Lisa LaFontaine is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA). As CEO, Lisa led the merger of the Washington Animal Rescue League and the Washington Humane Society to form HRA, the sole service provider for animal welfare, animal control and community programs in the nation’s capital. In 2019 HRA merged with St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, NJ and became a regional organization focused on direct care, community programs, advocacy, and transport.

The combined organization shelters 21,000+ animals a year and directly serves 101,000 more through community programs, animal services, wellness and vaccine clinics, behavior classes, and the WayStation transport program. 

Throughout her animal welfare career Lisa has advocated for greater animal protection through strengthening laws for companion and wild animals, establishing pet care services to keep animals with their families, and embedding HRA in the diverse neighborhoods and communities of DC and NJ. During her tenure, the percentage of animals saved has risen from 28% to 94%.

While she attended law school and served as an officer and director of a multi-million-dollar financial services organization, she found her calling when a feral barn cat named Merlin transformed the life of her daughter, who had recently developed Tourette’s Syndrome. Lisa went to the local shelter and signed up as a dog walking volunteer, branching into foster care and advocacy before leading a capital campaign in 1997 to build one of the nation’s earliest modern, cageless animal-centric community centers. After three years as a volunteer Lisa became CEO of Monadnock Humane Society in NH, and she has never looked back. 

Over the years she has been at the forefront of regional and national animal welfare collaborations, having served as chairperson of the board of the New England Federation of Humane Societies, the National Federation of Humane Societies, and the Association for Animal Welfare Advancement. She and her husband have fostered more than 200 shelter animals through the years.

Every day Lisa strives to do more for animals and make their world a safer, kinder, and more compassionate place. She and Matt share their home with Sazerac the half-mandibled pitbull, and Clo-Clo, a foster mamma who is now part of the family.