Helen Woodward Animal Center competitors

Following her magna cum laude graduation from Southern Utah University, Julie Castle and some friends made a brief stop at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary while on vacation in the mid-90’s. Forever transformed, Julie decided to forgo a career in law for a low-paying, high-demand job working in a remote Utah canyon helping animals in need. As employee number 17 at Best Friends Animal Society, Julie worked her way up the ranks to become the organization’s first female CEO in March 2018. In between she helped build the organization into a $130M, 800-employee strong national leader in animal welfare. Julie started her tenure as CEO with the bold commitment to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by the year 2025. Prior to her CEO role, Julie served as Best Friends’ Chief Development & Marketing Officer, doubling the organization’s revenue and support within a four-year span. Under her leadership, Best Friends earned the Harris Poll EquiTrend “Non-Profit Brand of the Year” four times, including most recently in 2018. Julie has championed the concept of multiple non-profit organizations, private and public municipalities and the corporate foundation sector putting aside competitive interests and joining forces to publicly tackle a shared social problem. Named by InStyle magazine as one of the “Badass 50 Women Changing the World” in August, 2018, Julie has spoken at TedX in Salt Lake City, Columbia Business School, the BUILD Series in NYC, and headlines the closing session at the Best Friends National Conference every year. Julie lives with her husband Gregory Castle, a Best Friends’ founder and CEO-emeritus, and their two dogs in Kanab, Utah.

I am an advocate and a voice for animals; committed to preserving, defending, and celebrating the bond we share with them. Professionally, I have extensive experience in animal welfare in both a non-profit and municipal capacity primarily in leadership roles throughout the country including New Mexico, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Michigan.

Over 15 years of executive and leadership experience in for- and non-profit businesses. Key strengths and philosophies include: Diverse leadership experience. Uniquely diverse experience in non- and for-profit leadership. Have developed a keen sense for inspiring staff to build and harness the engine of continuous improvement. Critical IT and financial strengths. Ability to cost-effectively leverage IT to improve operations. Transparent finance/accounting leadership with collective input to budgeting, helping all staff understand and positively impact financials. Realistically optimistic leader. Choose, evangelize, and pursue bold, important initiatives/goals while being clear with self and staff that difficult tests and opportunities lay ahead. Committed to interdependence. Subservient to fostering collaborative cultures, and steadfast dedication to achieving results by empowering teams through learning-by-doing. Finds strength and order through interdependence. Convene ideas and people on a regular basis, purposefully developing connections to bring clarity to multidimensional issues. Employ unique team approaches to build staff and organizational strength and resiliency.