Board of Directors
Nicole Biffle, President
Nicole Biffle is the President of the Board of Directors of Friends of the Animals. After moving to North Carolina in 2000, Nicole and husband Greg created the Greg Biffle Foundation in July of 2005. Through the Foundation, more than 100 shelters and spay/neuter clinics across the United States have received monetary support. Nicole and Greg are the proud parents of a brand new baby girl and three dogs -Foster and his daughter Gracie, a pair of Boxers who are very familiar to race fans across the country; Foster even graced the front of a Milk Bones box in 2004. Their dog Savannah was rescued from a Georgia shelter.
Greg Biffle, Vice President
Greg Biffle is NASCAR Race Driver of the #16 car for Roush-Fenway Racing.
Greg is the only driver in NASCAR history to win both the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series championships, and the only driver to win Raybestos Rookie of the Year awards in both series. Currently running 13th in 2011, Biffle has scored 13 of his 16 career race wins since winning 2nd in 2005.
Greg and his wife Nicole have made giving back a priority. In 2005, they began the Greg Biffle Foundation whose mission is to create awareness and serve as an advocate to improve the well-being of animals by engaging the power and passion of the motor sports industry. Since its creation, The Greg Biffle Foundation has awarded grants to humane societies and animal shelters from coast to coast. The Foundation produces the popular NASCAR Pets Calendar.
In addition, the Biffle are active participants in many community outreach programs. Greg and Nicole sit on the National Advisory Board for the North Shore Animal League.
Maria Haughton, Treasurer
Maria Haughton is President and Chief Financial Officer of American Stainless Tubing, Inc. headquartered in Troutman, NC. She received her MBA from the University of Alabama’s Executive Program in 1988. She graduated Cum Laude from Gardner Webb College in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting.
Ms. Haughton was involved with the Statesville Jaycees for many years, holding various offices including President twice and District Director for which she received national recognition. She implemented the “Coats for Christmas” coat drive and worked with the National Bone Marrow Donor Foundation to host a bone marrow drive in Iredell County. She received the Armbruster award for being one of the top 10 Jaycees in North Carolina.
From January 2006 – December 2007, Ms. Haughton served as the Treasurer for the Greater Statesville Chamber of Commerce. She is currently on the Board of the Troutman Area Council of the Chamber, an Executive Board member of the Greater Statesville Development Corporation and a Board member of the Metal Service Center Institute.
Jennifer Brinkley, Co-Secretary
Jennifer Brinkley is President of Stonegate Farm, Inc. a horse boarding and training facility in Statesville, NC. Mrs. Brinkley is a Board Member for Schneider Mills, Inc which was founded by her grandfather. From 1982 – 1993 she supervised all of the Schneider Mills office staff in Taylorsville and NYC. Jennifer competed in the selections for the USET Dressage Selection for 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, GA. She has a BS degree in Exercise Physiology and has always loved animals. She has a huge interest in seeing domestic animals well cared for and also the conservation of wild animals.
Jonathan Zulman, Co-Secretary
Jonathan is Executive Vice President, Head of Procurement at BestSweet, a company that traces its roots back to Durban, South Africa, and its founding by Jonathan’s grandfather. The Mooresville company is the leading developer and manufacturer of both consumer healthcare and confectionery products, across a mix of contract, private label and branded platforms. Complementing its core manufacturing strength with a reputation for innovation and quality systems, BestSweet has refined the use of confecionery-based delivery formats for healthcare products.
Joni Berry
Joni Berry is President of Lake Norman Transportation, a logistics and trucking firm located in Mooresville and founded in 1998. She attended UNC Chapel Hill on a basketball scholarship, and
graduated from Belmont Abbey College with a BA in Business Administration. She is a former volunteer with the Mooresville Soup Kitchen and her company has sponsored the Hospice of Charlotte Regatta and Party. Joni has three rescue dogs, Bob, Weezie and Dusty and one rescue cat, Gracie.
Joyce Carnevale, DVM
Dr. Carnevale practices small animal medicine and surgery at TotalBond Veterinary at Paw Creek in Huntersville, NC . She has been the Hospital Director for Paw Creek and the satellite clinic, Mountain Island Lake, since 1998. Dr. Carnevale received her Bachelor’s of Science from Cornell University in 1984 and pursued a Master’s degree in Animal Nutrition at Colorado State University. She completed her veterinary degree at Cornell in 1990. She is a diplomat of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (Canine/Feline specialization). Her special interests include clinical behavior, nutrition, emergency and critical care, and internal medicine.
David J. DeQuick, DVM
Dr. DeQuick is a 1988 veterinarian graduate of Michigan State University. He received a Master of Science degree in Toxicology from the University of Kentucky in 1982. He has owned and operated Lakewood Veterinary Hospital since 1994, a small four (4) doctor animal hospital located in Mooresville, NC.
John Kasberger
John Kasberger is a founding partner with KSP Associates, LLC, a retail advisory firm formed in 2012.
John worked for Lowe’s for close to twenty years. He was appointed an officer of Lowe’s in 2000 and promoted to Senior Vice President and General Merchandising Manager. He began his career at Lowe’s in 1991 as Merchandising Vice President for Lowe’s Appliance and Kitchen Divisions and was subsequently appointed as General Merchandising Manager for more than ten of the twenty Lowe’s merchandising divisions. John was instrumental in catapulting Lowe’s to the number two position of U.S. retailers in appliance sales. He led the development of Lowe’s Internet merchandising and served as the group’s Vice President. As a Lowe’s representative he was active in multiple business and charitable organizations.
Prior to Lowe’s, John held a series of retail leadership roles for over 30 years. He served as the senior executive in international product sourcing, overseeing offices and staff in the U.S. and Hong Kong. He held senior positions at Best Products Company, a national catalog and jewelry retailer, and Present Company, a smaller regional northeast retailer.
John retired from Lowe’s in 2010. In August of 2010, he formed In Front Enterprises LLC. As of February 2012, he has joined other former Lowe’s executives to form KSP Associates LLC. John is a graduate of the University of Kansas.
Alyson McCall
Mrs. McCall moved to Statesville in 1994. She is married with a 9-year-old son. She was formerly the President of Iredell Museums, Med. Auxiliary, and a local branch of national women’s sorority Beta Sigma Phi. She is a Trustee at Broad Street United Methodist Church, and also a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She is a former board member of the Statesville Country Club and a former volunteer for Meals on Wheels.
Barry Rigby
Barry Rigby is Executive Vice President of Development for RL West Properties. He has developed an extensive amount of real estate across 40 states with values well into the billions of dollars. He has developed real estate corporately, individually and with joint venture partners in a variety of geographic areas, with particular emphasis in the Carolinas and Florida. In April 2007, Mr. Rigby joined Rudolph/Libbe Companies as vice president of retail development of RL West Properties. His charge has been to expand and diversify the real estate portfolio through the creation of joint venture partnerships through his localized real estate network.
Currently he is orchestrating the exciting mixed use project LangTree at the Lake development encompassing 400 acres, apartments, condominiums, single family residences along with integrated commercial and office use in Mooresville, NC. Friends of the Animals pet education and adoption center will be located in the LangTree at the Lake Development.
Katherine W. Kramer, DVM serves in an advisory capacity
Dr. Kramer has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, Cum Laude from the University of Arizona and a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from the University of Georgia. She was an Associate Veterinarian at the Animal Hospital of Statesville for five years and worked at Monroe Road Animal Hospital in Charlotte before moving to Vancouver, British Columbia in March of 2011. Dr. Kramer was instrumental in working on the business plan for Friends of the Animals’ new education and adoption center, and continues to consult on various matters regarding the new center.
Her professional associations include the American Veterinary Medical Assoc., North Carolina Veterinary Medical Assoc., American Assoc. of Feline Practitioners, International Academy of Pain Management, American Animal Hospital Assoc., and Cornell Feline Health Center.
