Our Leadership

Carmen Rustenbeck, Founder & CEO

Carmen Rustenbeck has been involved in non-profit work for over 20 years and active in the pet care industry since 2004. By creating and implementing a development plan that details how the organization gains members to create a powerful voice for the industry, and identifying areas of service never before provided to our industry, as Founder & Executive Director of IBPSA Carmen is committed to building a member-centered organization that promotes the best practices and strategies for helping our industry reach its full potential.

Ben Day, Risk Management & Safety Manager; Board of Advisors

Prior to joining IBPSA as COO, Day served on the association’s advisory board since 2011. He has worked in the safety profession for more than thirty years and is an established risk management and safety expert. Day has been published in multiple industry magazines and speaks to large industry groups across the U.S. on how to set up a successful safety program to protect employees. Day regularly instructs on a variety of first aid, safety, and HR topics, and holds multiple certifications in different aspects of the safety, risk management, and loss control fields.

Kelly Cullum, Board of Advisors

Kelly has served on IBPSA’s board since 2019. She is the former COO and Corporate Officer of Biotech/Diagnostic Medical Device Space. Kelly was an officer within Idexx Laboratories serving domestically and internationally. Working within the Veterinary diagnostic arena provided the spring board to opening her first facility in 2004 followed by a second facility in 2012. Multimillion-dollar top line performance and benchmark bottom line delivery are highlights of Best Friends Fur Ever (BFFE). BFFE employs 85+ people, participates in local rescues by fostering 12 dogs on a rotating basis as well as major fund-raising ventures with local shelters. Kelly also serves on the board of local Humane Societies and is networked in 6 major C level groups.

Leslie Fleuranges, Board of Advisors

Passionate innovator. Visionary leader. Brilliant creative marketer. Throughout her impressive and multi-faceted career. Leslie Fleuranges has leveraged her considerable talents to provide groundbreaking products and services that make life better for others. As founder, owner and Comforter-in-Chief at Tender Loving Care Pet Nursing Hotel, Leslie provides a home away from home for elder, sick, anxious, mobility limited and special needs cats and dogs. Leslie’s entrepreneurial spirit and her compassion for all creatures fuel her dedication to her one-of-a-kind business.

Throughout her career, Leslie has been a trailblazer in discovering consumer insights and transforming them into products and services that fill a genuine need in the marketplace. Whether speaking directly with consumers or acquiring and synthesizing industry data, her affinity for insight-driven innovation has empowered her to grow dynamic brands for Fortune 500 companies including Hallmark, Block Drug, Conde Nast, Unilever Lipton, Clairol and American Home Products.

Bill Hillis, Board of Advisors

Bill Hillis currently serves as CEO of Social Pet Hotel and Daycare, with two locations in the Charlotte, North Carolina area.

Prior to Co-Founding Social Pet in 2014, Bill served as General Manager at JLL for office and industrial commercial real estate clients. When joining JLL in 2013, he was responsible for Blackstone’s “IndCor Properties” industrial portfolio in the Charlotte area. His last assignment included six Class-A office buildings in the South Charlotte Area. In March of 2015, his SouthPark Office management team won JLL National Property Management Team of the Year Award for 2014. Two weeks later, Bill turned in his resignation to focus on Social Pet full-time. Before joining Jones Lang LaSalle in 2013, Bill served as a Property Manager for The Bissell Companies while earning an M.B.A. from Queens University of Charlotte. In this capacity, he was responsible for the management of over 600,000 s.f. of Class “A” Office, Retail, and Industrial/Office Flex properties in the Charlotte Area. His team received either Platinum A List or A List Awards for Customer Service Excellence for all properties surveyed by CEL & Associates. Prior to joining The Bissell Companies, Bill served as an Enlisted Infantry Soldier in the South Carolina Army National Guard (SCANG) while attending The Citadel. Upon graduation, he was Commissioned as an Armor Officer in the SCANG). During Armor School training at Fort Knox, he was notified that he would be transferred to a Cavalry unit that was being called up for deployment. He subsequently led a platoon of Security Force Soldiers in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan before beginning his career in Commercial Real Estate.

Bill and his wife, Amy, live in Fort Mill, South Carolina with their son, Cooper, and 3 dogs (Eddie, Jo Jo and Macie) and some cool fish.