Animal Friends board terminates longtime CEO
David Swisher, president and CEO of Animal Friends, has been terminated after 23 years of leading the no-kill organization that finds homes for dogs, cats and rabbits and operates spay and neuter programs.
The board of the nonprofit organization “investigated some issues. They found some violations in employment policies,” said Kathleen Beaver, the chief strategy officer, who has worked at Animal Friends for 22 years. She is now the interim CEO.
“There was some behavior that was not appropriate. We are committed to a healthy workplace,” said Ms. Beaver, who declined to elaborate because “this is a personnel issue.”
She did say there “was nothing financially inappropriate. There were no financial improprieties.”
The 115 staff members and 3,000 volunteers of the Ohio Township organization were informed Friday that Mr. Swisher had been terminated on Tuesday, Ms. Beaver said.
Mr. Swisher presided over the entire operation, including two major fundraising efforts.
In 2006, the shelter left its overcrowded quarters in Pittsburgh’s Strip District and moved into a $7.3 million shelter in Ohio Township. Officially known as the Caryl
Gates Gluck Resource Center, it’s named for the late wife of then-board member Lloyd E. Gluck, an attorney who donated $2.3 million to the project.
In 2017 Mr. Swisher presided over the grand opening of the $8.5 million Howard Ash Animal Wellness Center at Animal Friends.
In recent years the annual operating budget has been $7 million, Ms. Beaver said. Over 2,500 animals get adopted through the organization each year, and last year the no-kill organization performed 12,000 spay and neuter surgeries.
The change of leadership will result in “absolutely no changes for the animals. We expect the transition to be seamless, and we will continue to save more lives,” Ms. Beaver said.
Animal Friends will begin the search for a permanent replacement as soon as possible, she said. She said it would be difficult to do immediately because Black Tie & Tails, the shelter’s biggest annual fundraiser, is in six weeks.