Kara Main-Hester, Ph.D., has over 13 years of public sector experience in policy and budget development, fiscal reporting, and strategic planning. Before joining Snohomish County, Main-Hester served as a Fiscal and Policy Analyst at the City of Seattle Budget Office, where she provided analysis, insight, and oversight on issues related to public safety, police accountability, emergency management, and homelessness and human services. She also served as the Deputy Director of the Seattle Animal Shelter. In that role, Kara oversaw the animal care, animal behavior, customer service, volunteer, budget and policy efforts of SAS. Kara is most passionate about helping dogs with reactivity and anxiety who often end up in shelters and foster programs. She has been a speaker for the Humane Society of the United States, ASPCA and the University of Washington’s Law School and Applied Animal Behavior Certificate Program.
Kara is a published academic author and has a Ph.D. in Microbiology. She shares her home with her rescued pit bull (Mavis), a cat (Henri) and a very understanding husband.