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Aileen Walden, Associate Director of Development

Aileen is the associate director of development for Best Friends Animal Society. Besides responding to member inquiries, she develops, oversees and makes recommendations about programs in order to enhance members' experiences with Best Friends. Aileen is also responsible for those departments that directly relate to members, supporters and guests on a personal level and helps to create new and fun ways for members to support the animals at the sanctuary and around the country. She likes to think of her staff as the "people caregivers" for Best Friends.

Aileen came to Best Friends in July 2004, after 20 years in retail customer service, operations and marketing management. She has developed customer service programs, written instructional and promotional materials, and specialized in events planning. She is thrilled to use the skills she has developed over the course of her career on behalf of Best Friends.

Before moving to Utah, Aileen served as volunteer and sponsorship coordinator and was a board member for KittyCorner Cat Sanctuary in Liverpool, New York. She also consulted with the Syracuse and Onondaga County Cat Council and participated in New York Partners Helping Animals. She still considers herself a long-distance volunteer for KittyCorner and the Cat Council, and she writes for the KittyCorner Mewsletter.

Aileen lives in Kanab with her cats: Gus, Pumpkin, Harley and Newton.