About CANWI

Micka has over 30 years’ experience in building and managing commercial and residential real estate, banking and mortgage banking businesses.   She built a denovo CMBS business which grew into a top tier originator and servicer; created and managed a Residential Real Estate Mortgage Finance Group into one of the largest providers of warehousing lines of credit in the industry; and, Managed and repositioned a troubled bank subsidiary for successful sale. After leaving JP Morgan Chase, she began a consulting career at Bank of America, where she worked with the Head of Commercial Real Estate Finance on a variety of assignments including streamlining the platform infrastructure. Assisted Co-founders of the Companion Animal Nutrition and Wellness Institute (CANWI) in obtaining 501(C)(3) status and running the day to day management of the organization. Graduated from MBA’s School of Mortgage Banking and earned a BA degree from Dominican College. Named by Mortgage Bankers Association as One of the Most Influential   Women in Commercial Real Estate in 2014.

Veterinarian Karen Shaw Becker’s deliberate, common sense approach to creating vibrant health for companion animals has been embraced by millions of pet lovers around the world, making her the most followed vet on social media. She has spent her career as a small animal clinician, empowering animal guardians to make intentional lifestyle decisions to enhance the wellbeing of their animals. Dr. Becker also writes and lectures extensively and serves as a wellness consultant for a variety of health-oriented organizations. She is the first veterinarian to give a TEDx talk on species appropriate nutrition, which has been a lifelong passion of hers.

Marjorie was named one of the Top 50 LPGA teachers in the country by Women’s Golf Journal and, one of the 50 Best Women Teachers in America by Golf Digest. Additionally she has been recognized as the LPGA T&CP’s Northeast Section Teacher of the Year and Player of the Year. Having been a golf professional for over 30 years, she has played professional golf in Europe, Asia, Australia and in the United States on the LPGA and Legends Tours.
She is a Class A member of the LPGA and PGA and holds a Bachelor’s degree from Ithaca College in Physical Education and a Master’s degree in Exercise Physiology from Florida State University.

Donna M. Raditic as a Board-Certified Veterinary Nutritionists® is one of only 96 Diplomats of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition. After a traditional veterinary education at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, she has pursued a lifetime study of natural medicine and science. And as she puts it, “when you connect the dots” you know that nutrition is the foundation of all medicine and science. Thinking in the box, out of the box and stepping back for that panoramic view, she shares her passion for nutrition and research with the pet vested community. With a career as a general practitioner, veterinary nutritionist, academician, to consultant she delivers unique perspectives on the role of nutrition and integrative veterinary care in journals, textbooks, and lectures.

Susan Sturges Spagnola is a former Assistant Corporate Secretary, Assistant General Counsel, and de facto ethics officer of JP Morgan Chase & Company. Prior to leaving the firm in December, 2002, she held a number of positions with JP Morgan Chase and its predecessor institutions, with an emphasis on Federal Bank Regulatory matters, Federal securities laws, director and officer liability, corporate governance and business ethics. Ms. Spagnola served as Secretary of the Board of Directors of Chase Manhattan Bank, National Association (formerly Chemical Bank New Jersey) and as general counsel and secretary of private banking subsidiaries of JP Morgan Chase in Florida and California. Ms. Spagnola recently joined Wellington Management Group as the Managing Director of the firm’s Financial Services Practice. She continues to serve as a pro bono consultant to nonprofit corporations in connection with matters related to corporate governance and ethics. Ms. Spagnola received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Skidmore College and a Juris Doctor from The Dickinson School of Law of Pennsylvania State University. She is a former member of the Board of Governors, Dickinson School of Law and a past trustee of Skidmore College and numerous not for profit organizations in New York and New Jersey. She is currently a trustee and past president of the Hillsborough Educational Foundation, a New Jersey not for profit corporation, a trustee and Secretary of the New Jersey Education Foundation Partnership, where she chairs the Governance Committee, and a trustee of Safe+Sound Somerset, an organization that supports individuals and families impacted by domestic abuse. In 2010 she was recognized by the Somerset County Commission on the Status of Women as a Woman of Achievement in the field of law.

For three years, 1957 to 1960, Don Keelan served on the United States Marine Corps Silent Drill Team and with the Marine security detail for President Eisenhower at the Newport, R.I. Summer White House and the Presidential Retreat, Camp David. In 1964, Don graduated Pace University in NYC and spent the next six years on the audit staff of Arthur Andersen & Co.. This was followed by two decades with Baker Firestone, a major New York City area real estate developer. During his time in New York, Don served as an adjunct professor of Federal Tax Law, at Marist College. Don and his wife Verrall, moved to Arlington, Vermont, in 1988, and for the next 23 years operated a bed and breakfast inn and an antique center. During that time, Don continued to practice as CPA (retired in 2017) and in 2003, became a bi-weekly columnist for several Vermont news media sources—Bennington Banner, the Manchester Journal and in 2010, VTDigger.   Along the way, Don published two historical fiction novels, The Secret of Camp David (1994) and Conspiracy on the Hudson (2014) and in 2002, Robert Todd Lincoln’s Hildene, and How It Was Saved. His fourth book, Observations of Vermont’s Nonprofit Organizations, is scheduled for publication in late 2018. Verrall and Don celebrated their 50^thwedding anniversary in 2014 along with their five children and seven Grandchildren

Ann has 30 years of experience in the banking industry holding various positions within Human Resources and Commercial Real Estate. The last 10 years of her banking career were with Bank of America as a Marketing Officer and Business Manager whose responsibilities included planning large client events, conference participation, creating a business recovery plan for the commercial real estate team countrywide, and managing the administrative staff. Upon retirement Ann was on the board of a local chapter of a national charity and became involved with CANWI shortly after the arrival of her grand fur child “Joey”. She wanted to make sure she was feeding Joey an appropriate diet that met his nutritional needs. Now Ann is the Nona behind the Newsletter Recipes

Dr. Egger is currently a Professor, Anesthesiology, Pain Management, and Integrative Medicine, Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Tennessee. Her undergraduate major was in Zoology at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree and did her Residency in Veterinary Anesthesia and Master of Veterinary Science graduate degree at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada. She is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Anesthesiology and has Certification in Veterinary Herbal Medicine and Veterinary Acupuncture. Dr. Egger lectures and publishes on anesthesiology, pain management and integrative veterinary medicine in companion animals.

Dr. Gaylord is a Diplomat of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition and has been a general practitioner in North Carolina for over 24 years. She currently is an independent consultant member of Veterinary Nutritional Consultations, Inc., the East Coast Think Tank with Dr. Donna Raditic. She offers homemade diet recipe formulation and commercial diet consultations through PetDiets.com. She is also the founder of a nutrition consulting business for both pet clients and companies called Whole Pet Provisions, PLLC, established in 2016.  Combining her clinical experiences with out of the box thinking, she provides nutrition/supplement consulting for general practitioners and their clients as well as the pet vested industry.