Lori Podolski

• President

• Joined 12/4/2014

Lori has had Golden family members for the last 25 years. She started volunteering for Golden Retrievers in Need (GRIN) in Cleveland, OH, with a focus on fund-raising.

Lori’s position with Novelis moved the family to the Atlanta area, where she continued her journey donating her time to GRRA in November 2014.

“I was drawn to GRRA because of the passion their volunteers have in rescuing these wonderful dogs and I’m proud to be a part of this great organization”. The first role that Lori tackled was becoming an Adoption Consultant (AC). “I’ve always liked matchmaking for humans, but I’ve had better success for retrievers and families” She has been involved in fostering and home checks and in 2017 became the Director of Dog Ops. Lori and her husband, Ed, reside in Woodstock, GA with their Pyrenees rescue, Ollie, Golden rescue, Mya and newest family member Gracie from GRRA.

Amanda Dytor

• Intake Coordinator (Shelters) ∼ Director, Intake

• Joined 11/15/2017

Amy DeCesare

• Director, Rescue Operations ∼ Medical Liaison

• Joined 3/5/2014

Amy first learned of GRRA in 2011 from friends that had adopted from the organization. After losing their first golden retriever Tahoe at an early age of 4, she and her husband were eagerly looking for another golden retriever, as they fell in love with the breed. Rescuing was the way to go their friends had told them. So, they tried it… They adopted their first Golden retriever, Parker in 2011 from GRRA. He had been a beautiful golden retriever abandoned chained to a fence with a note asking for someone to take good care of this sweet boy. Unfortunately, a year and a half later, Amy and her husband lost Parker, due to a serious heart condition. That did not stop them from having more goldens. To date, they've adopted 6 thanks to GRRA. In 2014, Amy decided she needed to do more to help these wonderful rescue dogs find love and their furever homes...even if only for a short time, so she began volunteering with GRRA. As the shelter intake coordinator for several years, she states it was "One of the hardest but rewarding things she's ever done. Although we cannot save all the dogs that need our help, we help those we can…One dog at a time. " Amy and her husband currently live in Alpharetta with their two goldens – Kate(10) and Rocky(3).

Carolyn Waters

• Vice President

• Joined 1/18/2018

Retired from Real Estate in 2017 after 27 years. Married 35 years, one adult son who is also a dog lover. 12 years experience in Golden Retriever Rescue with another rescue, doing pretty much every job, including several years as an Intake Coordinator. Came to GRRA Nov 2017. I have fostered over 35 dogs in the past, and currently have two Golden Retrievers who were my former fosters. Member of GRCA. Hobbies are tennis and travel.

Cory Deppen

• Webmaster ∼ Director, Technology

• Joined 2/1/2011

Cory joined GRRA in 2011 after reading about the need for a volunteer to fill the Webmaster role in the newsletter. Eager to play a part in helping with website updates, Cory jumped right in and was recognized as Volunteer of the Month for June 2011. Since then, Cory relaunched the website for the organization and stays busy maintaining and adding new features to it as the needs of the group change.

In his current role, Cory is leveraging his passion for technology by developing and maintaining the website that offers many benefits to both volunteers and visitors to grra.com. Additionally, Cory works closely with other volunteers in the various roles within GRRA to understand their reporting and communication needs and ensures data in the current CRM system is accurate to aid in the decision making and communication processes across the organization.

Cory lives in Acworth, GA with his wife Christine and seven cats - Maggie, Molly, Mama, Four, Five, Hunter, and Mackenzie. Outside of GRRA, Cory enjoys bicycling if he can be torn away from a computer.

Dan Williams

• Treasurer

• Joined 10/20/2016

Dan is the owner of an accounting firm, Padgett Business Services, in Marietta, GA and a CPA with over 25 years of private and public accounting experience. He is a graduate of the University of Georgia. He and his wife Sharie are active members of NorthStar Church in Kennesaw. Dan is also on the Board of Directors of Camp Gideon, a non-profit, Christian camp and retreat facility for children. He and his wife, Sharie became involved in GRRA in the fall of 2014 when they searched and found the perfect golden retriever named Bear. Bear is a significant part of their family and is also an office greeter and chief marketing officer for their accounting firm. They have two "other" children Daniel and Karly.

Deborah Osborn

• Past President

• Joined 9/2/2013

Deborah became involved with GRRA after adopting her first rescue golden, Dakota. Since that time she has volunteered as an Adoption Consultant, Home Checker, Treiver Taxi, Intake and foster. Her first foster was an injured golden whose family couldn't care for her. That was in 2011. She still stays in touch with the forever family. After that she was hooked on fostering and she and her husband, Steve, have spent many hours traveling around Georgia transporting dogs and having meets and greets for foster dogs. Deborah and Steve live in the Northeast Georgia mountains where they moved after retiring in Florida. They currently live with four dogs, Dakota, Bryce and Sugar who are GRRA dogs and Saphira, who came to them after being abandon in the woods as a puppy. Deborah enjoys traveling, knitting, reading and hiking in the woods with Bryce. The other dogs would rather wait on the deck.

Marie Cole

• Director, Volunteer Recruitment ∼ Volunteer Coordinator

• Joined 8/30/2016

Marie has been a member of GRRA since 2003. She and her husband have adopted several wonderful Goldens from GRRA. She chaired the committee to produce the 2018 & 2019 GRRA calendars as well as the GRRA note cards. Along with a talented team of volunteers, the 2018 calendar included over 125 photographs of beautiful Goldens. You will usually see Marie selling GRRA merchandise at Adoption Day each month.

As an Adoption Consultant, Marie enjoyed working with applicants. It is fun to get to know these families on a one-on-one basis and see how the GRRA dogs finds its "furever" home. Whether it be a single individual, a couple or a family with lots of kids, there is always a special dog waiting to come into their home.

Marie also enjoys working special events to promote GRRA. She is particularly interested in getting more people involved as a volunteer with GRRA so in 2019 she joined the Board of Directors and became the Director of Volunteer Recruitment.

As a native Atlantan, Marie currently lives in the City of Brookhaven with her husband and two dogs. The are active members of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in downtown Atlanta.

Melinda Lahmers

• Director, Placement

• Joined 10/5/2015

Melinda has owned 9 Goldens over the past 30 years. She began her journey with GRRA as an adoption consultant, and continues to help applicants find their new pups, as well as volunteering as the Adoption Consultant Coordinator and Director of Placement. Her hobbies include baking, walking, reading and playing with her dogs. Melinda, her husband, Scott, and their Goldens, 2 yo Gibbs and 4 yo Cooper, reside in Dallas, GA.