Our Team

Lauren Merchant is a resolute equine professional with over 24 years of experience in horse training as well as rider training. In addition to her roles as a farrier and vet tech at Palm Beach Equine, Lauren volunteers her time to train and care for the many horses at Smart with Heart.

When Lauren is not training or providing care for horses, you can find her in the show ring doing Western and English Dressage as well as Ranch Performance Riding.

Her passion for horses extends to her leadership role on the board, where she has served for many years, further demonstrating her commitment to the equine community and those that it serves.

Angela oversees the commercial lines team for Shepherd Insurance in the Florida region. She is responsible for managing key accounts, driving new business sales, and ensuring exceptional customer satisfaction. Since joining the company in 2013, she has leveraged her 15 years of insurance expertise and over 30 years of professional experience in the automotive industry and business start-ups to enhance service delivery and operational excellence.

Angela holds a degree from the University of Houston and has completed advanced studies at the PIPI Finance School in Oregon. She also earned a degree in Culinary Arts from Le Cordon Bleu in Scottsdale, Arizona.

A lifelong horse enthusiast and avid dressage rider, Angela enjoys spending time at her ranch with her three daughters and two grandchildren. Previously, she served on the board of the Girl Scouts of the Gulf Coast for three years, demonstrating her longstanding commitment to youth and community development.

Angela currently serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of SMART, where she brings her passion for therapeutic horsemanship and her extensive leadership experience to the organization. A dedicated volunteer, Angela, is committed to helping SMART fulfill its mission of providing therapeutic services through equine-assisted activities.

Dr. Kameron Hodgens is the founder and chief executive of Impact In Action, a consulting firm partnering with nonprofits to ensure actionable progress on their most challenging goals for greater mission and community impact. Core elements of her work philosophy involve listening, understanding relationships and reasons, and leaning into data – past, present, and future – to guide planning, decision making, and strategic framework in efficient and effective ways.

She is a proud Sarasota native and Manatee County resident, attending middle and high school at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School. After completing her undergraduate studies at Florida State University and a master’s and doctorate in Developmental Psychology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, she returned to the area in 2007 and began her nonprofit career as the Vice President of Programs & Services at Easterseals Southwest Florida. She was responsible for operations and the administration of five programs that provided services to over 700 individuals with disabilities from birth to the end of life. She launched the Lily Preschool in collaboration with her colleagues, expanded their grant funding, and served as a county and state liaison advocating for individuals with disabilities and their families.

In 2014, she was honored to be chosen as the CEO of The Glasser/Schoenbaum Human Services Center (now Caring Collective). During that time, she was responsible for the administration, fundraising, maintenance, growth, and sustainability of the 5-acre campus of 14 buildings that housed 19 nonprofit organizations. The Center had a collective impact of over $17.8 million in funding, supporting 106 programs and 324 staff who serve approximately 34,000 individuals annually. She was as the Primary Investigator and partner site for two rounds of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Systems of Action funding in 2017 and again in 2020.

In the spring of 2022, Kameron joined Gulf Coast Community Foundation as a member of the Community Leadership team that oversaw and administered $6.8 million of grant funding to 90+ community partners annually. She served as the lead author on multi-agency collaborative $20M Gulf Futures Challenge grant through Lever for Change in partnership with the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Gulf Research Program, which is currently still under review. Her Initiative responsibilities included Affordable Housing, Disaster Response and Recovery, and Invest in Incredible, which supports and trains regional nonprofit organizations and their supporters. Dr. Hodgens led outreach to and fostered relationships with DeSoto County, with community leadership and donors, using regional data to inform strategy and decision making. And she served as the lead on the organization’s biennial Regional Scan, setting funding priorities for the Foundation.

Her greatest personal and professional inspiration has always been her only sibling, older brother Thad, who lives with Down syndrome and autism. When Kameron isn’t turning impact into action, you can find her cooking in the kitchen or at her favorite place on the beaches of Anna Maria Island with her family and friends.

Katie brings both passion and expertise to her work with horses and riders. A graduate of Houghton University with a BS in Sports, Recreation, and Wellness Management, with a concentration in Equestrian Studies and double minors in Equine Assisted Therapy and Psychology, her academic foundation blends advanced riding and training knowledge with program planning, equine science, and therapeutic applications.

Professionally, Katie has a strong background in barn management, horse care, and adaptive riding instruction. She has experience teaching lessons in both English and Western disciplines, conditioning and training horses, and supporting recreation programs for participants of all ages and abilities. Her work includes creating individualized care plans for horses, coordinating with veterinarians and farriers, and ensuring safe, well-managed equine facilities.

Katie is certified through the Certified Horsemanship Association as a Level 3 English and Western Riding Instructor and Level 2 Barn Manager, and she is pursuing her PATH Intl. credentials to further her role in equine-assisted services. She is dedicated to fostering safe, effective, and confidence-building experiences for both riders and horses.