•  Authors

  •  Board Members

    • Ellen Levinton

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer

      Ellen Levinton is happily retired from a career in education and then technology. Ellen taught and coached for 6 years culminating at Randolph Macon Women's college where she hosted the Virginia Division 3 Volleyball tournament. She returned to school in 1986 study Computer Programming and was lucky to get an internship at Aetna in Hartford, CT. Ellen spent 27 years in technology, 16 of these at IBM as a managing consultant where she worked all over the US and abroad managing teams from many countries.

      She then took time off in 1995 and 1996 to work as an independent consultant creating a PC-based check in system for an international medical conference hosted in Portugal called ICMAS. Next she worked at Coca-Cola's Event Management group, which hosted contest winners and dignitaries from all over the world at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games.

      Her life now includes spending time with her sweet Shipoo, Maddie, and doing volunteer work with Dog Harmony, Caring and Sharing's Food Bank, and Emerald Coast Theatre Company.  She also enjoys swimming, water fitness and Pickleball in addition to continuing to travel whenever time allows.


    • Krista Landen

      •  Board member

      Krista Landen was born and raised here on the Emerald Coast, and she has worked at Gulfshore Air Conditioning for more than 12 years. She has a 5 year old chocolate lab, Decoy, and 2 children: Oliver (4) and Kari Marie (1.5). When she is not working, Krista enjoys spending time with her husband (Adam, also a native) and their family outside. Krista enjoys meeting all of the attendees at Dog-Harmony events and networking, so make sure to stop by and get to know her!


  •  Founder

    • Nancy Bown CPDT-KA

      •  Founder
      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer
      •  Staff
      •  Author
      •  Trainer

      Nancy Bown is a graduate of the Animal Behavior College in Santa Clarita, California, and a Certified Professional Dog Trainer – Knowledge Assessed (CPDT-KA). She is a Animal Behavior College Mentor Trainer trainer and an Intermountain Therapy Animals evaluator.

      While operating her dog daycare and dog training business, she saw how many dogs were being relinquished or returned to shelters because the owners and dogs weren’t given the proper education and training to build forever lives together. She also noted that otherwise good dogs were being turned in to shelters because children did not know how to interact with dogs, such as running up to strange dogs to pet them, or pestering and grabbing grandma’s Chihuahua while it was eating, resulting in bites. So she created Dog-Harmony Inc., a different “breed” of rescue, focusing on humane education for children and the community while also offering training necessary to keep dogs in their homes.


  •  Legacy Members

    • Andrew Farmer

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer

      Andrew Farmer is a realtor that recently joined Live30A Real Estate, whose tagline is “real estate with greater purpose,” in South Walton County, Florida.

      A longtime resident and real estate agent in the well-known County Highway 30A beach community, Andrew works with families, investors, and developers interested in the most coveted neighborhoods along 30A. Andrew leverages his creativity, passion for marketing, and years of experience in real estate and the vacation rental industry to go the extra mile for each of his clients.

      When Andrew isn’t selling homes, he is spending time with his 10-year-old son, Hudson, and their dog, Vivian.


    • Christie Solomon

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer
      •  Author
      •  Photographer

      Christie serves as Dog-Harmony's Treasurer and Social Media Manager. Christie is Owner & Principal of Elevate Next, LLC. She has her MBA in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management with more than 10 years of corporate experience in the US and abroad. In 2019, Christie formed Elevate Next, which provides organizations with customized consulting solutions to Elevate them to their Next level of profitability, performance and effectiveness. Christie’s philanthropic focus is on animal rescue and education, and she can frequently be seen with with her dog, Chloe, adopted from Dog-Harmony in 2017.


    • Clare Bassett

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer

      Clare Bassett is a single mother of three grown children who moved to Florida from Michigan less than 10 years ago. Originally born in England, she has owned and taken care of many different animals from a hedgehog to a horse! When her children were in elementary school, she started on a long career of volunteerism that culminated in a lifetime achievement award for volunteering from the Clarkston school district. She started and ran many educational and fun programs for children that are still in use today. Clare also served on the PTO board for a total of 10 years and multiple school district committees. That need to volunteer in areas close to her heart brought her to Dog-Harmony, and she loves to help with all the different events.

      Today she does many different jobs for a long list of clients, including one of her favorites which is pet sitting!


    • Janie Schmidt

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer
      •  Author

      Janie currently serves as the Chairman of the Board for Dog-Harmony. Born in Miami, Florida and raised in North Georgia, Janie is a revenue manager for St. Joe Hospitality after years of experience serving in various marketing and public relations roles for hotels, small businesses, agencies and nonprofits alike. With formal communications and hospitality education from Piedmont College and Florida State University, her versatile knowledge and skill allows her to accomplish just about anything she sets her mind to.

      When she’s not setting room rates or analyzing trends, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Josh, and her dog, Finn.


    • Ken Kraft

      •  Board member
      •  Volunteer

      Ken was born in Wilmington, Delaware and has spent most of the past 28 years here on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Always having a hand in sales he has worked in everything from art, ladies shoes, clothing, and luggage. After a detour dabbling in lifeguarding-firefighting-EMT work, he has spent almost 17 years in the jewelry industry. The last 15 years he has worked for McCaskill and Company in Miramar Beach in sales and merchandising. After McCaskill and Company donated a timepiece for a Dog-Harmony event, Ken realized it was time to both adopt and volunteer. His girl’s Paisley and Lola are both chihuahua rescues, with Lola coming from Dog-Harmony. When not at work or with the dogs, you can find Ken at the gym, yoga, the beach, practicing martial arts, skiing, mud-running, cooking, watching movies or out enjoying live music.


  •  Photographers

  •  Trainers

  •  Volunteers and Staff

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