Board of Directors

FRANK CERFOGLI, DVM

Dr. Cerfogli grew up in rural Iowa, joined the US Army at 18 and retired from the military after 28 years of service.  He graduated from Iowa State University with his veterinarian degree, and worked as a Veterinarian in Arizona, S. Dakota, Oregon and Iowa, before relocating to College Station, Texas in summer 2018, working at Texas A&M University.  He joined Animal Friends in May 2021, looking to get back into wellness and surgery in a small town with a stress-free environment. For recreation, he walks and hikes, averaging 3 miles/day. Dr. Cerfogli has a love for trees and even planting them, (he has donated 11 trees to Animal Friends so far, and personally planted three of them). His wife, Jennifer, is also a veterinarian working at TAMU, and they have five children ages 32, 17, 15, 15 and 12. Also keeping them busy at home are Lola the cat, Spark Plug Eddy the dog, Lena and Spike their two Leopard geckos.

PAULA J. CIZIK, Chairperson
B.A. from Texas A&M University in Accounting. Received her CPA license in 1985. Initially practiced public accounting with Deloitte Haskins & Sells before moving into corporate banking in Dallas and Houston for 11 years. After years of volunteering, she started her own consulting company directed to not-for-profits in 1994 and ultimately became the Executive Director for a tutoring & mentoring program in Houston for 10 years (I Have a Dream – Houston). Reviving her consulting practice 5 years ago, she now is a business coach to other non-for-profit executives and manages financial matters for entrepreneurs and retired executives.

BOB DAVIS, Treasurer
Robert C. Davis. Bob is a Chartered Financial Analyst with a B.S. and M.S. in Economics from the University of Texas (Arlington).  Bob served from 1976-1988 as President of Citicorp Investment Management, Inc., a subsidiary of Citicorp.  In 1988, Bob was a founding principal of Davis Hamilton Jackson & Associates, an institutional investment firm.  Presently, he is a Consultant to Woodlands Asset Management as a strategist and portfolio manager.  Bob continues to be active in charitable work, including Child Advocates, Inc., Houston as a member of the Executive Committee, Court Appointed Advocate and a board member of the CAI Endowment.  He is also active in local community activities.

JAMES F ARENS, MD
Dr. Arens grew up on a dairy farm in Minnesota. He received his MD degree from Creighton University, interned at Tripler Army Hospital in Honolulu, and did his anesthesiology residency at Charity Hospital in New Orleans. After four years in the Air Force, he was appointed Chairman of Anesthesiology at Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. Subsequently he served as Professor and Chairman of Anesthesiology at the University of Mississippi, UTMB, MDAnderson, and UT Health Science Center, Houston. He has served as President of the Texas and American Societies of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Board of Medical Specialties. He has received the Distinguished Service Award from the American Medical Association. Currently he serves on the Blinn Foundation Board and can be found six days a week visiting the Animal Friends dog park with his two German Shepherds, Touche and Xaver and the latest rescue, Angel. 

His spouse Ann, having spent weekends and summers at her father’s Willow Spring Ranch in Burton, has always considered Brenham her home and dreamed of living permanently in Brenham. Ann and Jim have built two ranches near Brenham, one raising miniature donkeys and another raising Brangus Cattle. Since 2002 Brenham has been their home and they enjoy actively participating in the community.

AMY RADER HIRTZ
Amy Hirtz is originally from Houston and graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989 with a B.B.A. in Finance. Upon graduation, she returned to Houston and worked in the insurance industry. In 1992, after completing her Texas teaching certification, Amy taught elementary school at three of Houston ISD’s campuses. In 2001 with her husband, Henry, they fulfilled their dream of moving to his ranch in Hempstead to raise cattle while renovating a 100 year old farmhouse. During this time, Amy completed her M.S., Education at Prairie View A&M University in Educational Administration. For the next few years, Amy worked as a sales representative for McGraw Hill Education selling textbooks for grades Pre-K through High School. In 2009, Amy and her husband relocated to Brenham with their dogs, horses, and cats. Today, she continues working in education as an independent educational consultant for McGraw Hill Education.

JEFFREY KING
Jeffrey King owned Hidden Fence of Houston, LLC since 2014, and was the local dealer for DogWatch Hidden Fences with a territory of the greater Houston area including Wharton, Austin, Washington, Waller, Brazos and Grimes counties.  He sold this business in 2022.  He is a dog and animal lover and owns three dogs now.  As a youngster he was a member of 4H and FFA, learned how to break horses and work cows from his dad. His love for agriculture and a rural life led him to Waller county in 2014 where he enjoys the country life with his wife of 16 years.
Jeffrey works with a limited number of non-profit groups that are doing good work in the local community and that support the benefits humans can enjoy from having dogs in their lives.
Jeffrey attended university at Tarleton State University (BS – 1990) and University of North Texas (MBA – 1992).

JEAN SHOUP
Graduated from Trinity University with a B.A. in both Geology and Environmental Studies. She later received a MEd from Texas A&M in Education Psychology and is a graduate of the Texas Developmental Disability Council, Partners in Policymaking. Jean’s career began at the U. S. Geological Survey and then as a Geology Lab Tech at Texas A&M. She has taught at Brenham I.S.D. Jean is the co-owner with her husband of the Antique Rose Emporium. Jean’s community involvement is widespread. She has been a Girl Scout Leader, member and president of The ARC, Bluebonnet Circle, member of The ARC, Governmental Affairs Committee, Independence Historical Society, BISD School Board Member, BISD Education Foundation member and president. Other memberships include the Brazos Valley MHMR Advisory Board, Brenham Main Street Organization Committee, Advisory Committee Brenham Community Education, Brenham Lifetime member and president, HOT Board member and president and a TMC Foundation Trustee. Among other awards, in 2007 Jean received the Washington County Woman of the Year award.

HARRY STOORZA
Rev. Dr. Harry Stoorza is a semi-retired minister who served churches in Texas, Illinois and Florida as pastor and executive pastor.  After graduating from Dallas Baptist University with a degree in Psychology, he earned his  Masters in Education, another Masters in Management and a Doctorate in Organizational Psychology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  The churches served by Dr. Stoorza experienced tremendous growth and were regionally or nationally recognized for innovation and effectiveness in ministry.  Upon retirement, he returned to Maggie’s Meadow, the family acreage in Waller County, Texas where his family started a pet sanctuary, 4 Paws Farm,  one of 26 rescue groups from the 1,200 groups in Houston topartner with Best Friends Animal Society’s No More Homeless Pets network.  It carries the highest designation from Guidestar.org, which rates non-profit organizations.  4 Paws Farm has been a client of Connie Clinic for over 6 years.
One of Dr. Stoorza’s fortés is bringing diverse people together into a vibrant team to accomplish large goals.  As the beginning of a regional approach to animal control, he lobbied the City of Hempstead, TX to stop their long time practice of killing surplus pets.  On September 2, 2014, the City Council amended its ordinances allowing the city to be a “no kill shelter,” one of only six cities in Texas.  This is the foundation for uniting shelters and rescue groups in Waller, Austin, Washington and Grimes Counties to form a holistic approach to saving the lives of shelter pets. Dr. Stoorza is on the Board of Directors of Houston Pets Alive!

ANDREW YBARRA
Andrew was born & raised in Killeen, Texas, and is the youngest of 5 kids.  His Dad was career military and his Mom worked for the Killeen Police Dept.  Andrew graduated from Southwest Texas University (now Texas State) with a criminal justice degree – always wanting to be a cop when he grew up.  He joined the Travis County Sheriff’s Dept in 1988, and retired in late 2016. Andrew and his wife Tammy, have one dog, Baussie, an Australian Shepherd mix, and both Andrew & Baussie can be found at the Animal Friends Dog Park daily.  Andrew & Tammy moved to Brenham in 2022, and feel like they have won the lottery with the Mayberry-like feeling of this small town, and his new ‘family’ of friends at the Dog Park.  He loves that everything is only 6 minutes away now. He glows when talking about the dog park benefits he has witnessed – happy people and dogs socializing, dogs becoming healthier, and people just enjoying the peace and serenity of the parks.  Andrews goal is to make the Dog Parks self-sufficient and even more beautiful than they are now.

BOARD MEMBER EMERITUS

ANGELA KNAUSS
Graduated from the University of Vermont in Political Science and then obtained a J.D. degree from Vanderbilt Law School.  Angela’s career included positions at The University of Chicago, The University of Vermont and The University of Michigan, in administrative roles including medical and scientific project supervision.  Angela founded Animal Friends of Washington County in 2003.