Read about the board

Ivette has been involved in agility since 1996 when she started training her first agility dog, a Dalmatian named Reese. In 2005 she started competing with her JRT, Dasher. Dasher was her first JRT and she fell in love with the breed’s personality and drive. It was not long after she had Dasher that she adopted her 2nd JRT, Zip from Talbot Humane (local shelter). Ivette eventually had 3 JRT’s (Dasher, Zip and Zorro) and then added a toy poodle, Roxy, and most recently a sport mix named Hottie to her pack. Prior to agility Ivette was an avid rider, showing horses in hunter/jumpers.

Ivette has enjoyed much success in agility through the years. Ivette and her dogs have competed on both the international and national level with several trips to the finals and the podium. In 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 Zip and Ivette were selected to the US Team for the World Agility Open Championships. In 2012, 2013, 2014 Zip and Ivette were selected onto US Team for the IFCS World Championships. In 2017, 2019 and 2020, Roxy and Ivette were selected onto Team USA for the IFCS World Championships. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 the 2020 event was cancelled.

Ivette received her master’s degree in human resources from the University of Maryland. Ivette is originally from Southern California. She left California to attend boarding school, Foxcroft School in Middleburg, VA. After graduating from Foxcroft, Ivette remained on the east coast to attend Washington College in Chestertown, MD where she received her BA in English Literature.

In her professional life, Ivette manages a family office. She has held this position since 2000. Directly after she graduated from college, Ivette worked for the State of Maryland Department of Social Services, Child Support Division. After 4 years with the State of Maryland Ivette left to work for her husband’s start up internet company, World Wide Angler, an online fishing community. In 2013 Ivette and her husband moved from Maryland to Half Moon Bay, CA. In 2020 Ivette purchased Jumpn’ Java Agility and started Half Moon Bay Dog Sports, an agility training facility in Half Moon Bay, CA.

Ivette is excited to work with and support the entire BJAC team and looks forward to watching the sport of agility grow through the enrichment of the sport’s young people.

Rachel was introduced to the world of dog sports early in life. Raised by a family heavily involved in conformation, obedience, and agility, Rachel began competing in dog sports as a young child. By her teenage years she was teaching dog training with her local training club. While conformation and obedience were her introductions to the training world, agility soon became Rachel’s grand passion.

Rachel has celebrated a lot of success in the agility arena. Her accolades to date include six National Championships, three Reserve National Championships, many placements at national level events, many Cup, Classic, and Regional Championships, and membership to multiple world teams.

In 2015 Rachel started her own agility training school, Strategic Dog Sports. In 2016, she took a full time job at a local training facility to teach agility professionally. In 2021, Rachel made Strategic Dog Sports her full time career. She now teaches classes and lessons at her home in Greenville, Texas, teaches online courses, does private remote coaching, and travels to teach seminars and judge for UKI.

Rachel shares her home with her two children (Ellie age 8, and Landon age 6) as well as eight dogs. With a Great Pyrenees, four Border Collies, an Icelandic Sheepdog, and two Chihuahua mixes, Rachel's children are growing up with the same love of dogs and dog sports as Rachel.

Having been a junior handler herself, Rachel is invested in promoting juniors in the sport of agility and supporting them as she was. Having children of her own who want to run their dogs, she continues to commit to make the sport of agility a rewarding, welcoming, and supportive place for children and teenagers to play this amazing game with their dogs.

Mark Zitter is a serial entrepreneur, non-profit board specialist, and dog lover. He was founder of Zitter Health Insights, a market research and data firm focused on access to medical technologies. He also was founding CEO of Vital Decisions, a telephone counseling company for patients with serious illness. He continues to help startup companies and entrepreneurs by advising ICI Fund, a venture capital fund focused on AI; Riverside Partners, a private equity firm; Stanford BioDesign; and numerous companies in the US and abroad.

Mark founded and chaired the Zetema Project (https://www.zetemaproject.org/), which convenes US healthcare leaders to enhance the national healthcare conversation. He chaired the board of SFJAZZ, the nation’s leading presenter of jazz, and contributed to the development of the pioneering SFJAZZ Center. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Commonwealth Club, the country’s oldest and largest public affairs forum. Mark also chairs the board of Reel Medicine Media and serves on the Governance Committee of the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation and the Leadership Council for Convergence.

Mark has worked with many not-for-profits on board development and governance. He has published articles in Stanford Social Innovation Review and Philanthropy Impact on chairing non-profit boards, managing Boards in a virtual environment, and running effective meetings. He currently is developing a non-profit organization aimed at improving skills of social sector leaders.  

A proud agility dad, Mark has attended and cheered his daughter and mini-poodle loudly at EOJ three times. He is delighted to serve on the BJAC board because of the potentially transformative impact on junior handlers. He envisions a growing and crucial role for BJAC in supporting the agility ecosystem in the years ahead.

Lloyd Silver is a seasoned entrepreneur, non-profit leader, and dog agility enthusiast who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife, Jessica, and their 4 dogs: Kozmo, Vespa, Nali, and Harpy.

Lloyd has made significant contributions to the non-profit sector, serving on the Board of Directors for the Oakland East Bay Symphony for 10 years including 5 years as the Chairman of the Board and President. He also served on the Board of Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, Chabot Space & Science Center, and the Marcus Foster Educational Institute. Additionally, Lloyd served as the Vice Chair of the City of Walnut Creek Blue Ribbon Taskforce on Fiscal Health.

Most of Lloyd's spare time is spent on the agility field. In 2013, he began competing with his American Eskimo, Kozmo, achieving championship titles at AKC and USDAA. Kozmo made podiums at numerous regional events and USDAA Cynosport. Kozmo's retirement in 2022 marked the end of a remarkable chapter as one of the most decorated American Eskimos in the history of the sport.

Lloyd now partners with his Shetland Sheepdog, Vespa, competing at the Master's level in AKC and USDAA, as well as at UKI events.

Roger started in agility with his rescue Terrier mix, Buster in 2014. Buster was somewhat fearful and didn't particularly enjoy being in direct contact with unfamiliar dogs, and when someone opened an agility teaching facility ten minutes away from home, Roger saw it as an opportunity to have him be around other dogs without directly interacting with them. He soon found that this was a great way to build a relationship with his dog and was soon hooked. While he still runs with Buster at some shows, he currently spends most of his time trialing with his Belgian Tervuren, Firefly with whom he has represented Team USA at the IFCS World Agility Championships in 2023 winning both a Team Gold and an individual Biathlon Silver medal.

Roger is a USDAA and UKI judge, roles that he took on as a way to give back to the agility community. He is also the creator of Agility Gate which is an online gating system that is used throughout the country as a way to allow people to monitor run orders at agility shows so they can arrive at the ring at the best time for their dogs without arriving too early or missing their runs. Agility Gate is also used for other dog sports including scent work, barn hunt, dock diving and disc.