the workload and the season.

Today, True Log Homes manufactures log homes and timber houses from trees harvested in Whatcom and Skagit counties, using primarily winter-cut Douglas fir, with some red cedar. It also is a general contractor and builds framed houses with log accents. Over the years, Maushak estimates True Log Homes has built between 400 and 500 homes, some of them very large. One commercial project in Colorado built by the company is a multi-building hotel-condominium complex totaling approximately 60,000 square feet, with the largest building a 20,000-square-foot structure.

“Slow, steady growth is the way to go,” says Maushak about his business philosophy. Recently, True Log Homes partnered with a company in the Aspen, Colo., area to develop an 82-home project over the next two to three years.

Maushak is also known locally for his contributions to the community. Amy Margolis, who owns Everybody’s Store in nearby Van Zandt and who is also Maushak’s neighbor, has known True Log’s owner for many, many years.

“He’s a nice guy,” Margolis says. “He’s a very hard worker. It’s a really innovative thing that he did. He really has gone far afield to keep his business going, to drum up new business. He really is quite successful.”

One of Maushak’s community contributions is the donation of wood for a gazebo being built in Josh VanderYacht Memorial Park behind Van Zandt’s community center, she notes, adding that Maushak is also known personally around the community for “going the extra mile for his neighbors.”

Other local contributions Maushak has made over the years include donations to the Mount Baker schools’ soccer and baseball teams, the Future Farmers of America and local charities. True Log Homes also often hosts tours for vocational groups.

True Log Homes is located on 11 acres at 4208 Mount Baker Highway, where logs are hand-peeled and fitted together with two large erecting cranes. After being completely built in the log yard, the homes are numbered, disassembled and shipped for re-assembly in their permanent location. Examples of homes they have built, and descriptions of their building styles, may be seen at www.truelog.com.

— Heidi Henken

Start Up Business of the Year Finalists

 

Chrysalis Inn & Spa

Chrysalis implies a place to cocoon and to emerge renewed, refreshed and transformed. Business partners Michael Keenan, Ellen Shea and Regan McClellan have created an oasis in Fairhaven with Chrysalis Inn & Spa at the Pier, a 43-room waterfront hotel with complete day spa and wine bar.

McClellan, a Seattle-based architect, designed the building, which offers a stunning blend of sophisticated Northwest contemporary and romantic influences. Bellingham resident Keenan, is the majority owner. Shea, whose background is in retail management and training, is the manager, and lives on-site. Pearson Construction of Bellingham was general contractor for the project.

Located near Boulevard Park, overlooking Bellingham Bay, the Chrysalis Inn includes 34 deluxe rooms and nine luxury suites. All of the rooms have fireplaces, two-person soaking tubs, window seats with views of Bellingham Bay and the San Juan Islands, a desk working area and Internet access. The luxury suites have two-person jetted jacuzzi tubs. All guests receive a breakfast buffet.

The spa offers massage, facials, body treatments, a hydrotherapy tub and Vichy showers, as well as manicures and pedicures, a steam room, a waiting area and changing facilities.

The hotel also offers state-of-the-art conference facilities, including two meeting rooms; the largest one can hold up to 50 people. In-house audio-visual equipment and catering from the hotel’s Fino wine bar are available as well. The hotel and spa currently have 25-30 employees.

Under lease, Mick and Cheryl August are owner-operators of the Fino wine bar. Their daughter, Amy Costanti, is general manager. Fino prepares breakfast for hotel guests only and is open to the general public daily from noon to 9 p.m. It offers approximately 60 wines that are available by the taste, the glass or the bottle, and a European country menu for dining.

The Chrysalis opened April 2 and, “Our sales have exceeded our expectations,” says Shea. Along with out-of-town travelers, she adds, “We’ve had an unusual amount of people who live here (in Bellingham) come.”

The partners’ business philosophy, explains Shea, is “to give great customer service, provide the things that people are looking for and take care of them.”

The Chrysalis already has donated to many local charity auctions, including the Festival of Music, Planned Parenthood and the Boys and Girls Club. A member of the local Boys and Girls Club board, Shea is also a volunteer ambassador for the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce.

“Since opening, the Chrysalis Inn has been a great player in the tourism community,” says John Cooper, president of the Bellingham-Whatcom County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “It’s fantastic that Bellingham now has a full-service destination spa. It’s just what the community needs.

The Chrysalis, located at 804 10th St., may be reached at 756-1005, or toll-free at (888) 808-0005. Its Web site is www.thechrysalisinn.com.

— Heidi Henken

 

Grandiflora

Where others saw offices, or maybe just a parking lot, sisters Carrie Visser, LaVon VanderWerff and Trisha Brink saw a dream. Out of a cavernous 114-year-old former house-turned-Masonic lodge at 719 Grover St. in Lynden, the sisters — with the help of their parents, Ken and Jan Stremler — created Grandiflora Home & Garden. The mercantile which, in little over a year since it opened, has become as much a destination and an experience as it is a store.

“I don’t know if we’re insane, or what. We saw a vision that no one else could see,” says Brink of the family undertaking.

The building, which served as a meeting place for Masonic organizations from 1900 to 2000, underwent seven months of intensive renovation before opening in November 2000. Now it offers 5,000 square feet of retail space: 4,000 inside and 1,000 outside. Aimed at female customers, Grandiflora’s offerings cover a panoply from large furniture pieces to garden-theme items, clothing, jewelry, antiques, candles, soaps and lotions. There’s even a library area where customers can sit and browse through books, and a “relaxing area” with a waterfall and pond. Some items are one of a kind, vintage or hand-made by consignors.

Customer response, says Brink, has been “phenomenal.” They’re doing “120 percent” of the business they expected to start, she adds. Grandiflora averages 53 sales transactions a day, Brink says, and from January 2001 to January 2002 the store saw a 30-percent increase in sales over earlier months.

The owners credit much of the increase to “a very aggressive ad campaign” that covered radio, newspapers and magazines. Still, Brink notes, “Word of mouth has definitely been our best form of advertising.”

“It’s rare, very rare, to see a start-up business that’s as organized and market savvy as they are,” comments Renee Reimer, executive director of Lynden Chamber of Commerce. “They’ve played a huge role in our cooperative marketing plan for Lynden. With their help last year, I think Lynden was in more periodicals and did more marketing outside of Whatcom County than we’ve ever done before.”

“They understood a lot of niche markets that we’ve never even tried to market to. There you need a blend of merchandise and service,” Reimer explains. “Their beautiful facility has been an outstanding addition to Lynden. They’re the kind of business that every community dreams of having.”

Like perfectly-fitted pieces of a puzzle, all of the family members involved oversee different aspects of the business. Visser, the oldest sister, handles advertising and sees to the books. Middle sister VanderWerff is a trained florist and creates displays. Their mother is the antiques expert. Their father, while not directly involved in day-to-day operations, gives business advice. Brink, the youngest sister, along with giving interviews, is the store’s main buyer.

Grandiflora has been pulling in customers from all over. “People come from LaConner, from Snohomish, Bellevue, Seattle on the weekends, or the outlying areas,” Brink remarks. They even get “a fair amount of Canadians,” she notes.

— Heidi Henken

 

Tails-A-Wagging Doggie Day Care

Does your dog need a life? Wish your pooch could get out more while you’re gone? Wish you could see how your pup’s doing during the day?

Those are some of the needs Angela and Jason Lenz’s Tails-A-Wagging Doggie Day Care business has moved to fill. It opened March 7, 2001, at 2123 Lincoln St., Bellingham. The business provides care of dogs during the day while their owners are at work, running errands or taking day trips.

Pet owners can drop their dogs off in the morning, and the dogs can spend the day socializing and exercising with other dogs. When owners pick the dogs up, Angela Lenz notes, “their dogs are as tired as they are.” For owners who want the service, Tails-A-Wagging also offers pet transportation to and from the center.

While dogs are at the facility, owners can watch them on Tails-A-Wagging’s Web site live streaming video cam at www.tails-a-wagging.com.

Tails-A-Wagging has approximately 4,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor play space, including rooms for smaller and larger dogs, and an area for older dogs. The indoor rooms have rubber epoxy floors that cushion the dogs’ joints. The outside play yard has large tractor tires embedded in the ground for the enjoyment of the canine clientele.

Angela Lenz is a state-licensed animal health technician and a certified small animal behaviorist. Owners and staff are also trained in pet CPR and first aid. All dogs are individually screened before being accepted into day care. Some dogs, Lenz explains, don’t do well in the “pack” environment.

Tails-A-Wagging is the expansion of the Lenz’s professional pet-sitting service, which began in 1998. Now, along with the owner-operators, Tails-A-Wagging has eight employees and approximately 650 clients with day-care and pet-sitting services combined. Combined the services bring in approximately $150,000 a year, says Lenz. They average between 25 to 27 dogs in day care each day. Full day-care capacity is 35 dogs.

Business has been better than expected for the couple since they opened the day-care facility. “It took off,” says Lenz. “There was definitely an obvious need for it.”

Angela Lenz is also president of the board of directors of the Whatcom Humane Society and on the board of directors of the Women’s Professional Network.

The Lenz’s “contribution to the community and their contribution to us are hard to separate in some ways,” notes Penny Cistaro, executive director of the Whatcom Humane Society. “Angie is very knowledgable about animals’ behavior and temperament and problems animals go through, and how to solve them,” says Cistaro.

— Heidi Henken