Katie Parker

Chief Operating Officer  

Katie Parker, CAWA, is the Chief Operating Officer for the Dumb Friends League, an organization that provided early inspiration for her nearly 20-year career in animal welfare. In 2006, Katie joined the League as our Customer Care Manager, a position she held for three years. Over the next decade, she filled a variety of leadership roles, including Pet Animal Care and Facilities Act (PACFA) inspector for the Colorado Department of Agriculture and Executive Director of the Animal Assistance Foundation, one of the few private foundations dedicated to advancing the welfare of animals through community investment. During this time, she also served on the boards of the Colorado Pet Overpopulation Fund and the Grey Muzzle Organization. 

In October 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, Katie returned to the League, first serving as our Vice President of Sheltering before becoming Chief Operating Officer in 2024. In addition to her work at the League, she is currently a board member for the Denver Animal Foundation and will soon be rejoining the board of the Animal Welfare Association of Colorado. 

Katie is a proud Air Force Veteran and received her degree in Biology from the United States Air Force Academy in 2003. Additionally, she became a Certified Animal Welfare Administrator (CAWA) in 2015 and completed the Leadership Denver program through the Denver Metro Chamber Leadership Foundation in 2017. Katie and her husband share their loving home with four animals adopted from the League – two dogs, Cricket and Kiwi, and two cats, Stuey and Sam Jr.