Meet the Team

Jeff Link works as an Iowa-based entrepreneur, lawyer and communications consultant with a deep background in government and politics at the state and federal levels in the U.S. and abroad.  Link’s experience in government, paid media strategy, data analytics, public opinion-research and crisis communications and offers a strong background for clients.  Link’s work in campaigns has dovetailed with his experience in government.  Link was the first staff member of Gov. Bill Clinton’s campaign in Pennsylvania in October of 1991 while working for Pennsylvania’s Speaker of the House, Robert W. O’Donnell.  Clinton secured the nomination in 1992 with his win in Pennsylvania and went on to win the White House in November carrying Pennsylvania in the general election.

After successfully managing Sen. Tom Harkin’s (D-IA) 1996 reelection campaign, Link served in Washington, D.C. as Sen. Harkin’s Chief of Staff from 1997 until 1999.  In 1999 Link returned to Iowa to obtain his law degree from Drake University. He graduated in 2002 with honors and won the National Moot Court Championship in New York City in 2001.

During law school, Link founded Link Strategies, served as the Gore-Lieberman 2000 state director in Iowa which defeated George Bush by 4,144 votes out of 1.3 million cast.  Link also led Gore’s efforts from 1997-2000 to win the Iowa Caucus and secure the nomination against Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ).  Link managed Senator Harkin’s 2002 reelection campaign while finishing law school in May of 2002.  Senator Harkin was reelected to a fourth term in November 2002.  In 2008 Link served as Deputy Director of Paid Media and Research to the Obama for America Campaign.  In that role, he coordinated all paid media and polling in 25 states including seven battleground states (VA, NC, FL, CO, NM, NV, MT). President Obama won 6 of these 7 battleground states in 2008.

In addition to directing the message development through polling, focus groups, web tests and ad testing in these target states, he directed the advertising strategy and media mix with TV and cable buys, created state-specific ads, direct mail and collateral materials.  Also, Link managed the Spanish language messaging for the campaign through advertising, polling and focus groups.

Link’s political work has also taken him to Aruba, where he managed the opposition party in Aruba’s parliamentary elections.  The election, held in July 1994, saw the opposition party, the Aruba Volks Party (AVP), win a plurality, form a government and elect Henry Eman as Prime Minister. In 2009 Link again advised the AVP during the parliamentary elections and successfully saw Mike Eman elected as Prime Minister in September.  Adding to Link’s international experience, he worked in Ukraine as the advisor to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s campaign for President in Ukraine.  In 2009 Yulia was successful in advancing to the run-off election held in 2010.  Link advised the Hungarian Socialist Party during their parliamentarian elections, conducted public opinion research for President John Mahama’s successful election in Ghana (2012) and for Raila Odinga in Kenya (2013).

Simon Conway is a talk show host and broadcaster. His show is heard on multiple Iowa radio stations including his home station, the iconic News Radio 1040 WHO - the most decorated radio station in American history. He handles Afternoon Drive from 4-7pm each weekday.

Hailing from London, England, Simon has run a number of very successful businesses including a Corporate Communications Company in England and property management and real estate brokerage companies in Florida.  Before any of that, he was a journalist in both Israel and England.

Simon became involved with Puppy Jake Foundation almost from the very beginning and has held a number of highly successful fund raisers as well as contributing to raising awareness of PJF.
 

His other charitable works include children’s cancer charities and the Pacific Battleship Center where he is a member of the Board of Trustees.

Rebecca Beach (Becky) is a fundraiser, event planner and consultant. In early 2013, Becky founded Puppy Jake Foundation. Becky is from a long line of military service and patriotism.  Both of Becky’s grandfathers served as doctors in WWII, her father as a doctor in the U.S. Army, and her husband as active duty in the Vietnam War.   Her love of animals led her to become a Certified Trainer from the Animal Behavior College (ABC).  She and her husband, Charlie, reside in Des Moines, IA with their dogs.

Becky’s wide and diverse range of clients in her political career has included Senator Charles Grassley, President George H.W. Bush, President George W. Bush, Lamberti for Congress and others. Her political career began in 1978 while serving as Personal Assistant to Barbara Bush for four years. She is currently on the Finance Committee for the George W. Bush Library Center in Dallas. After working in the Reagan and Bush administrations, Becky returned to her home state of Iowa in 1993. Becky’s current projects, in addition to Puppy Jake Foundation include Terrace Hill Restoration project, On With Life capital campaign, The Iowa Barnstormers, and Pacific Battleship Center (USS Iowa).

Her dog training professional affiliations include:

• Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP) Graduate 2015
• Karen Pryor "Puppy Start Right" course, Graduate 2015
• Animal Behavior College (ABC) graduate 2015
• Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT), member 
• National Security Roundtable (NSRT), Command and General Staff College, April, 2012
• TAGteach International Certified Primary Level Certification, 2015
• TAGteach International Certified Level 1 Certification, 2015

Mike Holms has been in the restaurant management arena for over thirty years.  Various responsibilities include General Manager, Manager, Server/Bartender as well as running his own catering business.  Throughout his extensive career, Mike oversaw day-to-day operations of hiring, training, managing front and back of house staff, marketing and promotions.  Mike was instrumental in creating loyalty programs and efforts to support non-profits in the community.  Mike has worked with many fine area establishments including Splash Seafood Bar & Grill, Jethro’s BBQ, and 801 Steak & Chop.

Holms serves on the Board of the Iowa Restaurant Association, a statewide organization serving as lobbing/legislative arm of restaurant industry in Iowa.  He served on the Executive Board and was awarded the 2019 Industry Champion of the Year.  

Mike is a Board Member of Puppy Jake Foundation, a non-profit organization that raises and trains service dogs for wounded military Veterans.  Mike is the Treasurer of the organization’s leadership team.

Mike and his wife and children live in Urbandale Iowa.

Mary Crouse is an accomplished administrative partner with 14 years of experience, providing thorough and skillful support to senior leaders. She is a resourceful and proactive problem solver who can prioritize tasks independently in a high-performance work environment. Mary creates excellent working relationships with both internal and external customers at Wells Fargo.  

Mary and her husband have raised, or are training four service dogs for wounded Veterans.  Her husband served in the US Army.  In addition to assisting Puppy Jake Foundation, Mary is State Coordinator for Missing In America Project, a non-profit organization that locates, identifies and inters the unclaimed cremated remains of American Veterans.

Carson King is the accidental fundraiser turned philanthropist who sparked a grassroots campaign to raise funds for the University of Iowa’s Stead Family Children’s Hospital. In 2 and a half weeks, Carson’s fundraiser was able to collect over 3 million dollars. Since then, Carson has worked with multiple non-profit organizations to raise funds and awareness using his new found success, been on a speaking circuit around the Midwest talking about his experience and lessons learned, and Carson has even established his own Non-profit, the Carson King Foundation which supports children and families across the state.  

Lisa Russell is the owner of Scuba Creative, a company that provides businesses with an extra set of hands to execute public relations, public affairs and marketing projects.  She has extensive experience working with organizations in both the public and private sectors, particularly those focused on innovation, financial services and economic development.  

Support for Puppy Jake is a family affair. In addition to attending fundraising events and volunteering, Lisa and her husband, Jeff, have encouraged their children to become involved in this great organization.  Their oldest son, Ben, served on the Youth Board for several years after he raised $250 selling hot chocolate – the first dollars raised for Puppy Jake.  The younger two Russell children also have volunteered their time in the office, as well as for special events.

Lisa received both her undergraduate and Master’s degree in journalism from Drake University. She and her family, along with the laziest golden retriever ever, live in Des Moines.

Mr. Russell “Doc” Saffell is a native Iowan, U.S. OEF and OIF I-II Combat Veteran. Mr. Saffell Served in the United States Navy as a Maritime Special Purpose Force (MSPF) Corpsman, as part of both a USMC Security and Scout Sniper Platoon and as part of a Joint Task Force. Mr. Saffell has also served in the 11^th and 13^th Marine Expeditionary Units, Special Operations Capable (MEU-SOC). Mr. Saffell served from 1999 to 2004; after being honorably separated from Active Duty, he was recalled to service in the U.S. Naval Reserve where he was medically retired from injuries sustained while on active duty.

Mr. Saffell is a VA 100% Service Connected Disabled Veteran. He is a Gold Legacy Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) of the United States, where he currently serves on the Department of Iowa Council of Administration and as the Past State Commander of Iowa (2019-’20). Mr. Saffell has also served as the 5^th District Commander (Central Iowa), Post Commander for the 2^nd Largest VFW Post (9127 in Des Moines, IA) in the state, and has also served at the national level on the VFW National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee, and the Bylaws Committee. He is also Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV); American Veterans (AMVETS), and a member of the American Legion and US Marine Corps League.

Mr. Saffell has 20+ years of experience in the Physical and Cyber Security, Risk Mitigation, Business Resilience, Critical Infrastructure Protection, Counter-terrorism and Emergency Management fields, whereby he has served in multiple leadership and executive positions in the both the private and public sector, at all levels of government (Local, State and Federal), and sits on several Boards and Committees related to the same. Mr. Saffell currently serves on the Board of Directors for the Homeland Security Foundation of America where he is the Energy Security and Resilience Committee Chair and is published as a Regular in the “Journal of Public Safety Studies in America”. Mr. Saffell has also served as an Adjunct Professor of Emergency and Disaster Management at Upper Iowa University; Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security at Des Moines Area Community College; and he is the CEO of Black Chamber Inc. LLC (a Security Consulting and Tactics Firm).

Academically, Mr. Saffell holds a Master of Professional Studies (MPS) in Security and Safety Leadership (Counter-Terrorism) from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C, a Bachelor of Science (BS) [Summa Cum Laude] in Emergency and Disaster Management from Upper Iowa University; as well as holding several training certificates and certifications in related fields.

Arika Hammond is currently a Junior at Cherokee Washington High School in Cherokee, IA.  Her parents are June and Tracy Hammond.

Arika enjoys dancing, singing, lifeguarding, pet sitting, and performing with the Cherokee Community Theater.  She is also involved in cheerleading, cross country, speech, and band. Arika has a passion for animals and loves caring for her Bichon (Theo), Snowshoe cat (Simon), her pony (Rosie), her horse (Scooter), and a host of farm cats. 

Arika is proud to be a part of Puppy Jake Foundation and enjoys telling others about its mission at various fundraisers and veteran events in Northwest Iowa and Southeast South Dakota.  Her volunteer efforts have helped raise several thousand dollars for Puppy Jake Foundation. 

Maggie graduated Loyola University Chicago with a degree in Spanish and Ethics & Moral Philosophy and moved back to her hometown of Des Moines a year later.  Maggie’s fondness for charitable work began when her dad started volunteering with the Salvation Army on a weekly basis and was encouraged by her mom, a retired administrator with the Des Moines Public Schools.  Her love of Labrador retrievers comes from her last dog, a Chocolate Lab mix named Biff.  This all made Puppy Jake Foundation a perfect fit.  Maggie and her husband reside in Des Moines with their bulldog, Boo.

Brenda works at Kemin Industries in Des Moines.  She and her husband Bob have been involved with dogs since 1990 when they started showing basenjis.  She also became involved in lure coursing and obedience. After moving to Minnesota, Brenda was active in training and working their German shepherd in search and rescue. Brenda and Bob now live in Ankeny with their two sons, Dakota and Jake.  They share their home with two German shepherds, Mac and Gypsy, and a basenji, Nikon.  With the help of her family, Brenda is excited to work with Puppy Jake Foundation to support our veterans by currently raising Jeff.

Vicki has been proud to be a part of the Puppy Jake family since 2014.  Vicki raised and trained Hazel who was placed with her Veteran in December 2018 and she is now fostering sweet boy, Cable.  After retiring from Wells Fargo, she found that raising a service dog for the Puppy Jake Foundation was the perfect way to give back to our veterans who have sacrificed so much for us.  Vicki lives in Des Moines with her husband, Bill, and their Sheltie, Connor.

Kelly Sharp is a Des Moines Native and lives in downtown Des Moines with her husband Denny.  She owns Vino209 Wine Bar & Bistro in Historic Valley Junction.  She has always loved working with and training her personal dogs, which right now includes Annie a 4-year old English Cream Golden Retriever.  She has had 2 dogs that have been therapy dogs and decided last year to take the step to Foster and train a Puppy Jake Dog.  This has already been a very rewarding experience training Kimchi for service for a veteran. “I know how much Denny and I love Annie and how much comfort she brings us and we can’t wait for Kimchi to do the same for a Veteran “says Kelly.  

Kelly’s Foster Dog Kimchi is a wonderful, smart and energetic pup.  He is a very fast learner and has already mastered many skills.  He enjoys Downtown living with all the many noises, people and activities that are always going on.  He was named in honor of Richard “Dick” Fisher Richard "Dick" Fisher who passed away recently and was a member of the 142nd Infantry Division in the Korean War serving from March 1954 to March 1956. One of the highlights of his time was having a dog on base named Kimchi. 

One of Kimchi’s favorites things to do is playing tug of war with Annie or enjoying a peanut butter filled Kong.  With his sweet demeanor and attentive personality, he is sure to be a wonderful service dog for a veteran.  

Daisee is currently fostering Ava, an English Cream Golden Retriever. She is a college student at Iowa State University earning a degree in Family and Consumer Science Professional Studies. Outside of school, Daisee enjoys spending time outdoors going for walks, hiking, and camping with her parents and three younger sisters. Her family shares a love for dogs and own a Bouvier des Flandres and Bitchon/Maltese mix, who both like to challenge Ava to many games of tug-of-war. 

Mary and Stefan enjoy donating their time and energy to Veterans organizations. Mary is the State Coordinator for Missing in America Project.  Mary and Stefan are Patriot Guard Rider volunteers and currently fostering BRUCE a very sweet, high-energy boy as well and ANDY, another golden retriever.

Erin started her dog-training journey at the young age of ten, when she enrolled her grandmother’s beagle, Julio, in a local 4-H dog project. Dog training and canine behavior has since become her passion.  Erin has continued to enhance her training education and canine knowledge. She has taken countless seminars and workshops over the past ten years from various trainers and leaders in the field. Erin has participated with her five personal dogs in competition obedience, agility, K9 Nose work®, and lure coursing, and she has been teaching group classes since 2008. Erin is excited to part of the Puppy Jake team and use her skills to help give back to the veterans that have given us so much.  Erin has recently joined the staff of Karen Pryor Academy as Communication Director.

Erin holds a Bachelors of Science from Iowa State University College of Business, with a major in Marketing and a minor in Journalism.  Topp worked for Blackwell Publishing/John Wiley & Sons, Inc. for eight years, assisting in the publishing of professional veterinary reference books. Erin continues to assist the Story County Veterinary Clinic, and has since the age of 18.Erin's professional affiliations include: 

• Karen Pryor Academy Certified Training Partner (KPA-CTP) Graduate 2015
• Certified Professional Dog Trainer - Knowledge Assessed 2013
• Association of Professional Dog Trainers (ADPT) since 2013
• American Kennel Club (AKC) S.T.A.R. puppy evaluator
• American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator
• C.L.A.S.S. Certified Instructor
• Story County 4H Dog Project Superintendent
• Decades of volunteer experience working with animal shelters and rescues

Erica began working with Puppy Jake Foundation in 2020, following her passion of service dog training.  She graduated from Lafayette College in May 2020, where she raised 6 puppies for Canine Partners for Life in the Lafayette College Dog House.  

Erica’s love of dogs goes back to getting her first dog at the age of three.  After years of volunteering at animal shelters in her native New Jersey, her true passion for service dogs took her out to Iowa. Erica is excited to join the team at Puppy Jake and give back to our veterans to help them achieve independence.

Jennifer Hirakawa is from Ewa Beach, Hawaii were she attended Pearl City High School, Academy of the Pacific, and Graduated from Kaimuki High School in 1988.  Jennifer attended De Anza College, in Cupertino, CA where she enlisted in the Army in 1990 as a military police officer. 

Jennifer retired from the Army in May of 2012 with the rank of Master Sergeant (MSG).  Jennifer’s military career included many postings and positions, to include Military Police patrol, Team Leader, Squad Leader, Platoon Sergeant, Military Police Investigator, Military Police K-9, Training NCO, Military Police Customs NCO, Recruiter, Deployed Sexual Assault Response Coordinator, Equal Opportunity Advisor, and the Senior Enlisted EOA for the Iowa National Guard.  Jennifer was stationed at Ft Eustis, VA; Berlin, Germany; Schweinfurt, Germany; Fort Carson, Colorado and the State of Iowa.  During Jennifer’s career she deployed multiple times for both short and long deployments (IFOR, SFOR, OEF) and others. 

Jennifer’s love for animals and specifically dogs and horses came early in her life when her parents got her a German Shepard from Hawaii Protection Dogs.  Jenn began working with her dog (JP) and volunteering at the Hawaii Human Society when she was in middle school walking the dogs, and learning from the trainers there and HPD. Jennifer continued to work with and train dogs during her military career while stationed in Germany and in Colorado.

In 2012 after Jenn retired from the Army, she graduated from the Animal Behavioral College with Honors and began training dogs and humans to help them form a better human-canine bond.  Jenn has worked with all different breeds and temperaments, including working with Service Dogs.  Jennifer is excited to be part of Puppy Jake Foundation’s staff working with Military Organizations in the capacity of Military Outreach Coordinator.  As a veteran herself she understands the loopholes, dilemmas, and issues that veterans may have navigating the military and VA systems.   She looks forward to helping Veterans achieve their goals of independence and hopes to help veteran organizations understand the benefits that service dogs bring to fellow veterans.

• Association of Professional Dog Trainers (APDT)
• International Association of Animal Behavior Consultants (IAABC)
• Truly Dog-Friendly Coalition of Trainers
• Pet Professional Guild (PPG)
• Committee member of the Winterset Dog Park
• American Kennel Club (AKC) S.T.A.R. Puppy Trainer and Evaluator
• American Kennel Club (AKC) Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Certified Evaluator
• APDT Canine Life and Social Skills (C.L.A.S.S.) Trainer
• APDT Canine Life and Social Skills (C.L.A.S.S.) Certified Evaluator
• Co-Founder of the Iowa Modern Dog Training and Behavioral Trainers Network
• Co-Founder of Adventure Dogs of Iowa
• Life Member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
• Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans (DAV)
• Many other veterans groups and organizations

Janice Rosenberg is fulfilling a lifetime bucket list of becoming a dog trainer.  She has studied with Puppy Jake Head trainer, Renee Jetter for over 6 years at Canine Craze with her Australian Shepherd, Butters.  She has also worked with agility trainers, Scott Jetter, Jenny O'Brien Konior, and Renee White.

Last spring, she attended the Ken Ramirez seminar sponsored by Puppy Jake Foundation highlighting Karen Pryor Clicker training.  Janice is now enrolled in the Karen Pryor Academy for Professional Dog Trainers and expects to become certified in the spring.

Janice and her husband Kent live in West Des Moines, IA.

After training several of her own dogs over a 25-year period, Lorraine decided to volunteer as a foster for Puppy Jake Foundation, a non-profit that raises and professionally trains service dogs for wounded military veterans.  Her first dog with Puppy Jake Foundation was Clarence, who was placed with a veteran in January, 2014.  While training Clarence, Lorraine also worked with three puppies as a Special Forces Trainer.  After placing Clarence, she then took in Ray to be his foster.  Shortly thereafter she agreed to foster George as well.  A few months later George was re-careered but she was able to work with Ray until his placement with his veteran in September, 2016.  One week later, Loyal was ‘paroled’ from the prison program and Lorraine began as his foster with placement with his veteran scheduled for March, 2017.

In addition to being a foster, Lorraine has also volunteered her time as an assistant trainer for multiple PJF litters.  Later this year she will be filling in for a few months as a substitute trainer.

Lorraine is a graduate of Animal Behavior College’s Dog Trainer certification program and has completed a three-day and a six-day seminar with Tellington T Touch.  She hopes is currently working on her certification in T-Touch.  Lorraine has also volunteered several hours at Animal Rescue League in Des Moines and A. Heinz 57 Animal Rescue in De Soto, IA.

Lorraine’s dog training professional affiliations include:
•Animal Behavior College (ABC) graduate 2016
•Various Tellington T Touch workshops and seminars
•Animal Rescue League, Des Moines,IA
•A. Heniz 57 Rescue, De Soto, IA