After 19 years of steady leadership from outgoing president Kim Aranha, the Bahamas Humane Society (BHS) has entered a new era, with veteran animal welfare advocate Lissa McComb Pinder stepping into the top leadership role. The leadership transition, completed on September 23, also saw long-serving vice president Charlotte Albury depart her executive post, opening the door for a fully refreshed executive team to advance the organization’s mission of reducing animal suffering across the Bahamas.
McComb Pinder is no stranger to regional animal protection work. A key founding leader of the Bahamas Alliance for Animal Rights and Kindness (BAARK), she has spent years championing better outcomes for vulnerable animals in the country. For her, animal care is far more than a volunteer passion—it is a core life commitment. “Caring for animals isn’t a hobby for me, it’s a way of life, and I am choosing to take on this role because I believe we can do even more to end the suffering in this country,” she shared in her first public remarks as BHS president.
The new president has laid out a clear, action-focused agenda for her tenure. Her top priorities span systemic and community-focused improvements: upgrading outdated shelter facilities to better meet animal needs, expanding the scope of available veterinary services, launching evening clinics to better serve community members who cannot attend during standard daytime hours, restoring in-house spay and neuter services that were previously paused, and boosting community outreach to increase pet adoption rates and public engagement. McComb Pinder emphasized that BHS carries an outsize public responsibility, caring for hundreds of vulnerable animals daily across New Providence while also driving animal welfare initiatives beyond the shelter’s walls. Delivering the improvements animals and residents deserve, she noted, will require collective effort across the organization and the broader community.
To strengthen internal operations, McComb Pinder has already moved to formalize new leadership roles and support frontline staff, who regularly confront emotionally draining, heartbreaking situations working with at-risk animals. She plans to prioritize staff support, open lines of communication, and implement clearer organizational structure to streamline daily work. Recent leadership appointments align with this goal: Dr. Dan Katz has taken on the dual role of managing director and medical director, unifying the organization’s veterinary and animal welfare operations under a single coordinated leadership structure, while Alicia Curry has been named animal care supervisor. McComb Pinder noted that she has collaborated closely with both Katz and Curry on animal welfare initiatives for the past three years, creating a cohesive core leadership team from day one.
McComb Pinder’s new executive team includes a range of experienced leaders from across the Bahamas’ animal welfare space. Annabeth Maura will serve as first vice president, while Dr. Valentino Grant of Caves Village Animal Hospital takes on the role of second vice president. Amanda Meyers will act as the organization’s treasurer, and Joanne Symonette will fill the secretary post.
Aranha, who led the organization for nearly two decades, framed the transition as a natural “changing of the guard.” “Frankly, nobody should be president of anything for 19 years,” she said with a smile. Aranha explained that the outgoing leadership took time to find a candidate who was both willing and able to take on the heavy responsibility of leading BHS, and expressed full confidence in her successor. “We are extremely fortunate to have found that person in Lissa,” she said. Albury, who served alongside Aranha as vice president for more than 15 years, formed a renowned “power team” that steered BHS through decades of growth. Aranha praised the incoming executive’s collective qualifications, noting “They bring a wealth of experience, energy and commitment to animal welfare.” Though they have stepped back from executive roles, both Aranha and Albury will remain connected to BHS as members of a new advisory board, allowing the new leadership to draw on their decades of institutional knowledge and on-the-ground experience as they advance the organization’s mission.