Meet Our Board
Martha McMinn
President
Year Joined: 2012
Hometown: Savannah, Georgia
Background/Specialty: Martha’s father served in the Air Force for 30 years, her uncle served for 35 years, and her great grandfather served in the Civil War with the Union Army.
Why P4P: Martha loves dogs, and respects and loves veterans. Martha has represented dogs in court cases. Her beloved Rottweiler Cody was P4P demo dog for a time and is now their mascot.
Favorite Dog Breed: Rottweiler
Virgina Masters
Secretary/Treasurer
Year Joined: 2019
Hometown: Hubbard, Nebraska
Background/Specialty: Virginia is an accountant and dog trainer.
Why P4P: Virginia believes in the mission of aiding our veterans to live a productive and independent life with their service dog. Her Father is an Air Force veteran.
Favorite Dog Breed: Labrador
Gerry Holtrop
Vice President
Year Joined: 2017
Hometown: Hospers, Iowa
Background: Gerry had a service dog for 10 years trained in drug detection, tracking and evidence recovery. Gerry does fundraisers and transports trained dogs all over the USA.
Why P4P: Gerry appreciates that veterans have done so much for us, and feels that working with Partners for Patriots is a way to give back to them.
Favorite Dog Breed: Black Labrador
Cindy Brodie
Director/Lead Trainer
Year Joined: 2009
Hometown: Omaha, Nebraska
Background/Specialty: Cindy graduated from Drexler’s in 1983 as a Certified Trainer/Behaviorist and has trained many dogs for Obedience, SAR, Protection, Law Enforcement K9, and as Service Dogs.
Why P4P: Cindy and her late husband Jim founded Partners for Patriots in 2009. She feels veterans are our finest and believes the hardest battle many veterans faced was acclimating back into society—and she knew dogs could help.
Favorite Dog Breed: German Shepherd
Gary Engel
Director
Year Joined: 2015
Hometown: Sioux City, Iowa
Background/Specialty: Gary has years of experience working with dogs. Gary served in the Army for 10 years, and so has a strong personal understanding of veterans and the issues they face.
Why P4P: Gary volunteers at many non profit organizations and has for over 42 years. Gary loves what he does, especially with the dogs. He loves seeing the joy that service dogs bring to the veterans P4P helps.
Favorite Dog Breed: Labradors
Master Sergeant
Dana K. Martin
Director
Year Joined: 2022
Hometown: Sioux City, Iowa
Background/Specialty: Dana currently servers in the Iowa Air National Guard as a full-time member. She graduated with a degree in Information Management from the Community College of the Air Force.
Why P4P: After hearing a talk about this wonderful non-profit Dana decided to volunteer to assist P4P.
Favorite Dog Breed: Lovehound (Pit Bull)
Madison Heisler
Assistant Trainer
Year Joined: 2019
Hometown: Emmetsburg, Iowa
Background/Specialty: Madison started as a puppy raiser and is currently in training to eventually take over as lead trainer and director of Partners for Patriots.
Why P4P: Madison’s father was in the Army. He passed away in 2014 and this is Madison’s way of honoring her father and all veterans.
Favorite Dog Breed: German Shepherd