Matt Wildman

VICE PRESIDENT OF COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Matt began his professional career as a public high school history teacher in Brooklyn before transitioning into the animal sheltering world. For three years he served as the Humane Educator and Volunteer Coordinator at NYC’s Animal Care & Control (now Animal Care Centers). Recognizing the need to keep animals in their homes, he joined the Humane Society of the United States’ (HSUS) Pet Help Partners program, an expansive pet retention program offering NYC residents a variety of free and low-cost services to help them keep their pets. Matt would go on to manage this program and, in the process, he had the privilege to be mentored by a Certified Cat Behavior Consultant named Beth Adelman who transformed him into a cat behavior expert. For four years, he served as the resident cat behavior expert at HSUS where he developed HSUS’ web-based Cat Answer Tool, the Guide to Cat Behavior Counseling, and created and taught HSUS’s Cat Behavior and Retention Course to over 250 animal sheltering personnel and volunteers. He has spoken at conferences throughout the country on cat behavior counseling. Matt also helped devise HSUS’s Pets Are Welcome program, which seeks to increase housing options for renters with pets.

In his spare time, Matt does tenant advocacy work to help renters who are experiencing pet-related landlord issues.