Steve Hellem is the President of Navista, Inc., The Public Affairs Group (www.navista.net) a Washington, DC-based public affairs firm specializing in coalition and association management, regulatory and legislative advocacy, corporate representation and strategic counseling. Navista is a full service public affairs firm that operates on a value base of honesty and trust that is committed to the success and growth of our clients and our employees. Steve has more than 25 years of experience providing strategic counsel and leadership to business associations and coalitions. He has helped create and managed a wide range of business coalitions and associations from multiple business sectors. Presently, he supports the American Pet Products Association (www.appa.org) and is serving as Executive Director of the Human Animal Bond Research Initiative (HABRI). Previously he provided coalition and strategic counsel to the pet industry in the development of Animal Care Guidelines for the pet industry. He also has served as Executive Director of the Pet Care Trust. In addition, he has facilitated strategic planning activities for APPA’s Board of Directors. Steve has an AB in Political Science from the University of Missouri and a J.D. from the International School of Law.

Entrepreneur Jean Hoffman merges pharmaceutical industry expertise with her love of companion animals to lead Putney, Inc.a provider of high quality, generic and specialty drugs supporting the U.S. veterinary community. Jean founded Putney in 2006 and has rapidly achieved key growth milestones. Jean’s vision, tenacity and business expertise have been recognised by Mass High Tech with a Women to Watch Award and by Mainebiz with a Science & Technology Woman to Watch Award.

Before founding Putney, Jean founded Newport Strategies, Inc. which she built into the world leader in product licensing and sourcing systems for the generic pharmaceutical industry. Thomson Reuters (TSX:TRI) acquired Newport Strategies in 2004.

Jean participates on the board of directors of the Generic Animal Drug Alliance (GADA), is a member of the Executive Advisory Committee of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Generic Medicines, and remains active in the International Generic Pharmaceutical Alliance. She lives in Maine and enjoys the company of her son, daughter, cats Racoon and Malcolm, and whatever lizards, frogs, snakes and starfish her children bring home.

DAVID MERRICK serves as the General Manager of Quincy Animal Health and is responsible for strategic leadership and oversight of Quincy Animal Health. He has a long family history animal health. And in his over 25 years in industry, he is a proven, successful animal health executive that includes practice management, academics, distribution and manufacturing. His experience includes: Vice President, Sales and Marketing for an animal health generic pharmaceutical company; the North American, National Sales Manager for a Swiss based manufacturer and the National Sales Manager for a start up animal health nutraceutical company. He has added value and breadth to portfolios and offerings by recommending innovative new products, enhancements, and services while galvanizing interest and support among at all levels - from personnel to executives, to alliances and board members - uniting all stakeholders on common missions and goals. He has built, developed and lead high-performance teams, identifying and cultivating top talent.

Taking a leap of faith is not an easy thing to do. To believe in something as well as in oneself, so strongly isn’t a trait that can be found in most. But that’s exactly what MARIE MOODY did. In 2003 she exited the fashion world and channeled her passion for animals into creating one of America’s fastest-growing pet food companies, Stella & Chewy’s. Moody has always been an enthusiastic animal lover. She had rescued Stella in Los Angeles and when Stella needed a friend, the two of them rescued Chewy, a Shar-Pei/Airedale terrier mix with severe health problems, including distemper. Upon bringing Chewy to the veterinarian, the doctor recommended that Moody research a raw meat diet for him. Once she began feeding Chewy this diet, he recovered quickly so Moody put Stella on it, and she began to thrive on it as well.

Chewy’s impressive recovery inspired Moody to learn more about the benefits of raw food for pets. The experience taught Marie that the right food (and a lot of love) can restore a pet’s health and well-being. Through her research on animal nutrition, Moody realized there were no commercial products on the market that could compare with what she was producing at home. This realization and her experience healing Chewy made Moody consider what she could do to help others. The calling came… and she answered. Moody left the fashion industry and developed a line of raw, natural pet foods named Stella & Chewy’s, LLC (S&C) after her beloved rescued dogs. Within the first year, S&C products could be found in independent pet stores throughout Manhattan. With the orders rolling in, Moody outgrew the production space offered by her NYC apartment kitchen and made another leap, relocating her family to Muskego, WI to open the 15,000 square foot S&C production facility. Over the next four years, Moody dedicated herself to creating exceptional products. Using only wholesome ingredients like raw, natural meat, without added hormones or antibiotics and organic fruits and vegetables, the pet food is made without grain, fillers, preservatives or colorings. Moody also worked with several veterinary nutritionists and experts from the processing industry in developing an exclusive food safety process.

CHRIS RAGLAND, CEO, Animalytix, is an experienced Senior Executive with 20+ years of success in the global animal health industry. His assignments have included commercial operations, R&D, business development and general management. Key areas of responsibility have emphasized strategy development, business integration, research program leadership and merger / acquisition oversight. After concluding his assignment as President of Intervet Inc. in April, 2008, Chris founded Axxiom, LLC an executive consultancy focused on the development and commercialization of new animal health technologies, M&A, strategy development and business integration initiatives. Over the past two years, Chris and his collaboration partners have successfully executed a variety of initiatives for several leading animal health and veterinary distribution companies as well as overseen start-ups in both the veterinary pharmaceutical and biotech markets.

Chris is a founder and CEO of Animalytix LLC, a market insight company for the animal health industry located in Salisbury, MD. Additionally, he is currently heading the development of an animal health division for MedinCell S.A., a biopharmaceutical company developing advanced injectable polymeric drug delivery systems for human and veterinary applications. Chris serves as a Member of the Board of MBF Therapeutics, a developer of proprietary oncology therapies for companion animals and is a co-developer and instructor for the “Day 1” initiative (www.day1program.com) with his collaboration partner, Robert Rich of the Ithaca Consulting Group.

Martha Smith, General Manager, I LOVE DOGS, INC.. A lifelong dog-lover, Martha is delighted to find herself at i Love Dogs, where she has the opportunity to participate in making a substantial positive impact on the lives of dogs and dog lovers everywhere. Her previous endeavors have included providing branding and creative services to a host of government and private clients, most recently in the education industry. When not chasing down new adventures with i Love Dogs, Martha can be found playing in the ocean with Shelby and Diesel, her two rescued Pit Bull mixes.

DR. ERNIE WARD, owner and Chief-of-staff, Seaside Animal Care, owner, E3 Management, Inc., is an internationally recognized veterinarian known for his work in the areas of general small animal practice, long term medication monitoring, special needs of senior dogs and cats and pet obesity. He has authored three books including “Chow Hounds: Why Our Dogs Are Getting Fatter – A Vet’s Plan to Save Their Lives” (2010 HCI). He is also author of the most widely used client education handout series “Canine and Feline Custom Care Client Handouts” (LifeLearn) published by the University of Guelph Ontario School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Ernie is the owner and chief-of-staff of Seaside Animal Care, a National Practice of Excellence Award winning small animal veterinary clinic in Calabash, North Carolina. Dr. Ward has authored and been featured in over fifty-five practice management and medical journal articles and is a 1992 graduate of the University Of Georgia College Of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Ernie developed the monitoring guidelines for long-term drugs in 1999, senior pet guidelines in 2000 and has been a vocal advocate for extended duration vaccine protocols that reduce the number and frequency of vaccines pets receive. Beginning in 2005, he set out to encourage vets to practice “contemporary medicine,” one that combines the best of traditional western and eastern medicine, natural approaches, exercise and nutrition. Dr. Ward frequently lectures to veterinarians on ways to improve not only the health of their patients, but their own lives as well. To date he has given over 750 lectures worldwide on various general veterinary medicine topics.

Dr. Ward is a frequent guest on the Rachael Ray Show and has appeared on the Today show, several Animal Planet shows, NBC Nightly News, Nightline, CNN and numerous television and radio talk shows nationwide. He has been featured in publications such as Rachael Ray Every Day, Good Housekeeping, Smart Money, Dog Fancy, Cat Fancy, USA Today, the Washington Post, LA Times, Boston Globe, Orlando Sentinel, Chicago Sun Times, PeoplePets.com, to name but a few. He was awarded the “Speaker of the Year” award for the 2004 North American Veterinary Conference, and has spoken at every major North American veterinary conference and in Europe and China and has been a guest lecturer at most of the nation’s veterinary schools. His articles have been published in the US, Canada, England, Spain, Hungary, Japan and China. He founded the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention in 2005, is a Founding Member of VetPartners (the Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants) and is a certified personal trainer, USA Triathlon accredited coach and an Ironman triathlete. He lives with his wife, two daughters, their “beach mutt” Sandy and two cats, Freddie (25-toes and attitude to spare) and Itty Bitty Kitty.