Bret Ellis

Bret Ellis is a member of the Board of Directors for Larimer Humane Society; he joined the Board in November 2011. Ellis is an internal auditor for the Colorado State University System, and is responsible for reviewing financial and operating procedures and internal controls for many diverse units on the Fort Collins campus.
 
Prior to his position with the CSU System, Ellis worked for seventeen years as the CFO and Controller for manufacturing and retail companies in Northern Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico. This experience included financial budgeting, reporting and analysis; accounting and human resources management; insurance, lease and benefit plan negotiations; sales incentive programs and tracking tools; in addition to cash and strategic planning in seasonal and volatile markets. Ellis also established manufacturing agreements, importing protocols and banking relationships in China, Vietnam, Ireland, Spain, and the Netherlands.

Ellis received a bachelor of science in Business Administration from Colorado State University, and later continued his education at CSU, graduating with honors from the MBA program in 2005. He also recently completed the Not-For-Profit Leadership certification program at CSU.

Ellis has been involved with Larimer Humane Society since at least 1997, when he first ran the Fire Hydrant 5, 5K Walk/Run with his then fiancé, Lesli. Ellis feels strongly that Larimer Humane Society is important to the quality of our community and essential to the well-being of thousands of animals each year, and is the perfect organization for him to actively support.

As a Board member, Ellis’s top priority is pet overpopulation. He appreciates the efforts Larimer Humane Society has made in educating the community on the importance of having pets spayed or neutered, and looks forward to helping further these efforts as well as promoting shelter adoptions.

Ellis has lived in Fort Collins for over 25 years, and together with his wife and daughter they share their home with two Australian Shepherds (Bailey and Mora), two Guinea Pigs (Hollyhock and Zinnia), two mice (Martina – from our shelter – and Bella), several fish, and chickens are on the way… In his free time, Ellis loves to play with all the animals, and get out in the Colorado outdoors – biking, hiking, fly-fishing, playing disc golf and gardening when time and the weather allow.

In addition to his work on the Board, Ellis volunteers with his wife and daughter at the shelter in the Animal Care department through the organization’s Partner Up program.