Becky Robinson is president and co-founder of Alley Cat Allies, the nation’s only advocacy organization dedicated to the protection and humane treatment of cats. Based in Bethesda, Maryland, the mission of Alley Cat Allies is to end the killing of cats and lead the movement for their humane care.

Robinson co-founded Alley Cat Allies in 1990, after she realized that there was no national organization providing education and resources to the thousands of Americans caring for the outdoor cats in their communities. Under Robinson’s leadership, based on years of hands-on investigation and expertise, Alley Cat Allies established the first best-practice standards for Trap-Neuter-Return in the United States. Today, with more than 190,000 supporters all over the world, Alley Cat Allies is the recognized authority on feral cats, and the leader of the movement to protect and improve the lives of cats everywhere. Her organization promotes Trap-Neuter-Return (a program in which outdoor cats are humanely trapped, altered, vaccinated and returned to their outdoor homes) and accessible, affordable neuter services as keystones of humane cat care for the country. Further, Alley Cat Allies is working on a national level to reform animal pound and shelter policies that kill more than seventy percent of cats who enter.

Robinson has advised veterinarians, communities, and feral cat organizations on the domestic cat species and its relationship to humans. She has also helped many communities across the country launch or improve proactive life-saving programs, including Washington, D.C.; Cape May, New Jersey; New Orleans, Louisiana; and Buffalo City, Wisconsin. She and her team have provided support to thousands of caring individuals and grassroots groups, and have guided them in carrying out Trap-Neuter-Return for feral cats.

Robinson has more than a decade of experience running large-scale feral cat programs, including humane and safe feral cat trapping, successfully mediating with people in business, industrial, and residential settings so that humans and cats peacefully coexist, and establishing three spay and neuter clinics in the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area that serve as models for feral cat veterinary care. She regularly speaks at conferences in North America and Europe.

Robinson holds an M.A. in Public Administration from the University of Missouri and a B.A. in Social Work, from Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas. She lives with her husband and five cats in Arlington, Virginia where she also cares for a colony of cats.

Donna Wilcox is Vice President and Chair of the Board of Directors of Alley Cat Allies. As Vice President, Wilcox oversees finances, development, and human resources.

Wilcox has been with Alley Cat Allies since the beginning. She brought the organization from a small, startup nonprofit with limited reach, to one with over 200,000 worldwide supporters, an annual income that exceeds $4.5 million, and global recognition for expertise on feral cat issues.

Wilcox continues to be involved with program initiatives. One focus is successfully negotiating with property management companies to stop plans to trap and kill resident cats and work with Alley Cat Allies to implement humane programs that ensure harmony between cats and residents. In 2008, Wilcox achieved this with a company in Northern Virginia and saved the lives of more than 150 cats.

Wilcox has held a life-long affection for, and understanding of, all cats, but especially domestic cats. Decades of personal encounters and dealings added to Wilcox’s knowledge about their behavior, their health, and their relationship with each other and humans. Wilcox has counseled people around the country so they could gain a better understanding of cats and what to do to protect them and improve their lives.

Prior to joining Alley Cat Allies as a full-time staff member in 1999, she managed the Washington, D.C. office of the Natural Resources Defense Council. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Notre Dame College in South Euclid, Ohio. She is the main caregiver and acknowledged “mom” of Alley Cat Allies’ five office cats, and she shares her home with her own pack of cats in Bethesda, MD.