MEET OUR PEOPLE
Board of Directors
Shannon Johnson Personeni
FOUNDER | BOARD PRESIDENT
A Woodland, California native, Shannon has been passionate about horses since the age of five. Her love of riding led her to compete with the UCD Eventing Team during high school and later with the University of Oregon Hunter/Jumper Team through college graduation. She continues to ride English and pursue personal goals in 3-day eventing.
Driven by a childhood dream to make a difference through horses, Shannon became the founding member of T.R.O.T.R. and now serves as the organization’s full-time Executive Director. She holds both a B.S. and an MBA and brings over 18 years of experience in therapeutic riding.
Shannon is a Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor and an Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning, accredited through PATH International. Her leadership, compassion, and lifelong connection to horses are at the heart of T.R.O.T.R.’s mission—creating a place where people and horses can heal, grow, and find purpose together.
Contact : shannon@trotr.org
Gina Vivona
BOARD MEMBER
Gina Vivona is a creative professional, nonprofit advocate, and proud T.R.O.T.R. board member. As a graphic designer and storyteller, she brings her skills to support T.R.O.T.R.'s mission both visually and strategically. Gina and her son Leo—who has Down syndrome—have found a deep sense of connection and growth through their riding experiences at the ranch. She’s honored to contribute her past board experience and newly-found love for horses to help make equine-assisted programs more inclusive and impactful for every rider.
Contact : gina@gvcreative.com
Advisory Board
Debbie Shoup
PAST BOARD VICE PRESIDENT
Debbie has a lifetime love of horses, starting with jumping lessons in elementary school, summer ranch camp, and one glorious summer with a pony at her grandparents’ house. Once she and her husband Bob had their son Joseph, she didn’t have as much free time, but still managed to get in a couple of visits a year to her parents’ house in western PA where they have a couple of horses and the whole family would go on long dreamy trail rides throughout the neighboring countryside.
Debbie is a lifelong volunteer, having tutored at-risk youth in Chicago, served on the Davis Junior Blue Devils and then Davis High School football boards during most of Joseph’s long youth sports career, facilitated youth job internships, sewn several hundred COVID-19 masks, and dressed up in her grandmother's Easter Bunny costume to entertain kids each year (which she still does!). Debbie also really enjoys working since 1997 at CaseTrakker, helping to create medical care management software.
Once Joseph went off to college, Debbie started getting more and more involved with her horse heart place: T.R.O.T.R! There she relishes working with the animals and the people and says they both “fill her bucket to the brim.”
Jude Stevenson
BOARD MEMBER AND FUNDRAISING CHAIR
Jude Stevenson is a late-comer to the world of horses. After retiring from academic life as a Professor of Anthropology and Peace and Social Justice Studies at California State University, Long Beach in 2017, Jude discovered horses and fell in love. A few years later she was introduced to T.R.O.T.R., whose mission spoke to her lifelong dedication to kindness and peace.
For Jude, the melding of rescued animals (whether it be horses, pigs, donkeys, alpacas, goats, chickens, tortoises, and yes guinea pigs), with the lives of children with special needs was the right place for her to put her retirement energy. She looks forward to watching T.R.O.T.R. grow with all of the life and love it inspires.
Support Staff
Jenessa Lee
OFFICE STAFF | BOOKKEEPER
Donna Massey
OFFICE STAFF
Russell Rose-Dove
OFFICE STAFF
Rachel DeBose
RANCH STAFF