Kelly
Piechota, Executive Director
Kelly was raised in Colorado and moved to Houston in 1995.
Believe it or not Kelly was never raised with animals but in college she began
rescuing reptiles and her love for animals became a fast passion. Her college
apartment soon filled with iguanas, uromastyx, tarantulas and various snakes.
Her beloved iguana Aristotle would sleep by her pillow and accompany her to
class!! As a Senior at Colorado State University, Kelly contemplating changing
her degree to Zoology but settled with finishing college with a degree in
Political Science.
After moving to Houston with her husband Patrick, she got her first dog, a Chinese Shar-pei named Busia…and then her husband knew it wall all over! Pretty soon her full house of reptiles also began to include 6 Shar-peis that she would save from puppy mills and even Pet Stores.
Kelly
spent the next 10 years in the corporate world in Marketing Development
traveling the country and then took some time off to have her son Reagan. She
then began her destiny at Noah’s Ark where every other Sunday turned into 3 and
4 days a week! In December of 2007 Kelly teamed up with Heather Burnett and
took over the responsibility as Director. Kelly feels so blessed to have found
her “dream job” and her vision for a safer haven for all animals in Houston has
helped Noah’s Ark expand tremendously! She is so excited to continue the work
with the Noah’s Ark team to tackle the horrendous problem of the unwanted pet
population in the community.
Kelly is married to the love of her life, Patrick,
originally from Nebraska, who has been an executive at Conoco-Phillips for 21
years. His oldest son Ashton is 20 years old and attends Brian Cliff
University, a Private Catholic University in Iowa on a football scholarship, her
daughter Jett, 18 is off to Texas State University in the fall to study
Microbiology emphasizing in (of course) Veterinarian medicine. Both kids work
at the shelter in the summer! Her youngest son Reagan turns 3 in July and she
is expecting a
daughter,
Cheney in late August!
The rest of her family includes four Chinese Shar-pei dogs,
Motka, Bear, Lexie and
Boo Boo and her newest rescue dog, Puma a finnish-spitz/ chow mix.
Kelly’s passion also includes Republican politics (just look at her youngest children’s names!) and college football…supporting the Nebraska Cornhuskers every year! As soon as her new baby arrives, Kelly will be expanding a small reptile rescue at the shelter!
A little note: from the founder: Noah's Ark is extremely thrilled and beyond fortunate to have someone like Kelly fighting for the animals of our community. She is an incredible mother and person who shines from within. She has a personality that radiates abound and glows where ever she is. Noah's Ark is truly blessed to have someone like her and her family teaming with our mission to help so many animals find homes and save them from euthanasia. We are all anxiously awaiting the healthy arrival of little Cheney next month!! Heather Burnett