Board of Directors

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Megan Phillips

President/Treasurer

  • Megan trained rhinos and lions at the Denver Zoo, as well as bottlenose dolphins at SeaWorld, before becoming a companion animal behavior consultant and educator.

    As co-founder of The Train with Trust® Project, she brings a unique perspective and set of skills to the task of providing accessible behavior education for everyone.

    When Megan began her career in the early 1990’s, positive reinforcement training was not yet the norm in exotic animal management. After pioneering the training of skittish African antelope, she went on to train many animal species including black rhinos, polar bears, and spotted hyenas.

    The remarkable training and behavior work that is achieved within the zoo community inspired Megan to bring these very successful, evidence-based techniques and philosophies to the world of domestic animals and the people who care for them.

    In 2021, Megan teamed up with business partner and life long friend, Jody Ambrose to co-found the nonprofit Train with Trust Project.

    Megan graduated magna cum laude from Metropolitan State University of Denver, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Ecology. She is certified by the International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants and is an active member of the Animal Behavior Management Alliance.

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Jody Ambrose

Vice President

  • Jody is an accomplished equestrian, having won medals in dressage at the North American “junior olympics” and the US Dressage Federation Bronze, Silver & Gold. She has coached numerous students to championships in dressage and eventing, and has supported many of them in building training careers of their own.

    She was introduced to clicker training as a child by her mother, who also trains service dogs, and was an early adopter of “clicker training for people,” becoming certified in TAGteach, or Teaching with Acoustical Guidance, in 2007. Over the years she has assisted many non-profit service dog organizations and owner-trained teams. She also helped pioneer ground-breaking animal assisted therapy programs for military veterans and at-risk kids.

    Jody graduated from The University of California San Diego with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications. More recently, She has been given the opportunity to work outside the domestic animal field with a wide variety of species. The year she spent working with a feral zebra hybrid named Ziggy was documented in Equitopia’s award-winning short film, Don’t Shoot the Zebra Pony.

    In 2021, Jody teamed up with business partner and life long friend, Megan Phillips to co-found the nonprofit Train with Trust Project.

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Domenic Redmond

Secretary

  • Domenic is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who works as a precision teacher in Denver, Colorado. He received his Bachelor's degree in Psychology and his Master's degree in Applied Behavior Analysis at Arizona State University.

    Domenic has been around animals since a very young age. His parents run a pet-shipping business (Petsfly.com) and while growing up his house doubled as a boarding facility, so there were constantly dogs, cats, and other creatures coming in and out of the house.

    He spent some time working as an Exotic Animal Keeper and Animal Care Technician at a shelter in Arizona, and participated in the Canine Collaboratory at ASU. Domenic hopes to improve the welfare of animals in shelters and animals in captivity through his work.

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Matt Manroe

  • As Executive Director of Mustang Champions, Matt is responsible for all aspects of program and event development and production as well as overseeing all marketing and advertising efforts. He was formerly the Director of Marketing for the Mustang Heritage Foundation and was responsible for the creation and successful execution of the Mustang Heritage brand, events, and programs.

    Prior to that, Matt was an award-winning advertising agency art director in Dallas and Chicago. He worked at national advertising agencies on clients such as American Airlines, Frito-Lay, Pepsi, Coors Beer, Verizon, JCPenney, and Long John Silver’s. He has been a Clio award winner, listed in “Who’s Who in American Advertising”, nominated to Adweek Magazine’s Creative All-Star Team as National Television Art Director of the Year and is the recipient of numerous national ADDYs and best of show awards.

    Matt is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in advertising. He lives in Austin, Texas and is the proud owner of two American Mustangs.

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John “J” Hewins

  • J. is a partner with Russell Reynolds Associates, a global leadership advisory firm. For 20 years he has focused on succession planning, executive assessment and leadership development work for boards and CEOs of companies around the world.

    He earned an undergraduate degree in anthropology from Columbia University and an MBA from the University of Chicago. His role on the board is as a business advisor to the Train with Trust management team.

    He is passionate about animal welfare, supporting and advocating for numerous animal shelters and organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lives with his sweet and smart rescue dog Bindi.

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Kchera Phillips

  • Kchera has been a lifelong lover and advocate for animals of all sorts. As child she spent her summers in rural Texas helping her grandmother take care of her feral cat colony and befriending the local stray dogs. This gave her understanding that every animal is an individual and there is power in patience and positivity.

    Having grown up in Denver, the discrepancy in available education and resources regarding animal welfare in the two states led her to work at one of the largest open admission shelters in the country for nearly a decade. There she was able to work alongside the behavior department providing enrichment and training for the animals in the shelter, as well as advocate for under-socialized and overlooked animals. In addition, she provided education and tools to potential adopters and would- be relinquishers regarding behavior issues.

    Kchera is practiced in low stress handling techniques and has been certified as a cat-friendly practitioner. She currently works in a nonprofit veterinary hospital that is committed to providing affordable care to the public. When she is not working, she loves hanging out with her dog, her 3 cats and taking nature walks whenever possible.

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Rebecca Stievator

  • By day, Rebecca writes grants and raises money to help protect endangered species and foster peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife with the Wildlife Conservation Network.

    By night, she is an aspiring adult amateur dressage rider and does dog agility with her supermutt, Rowan.

    She has two horses - a mostly retired Thoroughbred cross gelding and a two-year-old Dutch Warmblood filly. She joined the Train with Trust Project to help with fundraising, as she has spent the past 15+ years raising money for a variety of nonprofits, and also to offer the perspective of an amateur horse owner who wants to have all the information she can to know how to do right by her horses.