Imagine, Partner, Create: IPC’s 5th Annual Leadership Summit

Innovetive Petcare hosted its 5th Annual Leadership Summit in Austin, Texas, this past Spring– the first in-person company-wide gathering since 2019. Eighty-four medical directors, practice managers and hospital leaders from over 53 veterinary clinics joined 50 home office support staff for three days of networking, peer learning sessions, industry education, an awards celebration, and strategic partnership discussions.

Collaboration, growth, and entrepreneurship are essential core values at Innovetive Petcare. Weaving these values into the week’s peer discussions allowed us to identify opportunities to overcome challenges within our hospital walls. This forum also allowed our stakeholders to hear directly from our executive leadership teams and Veterinary Leadership Group about our company’s growth, mission and vision. The ability to participate in authentic and meaningful conversations with the field, clinic and leadership teams was designed for the Summit’s format, with key learnings taken back to every respected hospital.

The Summit was kicked off by Peter Sheahan, renowned author and global entrepreneur. He challenged the group to become familiar and comfortable with transformation exercises through thoughtful risk-taking, letting go of the past to pursue a new, more vibrant future. Dr. Adam Christman, Chief Veterinary Officer at MJH Life Sciences™, made the audience roar with laughter as he seamlessly coached and exemplified the importance and benefit of laughter within our veterinary profession.

Innovetive Petcare is also a proud partner with veterinary study groups allowing our team to split among smaller groups, where we evaluated each other’s businesses, strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. On the last day of the conference, Innovetive Petcare’s Veterinary Leadership Group, led by Dr. Kathryn Sarpong of Metro Paws Animal Hospital, held a panel discussion where other medical directors and practice managers could learn how to thrive in the veterinary business post-COVID and embracing online reviews for bettering client experience. The conversations provided an outlet for our hospitals to harness a “change of mindset” that Peter Sheahan challenged us to embrace.

“The Summit was hugely beneficial for multiple reasons.  It was helpful to meet those who I’ve worked with for over a year but have never met. I enjoyed making connections with individuals from other Innovetive Petcare practices that I would not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise. The speakers from the first day were thought provoking. I found the peer groups to be where I took most information away. The idea sharing and generation with similar practices was very valuable. Events outside of the meetings were also very fun and nice to see our teams having a really good time together.”

–  Shannon Harlow

Culture and team building are important at Innovetive Petcare, so much so that Regional Operations Manager Josh Jasper and his team created a conference-long scavenger hunt that had our teams doing everything from thumb wars with our CEO, to building human pyramids, in between learning about our sponsors and their products and services.

One of the most memorable portions of the Summit was Innovetive Petcare’s “Innovetty Awards,” sponsored by our partners at Zoetis and Merck Animal Health. The Innovetty Awards are presented annually to our veterinarians, practice managers, and team members to recognize their contributions to their workplace, cultures, patients, and community. This night, complete with crystal trophies and evening gowns, celebrated our hospitals’ dedication  achievements, milestones, and promotions.

With planning taking well over a year, Innovetive Petcare’s Leadership Summit was a success due to Regional Operations Manager Elle Prior encapsulating Innovetive Petcare’s uniqueness and individuality throughout the weeklong conference.

We are already planning for 2023, and with an intentional focus on the focus we place on growth, entrepreneurship, and professional development for new and rising veterinary leaders.