The Team
Who We Are
Gail Anderson
President and Founder
Gail has been involved with animals her whole life. Born on a small farm in Bigfork, MN, she loved farm animals, and learned to ride horses at age three. Horseback riding was a forever love. Into her adult years, she continued working with animals by volunteering at humane societies; joining the board of a local shelter, where she eventually held VP and President roles. She also trained to be a State Humane Agent and volunteered her time in animal investigations for over 17 years with Minnesota Federated Humane Societies (MFHS). She joined the MFHS board as Secretary, VP and briefly as President before leaving the organization to start her own rescue, with the help of several friends.
Hero's Heart was formed in June 2022.
Professionally, Gail works full-time as Operations Manager for Minnesota North College, in the Customized Training Solutions Division. She has earned a Master Black Belt in Lean Six Sigma and a Professional/Executive Coaching Certification. Her life-long hobbies continue to be animals, reading, the outdoors, vegetarianism, living as organically as possible, thrifting, and trying to grow her own
garden ;)
Connie Sackett
Vice President
Connie grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Grand Rapids High School. After attending the Wadena Area Vocational Technical School, she went to work as a legal secretary in St. Cloud, Minn. for several years. In 2000, she moved back to Grand Rapids, where she married and raised 3 children. Connie worked for the Grand Rapids School District for 24 years as a secretary, before retiring. While at work, in 2008, an unexpected tragic experience led her to a new purpose—animal rescue. She threw herself into independent rescue for the next 12 years. At the beginning of those years, the only shelter in Grand Rapids, closed down, leaving an even greater need for rescue. It was becoming overwhelming for me to continue on my own, so I teamed up with Gail Anderson in 2022 in her quest to create Hero’s Heart Animal Rescue.