Sacramento County has a new Director of Animal Care and Regulation.
The Board of Supervisors, at its Jan. 25 meeting, concurred with the County Executive’s appointment of Annette Bedsworth as Director, effective Feb. 14. Bedsworth will replace Michael Doane, who had been the department’s Acting Director since June 2020.
“Ms. Bedsworth has a distinguished record of significant achievements during her tenure as Executive Director for Animal Services in Stanislaus County. Sacramento County will benefit greatly from her leadership and expertise, and we look forward to welcoming her to the organization,” said Mike Penrose, Interim Deputy County Executive, Community Services. “I would also like to thank Michael Doane for his willingness to provide leadership to the department as we searched for a permanent director.”
Bedsworth has more than 30 years of public service, including more than 20 years in management and director level positions. Since 2008, she has served as the Executive Director for Animal Services for Stanislaus County. In that position, she led the agency to achieve significant improvements, including increasing the life-saving rate from 9 percent to more than 90 percent for both cats and dogs.
Her noteworthy program implementations include the Community Cat Program, which reduced euthanasia by 40 percent in its first year, and the Dog License Amnesty program, which generated 8,000 new licenses in the first 30 days of the program.
Bedsworth has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Family and Consumer Sciences from California State University, Fresno and is a Southern University Utah Animal Services Executive Leadership graduate. She is Vice President for the National Committee for International Public Management Association (IPMA) for Human Resources and is associated with the Marketing Committee for Cal Animals, the National Committee for Human Animal Support Services, Stanislaus Scholarship Committee, and serves as a mentor for the Stanislaus County Student Program.