Little Lotus Hearts was founded in 2005 by Dean Willard and his daughter, Emily, to provide services to people who have a deep love and respect for animals. As practitioners of the Tibetan Buddhist faith, both Dean and Emily are firm believers in the Buddhist teaching that all sentient beings are equal, in that they all wish for happiness and the avoidance of suffering. This is where Little Lotus Hearts comes in.

At Little Lotus Hearts we offer people with healthy animals, ways to enrich their lives, people with ailing animals, options to try to improve the quality of their lives and people with deceased animal companions, ways to honor and give back something to the animal companions that gave so much to them.

Little Lotus Hearts' services are available to any animal lover anywhere regardless of religion, race, nationality or background. All that is necessary is love and compassion for animals.

We invite you to come in to meet our models and our staff, to see some wonderful online tributes people have created on behalf of their animal friends and to learn more about us and our services and the people who helped us get here.

DEAN WILLARD ~ Founder and Chairman

Dean has enjoyed a successful business career. After earning his CPA certificate while on staff at Price Waterhouse, he moved to a company listed on the New York Stock Exchange and quickly became CEO. In 1989, after over twenty years in the public company arena, Dean completed a very successful sale of his business and since that time has focused on and completed several large transactions in the private equity market.

Starting early in his career and continuing to the present day, Dean has been very active in support of civic organizations operating to provide aid and comfort to those most in need. He has held many board memberships with groups supporting single parent families as well as groups providing services to children living at risk in inner cities. Additionally, he has done extensive work with United Way, The Los Angeles Music Center, UCLA Foundation and the Starlight Foundation. He is a member of the Presidents Circle of the Zoological Society of San Diego, a Patron of the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the SPCA of Monterey.

Dean is also the founder of the Yeshe Dorje Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to the furtherance of Buddhism in the West. One of the main projects of the foundation is Little Lotus Hearts, which Dean started in conjunction with his daughter because of his love of animals of all types. As a practicing Buddhist who has had the privilege to take teachings throughout the world from such remarkable and holy men as His Holiness, Sakya Trizin and His Holiness the Dalai Lama, as well as local teachings in New York from the Venerable Lamas Pema and Kalsang, respectively, he has been inspired to further the Dharma by helping animals and their human companions. It is out of this desire that Little Lotus Hearts was born. Dean keeps three cats in his New York City apartment, which is also home to part of the Little Lotus Hearts staff. Dean lives with his wife, Rebecca, in Monterey, California. They have two dogs, one cat and sponsor the care of a baby cheetah at the San Diego Zoo.

EMILY WILLARD ~ Co-Founder, CEO and President

Emily had been fortunate to have spent the last 12 years working side by side with her father, Dean Willard, on a number of large transactions throughout the world and in the management of these businesses, as well. She has also had the opportunity to spend a lot of time working with charitable organizations, including the Starlight Foundation, The Vikramasila Foundation and the Pema Tsal Schools in India.

Emily has worked extensively in the areas of intellectual property, acquisition review and fundraising. Additionally, she is also a classically trained opera singer, pianist and ballet dancer and is currently adding ballroom dance to her repertoire, courtesy of her roomate. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA in French language. She is also conversant in German. As a practicing Buddhist, Emily is extremely pleased to be able to continue her studies in Buddhism and combine them with her love of animals through her work with Little Lotus Hearts. Emily lives in New York with her two cats, Tuna and Rosy.

JAMES CORYELL ~ Chief IT Officer

James has been a professional ballroom dancer and dance instructor for the past 23 years. During that time he has also worked extensively with computers and information technology for a variety of companies, including the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Because of his love for animals he is very excited to be the webmaster and IT director for Little Lotus Hearts.

GENEVIEVE VAN DE MERGHEL ~ Vice President
and Chief Development Officer

Genevieve grew up in a household in Southern California with dogs, cats, birds and fish. Since 1996, she has volunteered at no-kill animal shelters and spay/neuter clinics across the United States. She has also done a great deal of work with feral cats, either socializing them for adoption or spay/neutering them for return to their urban or rural homes.

Genevieve also works extensively in document transcription and has been an invaluable asset to the Yeshe Dorje Foundation for her help with the transcription of many recorded teachings given by His Holiness, the Sakya Trizin and others. In addition to her charitable work with animals, she has also recently completed her Ph.D. in literature from the University of California at Irvine. She lives with her husband and four cats and is currently looking forward to spending more time helping animals. Genevieve is also fluent in French.

Madelyn is an avid animal lover who is very pleased to be joining forces with Little Lotus Hearts. She is a professional musician and currently plays keyboards in the orchestra of the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast. She is an advocate for animal rights and has rescued many animals from homelessness over the last twenty years.

It is her dream to someday live in a society where animals have no need to worry about homelessness, suffering or abuse of any kind. Madelyn lives in Manhattan with her three wonderful feline boys, Max, Rocky and Domino.