Adele Douglass Jolley, the founder of Certified Humane®, never imagined how the program’s reach would grow on such a global scale. The reason it did so is largely because a Brazilian animal welfare researcher — studying for her doctorate at Purdue University in 2005 — decided to lend her expertise as an inspector for the burgeoning program.

Dr. Joy Mench was one of the founding scientists and veterinarians whom Adele Douglass Jolley recruited to adopt farm animals certification standards for the United States market.

“We had a really good group of people working together,” said Joy as she recalled those early days, now more than 20 years ago. “We each brought different kinds of expertise.

As a scientist, Richard Blatchford, Ph.D., loves that new scientific knowledge can inform better decisions for farm animals.
“In animal welfare, really small changes you make actually have a really big impact, given the sheer numbers of animals involved,” Richard said.

“I love the farmers that I work with,” said Brenda Coe, Ph.D. “I love talking to people who are really proud and excited to show you what their facilities are like, and what they’re doing.”