Hi VMAE members, I enjoyed seeing many of you in San Diego at our fall conference. We had a productive and wide-ranging discussion on many relevant and timely topics. For those who could not attend, several excellent resources from the conference are now posted here. I hope to see many of you in Chicago next month at our membership meeting and president/president-elect forum at the Veterinary Leadership Conference. Meanwhile, I extend everyone best wishes for a magical holiday season. Tim Atkinson New York State VMS...

In the past few weeks, I participated in the Veterinary Innovation Summit, Banfield Pet Healthcare Summit, and CATalyst Council annual meeting, all excellent forums to discuss and brainstorm on the leading issues of the day: talent shortage, wellbeing, DEI, increasing access to care, and best use of technology to relieve stress on veterinary professionals and practices. Even as we celebrate the holiday season, Tesha and I are hard at work planning for our VLC events and ThinkWORKS, which will feature a policy forum on the issues affecting your organizations and...

The VMAE Board of Directors met in San Diego prior to the fall conference. Highlights from that meeting include: Initiating an amendment to the VMAE bylaws to clarify that VMAE may discipline a member for failure to comply with its rules, principles of ethics, or policies. The amendment will be circulated to the membership for vote shortly. Approving VMAE signing on to the Gender Identity Bill of Rights. Approving several recommendations from the VMAE DEI Committee, including development of a publicly displayed nondiscrimination and anti-harassment policy, and a code of...

We know many of you attend the AVMA’s Veterinary Leadership Conference in Chicago with your delegations. We have two events scheduled for you specifically. First, the VMAE | AVMA President-President Elect Forum will take place on Friday, January 6, 2023, 3:00-4:30 PM. This session is offered as part of the overall VLC conference. The session, titled Governance Essentials: Advancing the Board/Staff Partnership, is designed for Executive Directors and CEOs of veterinary medical associations to attend with one or two elected officers. Debbie Trueblood, CAE, Senior Consultant, Association Management Center, will...

VMAE has been invited by the AVMA and Mars Veterinary Health to participate in an industry-wide working group aimed at strengthening the relationship between veterinary teams and pet owners. The group has convened and is developing a list of shared expectations and responsibilities that the profession and pet owners can leverage to further a mutual understanding and respect toward one another. We will share with you the document when completed....

GENUS, the weekly digital newsletter developed for your VMA’s members, is now available from VMAE. This offering is designed for VMAs to connect their members with professional and personal leadership and business development content through curated articles from trusted sources. Join us for an informational webinar on Thursday, January 12, 2023, 12-1 PM CT, to learn more about this member benefit and hear from those using GENUS currently....

Beginning in November 2021, VMAE has hosted a monthly series of webinars with best-in-class presenters to share insights that inform and inspire veterinary professionals on the many facets of practice health. The one-hour webinars (offered live and then available on demand) are available to VMA executives at no charge, so they in turn can offer the webinars to their members as a complimentary, value-added benefit of VMA membership. Given the changing landscape of veterinary practice over the past year, the VMAE Practice Health Committee determined that the term “veterinary practice...

Journey for Teams, the ambitious diversity, equity and inclusion initiative launched by VMAE and AVMA, announced the release of the first monthly learning module for workplaces in the veterinary profession. The module is titled “Fostering an Extraordinary Workplace - The Power of Diversity,” covering the importance of valuing diversity, self-reflection and a personal assessment of cultural knowledge, and encourages making a commitment to at least one action step. The release of the initial module follows last month’s unveiling of the “Welcome Webinar,” which outlines the Journey for Teams pathway, and the...

The VMAE resource pages contain value proposition statements about VMA membership that you can incorporate into your communications and membership renewal messaging points? This content, including sample renewal and prospective member letters, was developed by a VMAE Marketing Task Force and its consultant in 2020....

As mentioned earlier, VMAE participated in the Pet Healthcare Industry Summit, hosted by Banfield Pet Hospital in September. A wide-ranging professional and industry group ideated on potential solutions to address barriers in veterinary medicine around Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, mental health, and the talent challenges. To continue the conversation, the summit organizers pulled together a recap summarizing the “big ideas” that came out of the table discussions, which we would like to share with you as likely relevant to the conversations going on within your own VMAs. VMAE will continue...