Board of Directors
Bonnie Lutz, Esq., President
Bonnie L. Lutz is a California-licensed attorney employed at the firm Klinedinst, P.C. Before joining Klinedinst, P.C., Ms. Lutz owned a medical device manufacturing company with her husband. She served as the company’s scientific and regulatory affairs director. Prior to that, she was employed by the Orange County Health Care Agency Laboratory as the supervising microbiologist of the Mycology Department, and oversaw the isolation and identification of all species of fungi.
Ms. Lutz is a Shareholder in the firm’s Orange County office and focuses on providing legal services to humane societies and veterinarians. She is an accomplished lecturer, and is a frequent speaker at animal law and veterinary care conferences, including AVMA, SCVMA, AVMLA, and AVPMCAJohn Thomas, Esq. Secretary/Treasurer
Dr. Alison Marsh, DMV, JD, President Elect
Dr. Alison Marsh graduated from Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine, DVM in 1999 and later went to Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law, where she received her JD in 2008. Currently she works with the Medical Quality Advancement Team at Banfield, Pet Hospital.
John L. Kerr, Esq., Director, District I
District I: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Rhode Island and Vermont.
Mr. John Kerr, JD attended the University of Vermont from 1968-1972 where he majored in History and minored in Sociology, Anthropology and Education. From 1972-1982, he worked in Maine as a special education teacher, wooden boat builder, and building contractor. During that period, he owned and operated a beef, dairy stock and avian products farm. He also attended the University of Maine where he studied and became certified in psychological and intelligence evaluation of adolescents. While in Maine he was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Maine Solar Energy Association. From 1982-1985, he attended the Northeastern University School of Law. Since graduation, he has practiced litigation at the federal and state trial and appellate levels in Massachusetts in the areas of medical and veterinary malpractice defense, insurance coverage, torts, contracts, consumer protection, product and premises liability. He also represents veterinarians before the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Veterinary Medicine. He has been a co-chair of the ABA Animal Law Committee since its inception, a member of AVMLA since 2007 and District 1, Director since 2009. He has written numerous articles for the Massachusetts Veterinary Association publication and been a speaker at state and regional veterinary associations and veterinary practices across Massachusetts in addition to the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University.
John Owens, Esq., Director, District II
District II: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.
John E. Owens graduated in 1991 with a degree in Zoology from the University of Florida. He spent most of the next four years, while his wife completed veterinary school, working as a research technician for the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine, Zoo and Wildlife Medicine service. In 2007 Mr. Owens received his J.D. degree from Florida Coastal School of Law. Upon admittance to the Bar, Mr. Owens began developing his own law practice. Mr. Owens’ practice focuses on multiple aspects of veterinary law, including; practice acquisition, employment contracts, business organization, license and malpractice defense, general business counseling and estate planning and asset protection for veterinarians. Mr. Owens’ experiences, both in and outside of the veterinary community, allow him to provide a well rounded perspective with which to advise his clients.
Dr. Marthina Greer, DVM, Director, District III
District II: Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia and Virginia.
Chris Copeland, Esq., Director, District IV
District IV: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Wyoming and Texas.
Kris Otteman, Director, District V
District V: Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Alberta and British Columbia.
Dr. Otteman brings 25 years of veterinary and leadership experience to her current roles as OHS Director of Shelter Medicine and adjunct faculty member for Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine. She leads the OHS Animal Medical Learning Center, the nation’s only in-shelter teaching hospital, responsible for the care of ver 10,000 shelter pets annually.
A co-founder of Banfield, The Pet Hospital, her background also includes seven years in mixed animal practice in Southern Oregon. Her broad experience at Banfield included executive leadership and management as well as a strategic partnership with PetSmart Charities on national fundraising and adoption initiatives. She has also served on the board for Cat Adoption Team, has served as a trustee of Banfield Charitable Trust, and has been a member of the Oregon Veterinary Medical Licensing Board and the OVMA. Dr. Otteman is a Charter Member of the International Veterinary Forensic Sciences Association, a member of the OVMA and AVMA. She lives at home in Washington with her
family.
Thomas Chandler, Esq., Past-President
Tomas Chandler’s practice focuses on general business counseling for the growing enterprise with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions and corporate governance. As outside counsel for numerous businesses, Mr. Chandler organizes and leads different teams that provide legal and practical counseling regarding both day-to-day and extraordinary business issues. Mr. Chandler provides a rounded perspective to the enterprise based on his work with business owners, managers, employees, investors, customers and vendors and his experience as a business owner and corporate director. As part of his extensive mergers and acquisitions work, he covers the full range of business issues, including selecting and forming the business entity, buying and selling the assets or shares of stock of operating businesses, merging corporations, resolving the tax issues, integrating the acquired business into the existing enterprise, assisting the corporate directors comply with their duties to shareholders, buying and selling real property, hiring and terminating employees, designing and preparing compensation packages such as stock option, restricted stock and deferred compensation plans, obtaining financing from investors and banks, negotiating share restriction, registration, voting and other agreements between shareholders, protecting trademarks and other intellectual property, and complying with government regulations. He is a Partner in the Business and Finance Department and chair of the Entrepreneur Practice Group.
