Our Board of Directors

Joey Herrick, Over 30 years ago, Joey founded Natural Balance Pet Foods, where he and his team created the foundation of the ‘natural pet food’ industry. Joey made the brand into an industry leader through innovation with formulas, novel proteins, unique ingredients, and, most importantly, an unwavering commitment to honesty, transparency, safety, and integrity. In 2007 Joey established the ‘Buy with Confidence’ pet food safety testing lab. It was the very first time a pet food company ever posted test results online for consumers to access freely. Joey has spent his entire life helping give back to pets in every way possible. In 2013 he founded The Lucy Pet Foundation, a 501c3 animal charity dedicated to reducing the overpopulation of pets and unnecessary euthanasia in shelters and to promote finding ‘forever homes’ for rescues. To date, the Lucy Pet Foundation has performed more than 30,000 free spay and neuters, working alongside and in cooperation with the City of Los Angeles.

Ron Barron has been a Real Estate Broker since the 1970s, although he veered off the real estate path for many years, owning his own mortgage company, Universal Funding, until he made his way back to Real Estate, where he is currently the broker of record at Engel Volkers in Westlake Village. Ron has been an animal supporter his entire life, working with charities and supporting public awareness for animals.

Erni Di Massa Jr. brings decades of experience to the organization as an EMMY® winning producer and writer in the media industry; He has been executive in charge of programming shows ranging from Oprah to Inside Edition, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy! and he produced The Mike Douglas Show, Regis, Hollywood.
Squares and many ABC, NBC, CBS, and Fox Networks shows. He is a member of the Producers Guild, The Writers Guild, and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and has been named to ‘Who’s Who in America’ every year since 1990. Erni has always loved dogs and cats since he got his first dog ‘Taffy’ when he was six.

John Short III –John started his career in the Financial Services Industry in 1987 and currently is a Senior Vice Presidentof the Short Wealth Management Group at UBS, Westlake Village. UBS manages the largest amount of private wealth in the world. John’s team at UBS has over 55 years of experience working with both private clients and corporations.

John has a passion for volunteer work as a former member of the National Ski Patrol for over 25 years
and President of Thousand Oaks Little League for 15 years. He founded the nonprofit: ‘Ride for the Blue’
which honors the first responders of Ventura County, California. The sole purpose of this charity is to honor and supportthose that protect and serve and to help raise money for their ongoing mental health resiliency training. John and with his wife Sue have three best friends in their home, Sadie Mae, Emma Jo and Bella Abigale which are Australian Labradoodles.

Danny Casson –Retired Senior officer and current dog trainer to the Oxnard Police Department Danny Casson is proud to join the board of the Lucy Pet Foundation.

Danny is dedicated to the well-being and training of both working dogs and family pets. He has dedicated over 20 years as a board member and the president of the 501(c)3 non-profit Oxnard Community K9 Foundation. Danny has worked many tireless volunteer hours with the K9 teams to help ensure they get proper training and handling so that they are prepared for duty.

Danny and his K9 pal “Capone” were featured on A&E Networks: ‘America’s Top Dog’ They were the winners of season 2 episode 3 and have won many accolades and awards as a K9 working team.

Danny is excited about being part of the Lucy Pet Foundation and looking forward to helping make the world a better place for our dogs and cats!

Dr Sheryl Fulop – has been practicing veterinary medicine since 1993. Even at a young age, it was clear that Sheryl would spend her life helping animals as she was constantly bringing injured and homeless animals home for nursing care. She received her Bachelors of Science degree from UCLA in Psychobiology, a Masters Degree in Cellular Biology from Cal State University of Northridge and a Doctor in Veterinary Medicine from the University of Minnesota.

Sheryl also founded the non-profit Thoroughbred Education foundation along with her veterinarian husband Kenneth Lian to educate people about the plight of the Thoroughbred racehorse.