MSU grad named Ingham County animal control director

MASON — John Dinon, outreach and engagement director for the U.S. Humane Society in Toledo, Ohio, has been named Ingham County’s new animal control director.

He replaces Andy Seltz, who resigned in July to run Livingston County’s animal control department. Jodi LeBombard, an animal control enforcement officer, had been serving as interim director.

The Board of Commissioners approved the appointment Tuesday night. Dinon, 55, will make about $76,730 a year and start on Oct. 21.

Dinon grew up in Farmington and earned a bachelor's degree in animal science from Michigan State University in 1982.

“I’ve lived in the county, I know the county,” Dinon said Oct. 1, the day the board’s Law & Courts Committee considered his nomination.

“I’m super excited to have this new opportunity and this challenge.”

According to his LinkedIn page, Dinon had been executive director of the Toledo Area Humane Society for four years before taking the U.S. Humane Society job. Before that, he was director of animal conservation programs for the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden.

“We were really impressed with all of his skills and background," Commissioner Penelope Tsernoglou, D-East Lansing, said a few hours before Law & Courts voted to recommend Dinon to the full board.

“Mr. Dinon had a lot of experience as a shelter director, and he had a lot of good ideas for our shelter and how we could move it forward.”

Contact Curt Smith at (517) 377-1226 or csmith@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @CurtSmithLSJ.