The Lincoln County Animal Shelter (LCAS) has hired Martha Kalina as executive director for the organization.

“The LCAS Board has recently undertaken a deep review of the organization, its operations and its role in the community and concluded that it was time to add an executive director to our organizational chart,” said Kathy Williams, board president. “An executive director will take pressure off our volunteer board and allow us all to focus on board functions.”

“The board members agreed that LCAS needed an executive director, and Martha brings a lot of animal welfare experience to our facility,” said board member Lucy Harrington. “Her background as a former lawyer and local business owner are also assets for the shelter.”

Before moving to Waldoboro over 20 years ago, Kalina was a litigation attorney in Ohio. Since moving to Maine, she has operated several businesses and served as the executive director of the Humane Society of Knox County in Thomaston for seven years.

During that time, she was the president of the Maine Federation of Humane Societies and has since served as a governor’s appointee to the state of Maine’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee.

“Lincoln County Animal Shelter is the shelter that serves my town so I am very excited to be able to serve the shelter in this capacity,” Kalina said. “I look forward to moving the shelter into a new light in the community with more services, more programs and more transparency.

“The board and I are already working on a revision of the bylaws, preparation of job descriptions and creation of a strategic plan for the organization going forward.”

Lincoln County Animal Shelter is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization under the legal name of Boothbay Region Humane Society. Lincoln County Animal Shelter is open six days a week and serves as the contract shelter for over 30 towns in both Lincoln and Sagadahoc counties.