Embattled Montco animal shelter hires new CEO after monthslong national search

The Montgomery County SPCA on Thursday announced the hiring of a new chief executive officer, nearly eight months after its previous leader resigned following an Inquirer investigation into chronic mismanagement and euthanasia at the state’s wealthiest animal shelter.

Abigail Smith, 55, will take over the embattled rescue in June, overseeing three suburban facilities, in Conshohocken, Perkiomenville, and Abington. She fills a top role vacated in October by Carmen Ronio, whose decades-long tenure ended amid deep scrutiny into the shelter’s finances and oversight.

Smith comes to the Philadelphia region from Kennebunk, Maine, where she led the Animal Welfare Society, a similarly sized nonprofit rescue with more than $3 million in annual operational expenses. Before that, she led another animal shelter in Upstate New York and later worked as the chief animal services officer for the city of Austin, Texas.

» READ MORE: Montco SPCA executive director retires after scrutiny of the wealthy shelter’s operation

In Pennsylvania, she will oversee a century-old institution that operates Montgomery County’s only open-intake shelter, meaning no dog or cat is turned away. She will also help oversee spending of the nonprofit’s extraordinary nest egg — with more than $67 million in assets at the nonprofit’s last federal filing.

Past leadership faced criticism for sitting on millions while conditions eroded at the shelter. The Inquirer found that the main Conshohocken branch harbored the lowest lifesaving rate among rescues in the region, while its facilities were beset by understaffing, black mold, and dangerously run-down kennels. Dogs and cats were put down hastily, often at the call of a single supervisor, and with little documentation of their behavioral history.

In response to the article, donors pulled the SPCA from their wills and animal welfare advocates staged protests demanding change. The Pennsylvania attorney general also launched an audit of the shelter’s finances. The probe is ongoing.

Since last fall, the shelter has made a drastic overhaul. It replaced nearly every board member, ousted top managers, and invested more than $250,000 in modern shelter programming as well as infrastructure upgrades. Throughout the transition, the shelter remained open for adoptions, with help from the Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania SPCA.

» READ MORE: Montco SPCA overhauls its troubled shelter leadership. Trust remains fragile.

Art Howe, the shelter’s new board president, said Smith was among dozens of candidates who the board vetted during its national search. Howe, a former Inquirer journalist, expressed confidence that the nonprofit has turned a corner, and praised Smith’s professional record with saving animals’ lives.

“She is deeply committed to our cause, and has the experience and expertise to help bring our shared vision to life,” Howe said in a statement.

Smith will replace Tracie Graham, the former Perkiomenville branch manager who became interim director after Ronio’s departure. Graham will remain at the shelter in an undetermined leadership role, Howe said.

In a statement, Smith promised to build on the recent reforms: “We have a historic opportunity to make Montgomery County one of the best places in America for animal welfare,” she said.