Peter E. Rork, M.D.
Founder and President
READ MORE
Peter, “The Pilot”, is an East Coast refugee, who always believed that he was switched at birth with a kid from New Jersey. After working his way through medical school as a pilot, he practiced Orthopaedic Surgery for more than thirty years. Instead of retiring to a golf course, he has returned to the skies as our Chief Pilot. Peter holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and is qualified to fly single and multiengine aircraft as well as seaplanes. He is also a certified flight instructor. Transporting animals to furever homes in a Cessna Turbo Cessna 206 Stationair and Cessna Grand Caravan, he says that the view from his new office beats any other.
Kara Pollard
Executive Director
READ MORE
With her husband Mark Pollard, a Kiwi native and their daughter Olivia and son William, Kara has made Jackson home with two rescue dogs Sydney and Queenie. Animal welfare has always been a passion of hers, from rescuing the family pets at local animal shelters and volunteering for welfare agencies while growing up in Rhode Island. After graduating from the University of Vermont in 2006 with a degree in Animal Science, she moved to Jackson, WY with her first rescue dog, Sydney a pit bull mix. Kara quickly became an active member in the Valley, working as a technician at a veterinary clinic and also volunteering for animal welfare agencies including Teton County Animal Shelter, Paws of Jackson Hole, and the Animal Adoption Center. In 2012, Kara became the Executive Director of the Animal Adoption Center- a nonprofit animal welfare organization. Kara is committed to pursuing her passion in animal welfare, and is grateful to be part of the Dog Is My CoPilot team!
Meet our Volunteer Pilots
Our volunteer pilots each donate hundreds of hours flying our rescue missions. We estimate that in 2021, our volunteer pilots will save the organization over $100,000.
Peter E. Rork, M.D.
Chief Pilot, President & Founder
READ MORE
Peter, “The Pilot”, is an East Coast refugee, who always believed that he was switched at birth with a kid from New Jersey. After working his way through medical school as a pilot, he practiced Orthopaedic Surgery for more than thirty years. Instead of retiring to a golf course, he has returned to the skies as our Chief Pilot. Peter holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and is qualified to fly single and multiengine aircraft as well as seaplanes. He is also a certified flight instructor. Transporting animals to furever homes in a Cessna Turbo Cessna 206 Stationair and Cessna Grand Caravan, he says that the view from his new office beats any other.
Jeff Carter
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Jeff works as a Test pilot and instructor for a DOD aircraft manufacturer. He spends five to six months deployed overseas per year, supporting the US military programs. While stateside, he lives in Southern California with his wife of 30 years and their 5 rescue dogs. Jeff looks forward to helping DIMC save as many pets lives as possible.
Dr. Brent Blue
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Dr. Brent Blue is an Airline Transport Pilot rated aviator with over 9,000 hours of flight time. He practices medicine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and has three adult children. His whole family has grown up with and currently have dogs of all types. He is a FAA designated Aviation Medical Examiner and consults for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. In addition to aviation, Dr. Blue skis, mountain bikes, travels, and photographs extensively. Dr. Blue is an original board member of DIMC and is an enthusiastic support of rescue dog missions. He stated “dogs are incredible animals and bring such great joy to people. How can we not rescue as many as possible?”
Chris Spanos
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Chris is an Airline transport pilot for Frontier Airlines for the past 23 years. Chris is a volunteer for New Hope Cattle Dogs Rescue and Re-homing of Colorado for the past 15 years along with his wife Paula who founded the group. Chris and Paula enjoy caring for their dogs, chickens and especially enjoy camping in the beautiful Colorado Mountains.
With over 25000 hours of flight time flying for the airline, air ambulance, corporate, freight and flight instruction, Dog Is My CoPilot fits his passion and love for animal rescue. Chris and Paula have 4 rescue dogs and spend much of their time in Colorado saving dogs (Australian Cattle Dogs, mostly), with our partners around the country. Chris was born in Berlin Germany and was raised in Madrid Spain, he calls Parker Colorado, home.
Chris looks forward to this new adventure in his flying career and is especially excited to meet more of the wonderful people that dedicate their lives saving animals and promoting the life-saving work that Dog Is My CoPilot is doing regularly.
Frank Maresca
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Frank is a semi-retired mechanical engineer. Formerly the Technical Director for Clearwater Paper Consumer Products, structural design engineer at Boeing on the 757 and US Army Ordnance Officer, he is a CFII and spends winters working in the shop on equipment projects and giving flying lessons at the Lewiston, Idaho airport. Summers include fire patrol/air attack on Forest Service contracts and working with the family rock crushing business. Frank and his wife Margo have two children, Adrian and Ian as well as horses, cows, cats and Thor, the security dog.
Tim Riley
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Tim is an avid pilot with Airline Transport Pilot and Flight Instructor ratings who has been flying for over thirty years. He has owned a flight school where he enjoyed sharing his passion for flying with many new pilots. He is an active volunteer for a number of aviation-related organizations. He lives in Driggs, ID with his wife Janette and has two adult daughters. They enjoy all that the Tetons have to offer including flying, hiking, biking, kayaking, and skiing. Tim is excited to be part of the DIMC crew and looks forward to flying with the dogs and getting them to new homes.
Jennifer Boman
Volunteer Pilot
READ MORE
Jennifer Boman is an Airline Transport Pilot at a major airline on the Airbus 320 based in Los Angeles, California. She was previously an instructor pilot on the KC135R in the USAFR at March ARB, California, and has served for over 17 years. She is a Colorado native and now lives with her husband Andrew in Carlsbad, CA. They lost their best friend Koru in June 2020 at 13 ½ years old who was Jennifer’s running, hiking, and cross country skiing buddy. Jennifer is deeply grateful for this opportunity to be part of such a great organization serving these deserving animals!
Meet our Board of Directors
Peter E. Rork, M.D.
President & Founder
READ MORE
Peter, “The Pilot”, is an East Coast refugee, who always believed that he was switched at birth with a kid from New Jersey. After working his way through medical school as a pilot, he practiced Orthopaedic Surgery for more than thirty years. Instead of retiring to a golf course, he has returned to the skies as our Chief Pilot. Peter holds an Airline Transport Pilot rating and is qualified to fly single and multiengine aircraft as well as seaplanes. He is also a certified flight instructor. Transporting animals to furever homes in a Cessna Turbo Cessna 206 Stationair and Cessna Grand Caravan, he says that the view from his new office beats any other.
Susan Bersticker Thorp, ND, RN
Board Member
READ MORE
Susan has a doctorate in nursing from Case Western Reserve, and is a nurse in the state of WY. She has worked in the orthopedic community for the past 14 yrs taking care of people, and a few dogs with broken bones along the way. Susan works for the Ossur America brace company, and is an international consultant to Cast Nylons Ltd., a manufacturer of cast nylon bearing materials, where Susan uses her fluency in Spanish to assist Cast Nylons in their expansion of sales to Mexico, Central and South America. Susan is the copilot in her husband’s Piper Meridian, that they fly around the US, Bahamas and Mexico with their two passengers, Tank, a yellow Labrador and Chamois, a Golden Retriever.
Brent A. Blue, M.D.
Board Member
READ MORE
Brent is a family practice and emergency medicine physician in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and is a recognized expert in aviation medicine. He founded Aeromedix, a medical aviation company, and has served on the Board of Lighthawk. Brent owns three aircraft and four dogs—two Bergamascos, a Golden Retriever, and a Lagotto Ramagnolo.
Ted Kerasote
Board Member
READ MORE
Ted Kerasote is the author of many books, including the national bestseller Merle’s Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog, Out There: In The Wild in a Wired Age, which won the National Outdoor Book Award, and Pukka’s Promise: The Quest for Longer-Lived Dogs, which has helped to change how people think about canine health. His essays and photographs have appeared in Audubon, Geo, Outside, Science, The New York Times, and more than sixty other periodicals. Ted lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Taylor Rork
General Counsel
READ MORE
Taylor is an animal welfare advocate and attorney who serves as General Counsel to Dog Is My Copilot. Her involvement with saving and protecting animals started with the many she brought home and saved as a child. It was after she adopted her first rescue dog, Oslo, that she chose to attend law school in order to effect positive change for homeless animals, as well as farmed animals. When her father, Dr. Peter Rork, founded Dog Is My Copilot, Taylor was thrilled to be involved and has served the non-profit in a variety of capacities since its inception.
Taylor graduated from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and the University of Washington’s Tax Law LLM program and works as an estate planning attorney focused on pet trusts when she is not assisting Dog Is My Copilot. Taylor always advocates to pet parents to include their animals in their estate plans.
Taylor is also Cofounder of the pet protection company, Pet Notify. Pet Notify is a technology company offering pet parents a variety of services to keep their pets safe and out of shelters by giving pets a voice when they need it the most.
Ann Smith
Board Member
READ MORE
Ann moved to Jackson Hole with her two sons and then National Park service husband in 1981. An animal advocate since childhood, she always rescued homeless dogs, cats, birds and even an orphaned baby raccoon! Ann founded PAWS of Jackson Hole in 1999. A wildlife photographer and huge fan of grizzly bear 399, Ann was one of the five founders of Shoot ‘Em With a Camera campaign that encouraged people to apply for a grizzly bear tag and shoot with a camera not a gun. Ultimately the grizzly bears were restored to the endangered species list. Ann currently serves on the Board of Jackson Hole K-9 Auxiliary and Wyoming Untrapped. She shares her home in East Jackson with her beloved rescue pup Bandit and crazy kitty Ginny.
Past Board Members
Karen Valenstein Ford
September 2018-September 2020
Buller Rork
August 2012-2016
Judy Zimet, Esq., Co-Founder
August 2012-August 2018
Mary Ann Parlin, Ph.D.
April 2017-2018
Martin Thall
August 2014-2016
