Collierville animal services director retiring
A lifelong lover of animals, Nina Wingfield took a friend’s recommendation to look at the Collierville Animal Shelter for volunteer work in 2003.
Within months, Assistant Town Administrator Chip Petersen offered her the director’s job. She accepted it, planning to stay on as interim director for a month and a half. She stayed for 14 years. “I’ve loved my job,” she said June 22 as her retirement approached at the end of June.
Before her friend encouraged her to check out the Collierville shelter, Wingfield spent 18 years with the Memphis Humane Society as a foster mother, fundraiser and educator. She previously raised money for the Germantown Animal Welfare League.
Trained as an animal control officer and cruelty investigator, she also launched Memphis’ Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and assisted in starting the nonprofit no-kill Sunny Meadows Animal Sanctuary.
“There is a lot of help out there especially with the shelter and the SPCA,” she said. “There’s always an option for spay and neuter. Don’t ever think you can’t afford it.”
Wingfield’s career and accomplishments were detailed in a tribute to her on the town’s website.
“Nina will be missed not only by our staff and dedicated shelter volunteers, but by the Collierville community as a whole,” Parks Director Greg Clark said in a statement. “I have been fortunate to work directly with Nina for the last three years and selfishly, I wanted her to stay on for a few more years. But I also want to be the first person to congratulate her on her retirement and wish all the best for her and her family.”
Wingfield said she plans to travel,
spend more time with her husband and family and continue her advocacy for animals through her work with the Shelby County Sheriff ’s Emergency Services and the Red Cross. She also hopes to assist small shelters.
“These small shelters are doing incredible work rescuing animals with very few resources,” she said.
Town Administrator James Lewellen said Wingfield has “incredible energy and drive.”
“She has devoted every ounce of both to better the lives of animals,” he said. “She will have a lasting influence on the Collierville Animal Shelter and animal care programs.”