VMA Annual Awards Judging Panel

Angharad is Director for Advancement of the Professions at the RCVS, overseeing non-regulatory activities such as Leadership, Fellowship, Diversity & Inclusion, Sustainability, Mental Health and innovation. She was previously Head of Congress and Partnerships at BSAVA, and prior to that has delivered many leading veterinary and agricultural PR and media campaigns. Angharad is passionate about sustainability and inclusion, ensuring that the right activity is undertaken at each step, but most importantly bringing people together to problem solve and leverage that collaboration for further innovation. She holds a degree in Medical Science and postgraduate in International Development.

Nicky grew up on a Cheshire dairy farm and after graduating from Glasgow she spent few years in clinical practice in Cheshire, Shropshire and Staffordshire plus a bit of time in New Zealand, Nicky decided to explore life outside of traditional practice. Nicky after a few years working for AHDB and she then spent time with a global pharmaceutical company and was involved in the launch of what is now a market leading BVD vaccine. In 2019 she returned to practice but in a non-clinical role, as business development manager at Nantwich Farm Vets. This is a varied role supporting a large team of farm only vets with everything from developing the team to managing the social media. Nicky joined the BVCA board in 2020.

Ben Briggs is the editor of national agricultural publication, Farmers Guardian. A journalist for almost 19 years, he is from a farming background in the Ribble Valley, Lancashire, and worked in the local media before joining FG in 2010. He has been the editor for more than six and a half years and is also Group Content Director within the parent business, Agriconnect, overseeing a team of close to 30 content producers. Ben is a past chairman of the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists and is a regular commentator on farming matters within national and local media.

Ginette has more than 27 years’ experience of Sales & Marketing within the veterinary industry. Her roles have been varied from financial services, pharmaceuticals, and the not for profit sector. She has experience in and consults on Corporate Communications, working with internal and external stakeholders, CSR strategy, Brand marketing campaigns, Event management, crisis communications, Public Relations, and SM platforms/websites. She is also currently Global Head of Partnerships for Petcover Group. She has a passion for the human animal bond and is proud to be a Trustee for Dogs for Good. She currently shares her home with two small rescue dog with attitude!

Since 2005, Angus has led RDP to the success it is today with a combination of in-depth agricultural knowledge and innovative strategic thinking. Following a degree from Seale Hayne and with a career in marketing, finance, and business consultancy with Grant Thornton LLP and latterly ADAS, Angus has a deep understanding of business, agriculture and the wider food supply chain.Alongside the RDP team and a wide network of contacts he delivers respected, dynamic and perceptive advice to clients.

He has been company secretary to the Oxford Farming Conference, completed the IAgrM Leadership Development Programme and currently acts as the communication advisor to The Henry Plumb Foundation. Angus sets the course for the team, and is passionate about offering a comprehensive strategy for clients that is creative, results-based, and unique.“RDP has market insight across agribusiness and animal health and a commercial appreciation that marketing needs to deliver. As with any business, the team is what makes RDP special. Their ability to surprise, huge capability and willingness to help one another to deliver is second to none”.

Lizzie is Associate Director, Veterinary Medical Strategy at Mind+Matter – a data driven global healthcare communications agency with a dedicated animal health function. Since graduating from the Royal Veterinary College, Lizzie has gained over 10 years’ experience working in animal health communications on campaigns spanning a variety of sectors, scale and species-focuses. These range from smaller projects to large, global campaigns (including many past VMA award winners!)

Lizzie gets involved at every stage of a project at Mind+Matter, from strategy and insights to tactical implementation. She loves blending her technical knowledge with creative skills and is grateful for the vibrant career her veterinary degree has given her. Lizzie is passionate about the power of vet-owner communication in maintaining the health and welfare of animals and the link between the health of animals, people and the planet.

Susan Goodfellow is Chief Marketing Officer for XLVets. XLVets is a collaborative community of Independent Veterinary Practices that spans the UK. From long established practices to start ups, XLVets members believe that by working together we can achieve so much more.

With a marketing career covering a variety of sectors including food production, business enterprise, agriculture and veterinary/animal health over a period of 17 years, she will happily reflect that she has never felt more inspired than by the teams working within veterinary.

She is responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy, internal communications within XLVets, support for member practices, development of resources, sharing the benefits of membership to more independent practices and anything else that is needed!

Simon is a small animal veterinary surgeon and has been in private small animal practice for 27 years. He has a passion for General Practice and a special interest in ophthalmology and consulting skills. He was a director at Village Vet, a large group of practices in London and Cambridgeshire where he gained experience in running veterinary practices and new acquisitions.

Simon is now the Primary Care Medical Director for Linnaeus where he is responsible for veterinary leadership and also brings the veterinary voice to many departments, working especially closely with the procurement team. Simon continues 1 day a week as a clinician.

Nicole is Marketing Manager at VetCT. VetCT is a family owned radiologist led company committed to supporting veterinary clinics in providing exceptional patient care to animals through expert people, innovative technology and sustainability. With a marketing career covering a variety of sectors over the past ten years, including Accountancy, Construction and Property Development. She is proud to say, working in the veterinary industry has provided her with nothing but admiration for the kind and inspiring people within this special sector. In her day to day role, she is responsible for overseeing the marketing strategy, external communications and data driven focus to provide our global clinics with a customer-centric service.

Claire Hodgson BVetMed CertAVP(EM) MRCVS Co-founder and Director BVCIS (British Veterinary Chronic Illness Support CIC). Claire been in clinical practice for 20+ years and has warn many hats. Starting in mixed practice, then equine only where she combined work with study, gaining her CertAVP (EM). In 2018 she pivoted to working as small animal locum to have better autonomy over time and hours worked allowing a better balance for health needs and time for other passions. In 2018 she cofounded the Facebook community Veterinary Spoonholders to provide a safe space and peer-peer support for all those in the veterinary profession with chronic illness and disability. In Summer 2021 the social enterprise British Veterinary Chronic Illness Support CIC. was launched with three core goals – Support, Advocacy and Education. The last year has seen her balancing her clinical work, with launching BVCIS and working collaboratively alongside other grass roots organisations BVEDS and BVLGBT+ to bring the voices of those with live experience in the veterinary sector to EDI training.

Julie Howard is Deputy Marketing Director, UK & Ireland at IVC Evidensia, Europe’s fastest growing veterinary group operating across 20 countries. Having fallen in love with the veterinary industry at an independent veterinary group in East Anglia over ten years ago, Julie joined IVC in 2015. She is responsible for development and delivery of marketing strategies in line with key initiatives across multiple national brands both B2B and B2C, utilising her comprehensive experience of cross channel marketing to engage different audiences. Collaboratively working with clinical staff to progress client experience and local reputation management through relevant, timely marketing communications and initiatives, for small animal, farm and equine practices is one of the most challenging yet rewarding areas of her role, due to the diverse make-up of practices within the group.

Sheldon graduated as a vet from the University of Cambridge and entered primary care practice in Bedford (initially mixed practice, now small animal). He became Senior Vet and then Partner in 2013, gaining a GPCert(Ophthal) whilst in practice. In 2018 the practice was sold to the Royal Veterinary College as a flagship primary care teaching practice and Sheldon took on the role of Managing Director of the arm’s length company set up by the RVC. He oversaw the integration of the practice into a university setting and the introduction of formal primary care clinical teaching. He steered the practice through the pandemic. In 2022 he became CEO of Garden Vets at Keele, an independent primary care teaching practice co-located at the Harper Keele Veterinary School. The unique operating model (created using a design thinking process), collaboration with experts from outside the industry and extensive use of technology aims to solve some of the problems in the profession and put people back at the heart of the proposition. He has been a volunteer for the British Small Animal Veterinary Association since graduation and has held various positions in the association throughout the years including Honorary Treasurer. He has edited two editions of the BSAVA Pocketbook for Vets and was an editor for the association’s magazine, Companion. He was BSAVA President in 2021-2022 and is currently Senior Vice President.

Founder, Practice Made Purrfect

With 20 years of experience and award-winning roles at White Cross Vets and VetPartners under his belt, Justin founded Practice Made Purrfect in 2020, a marketing consultancy dedicated to helping veterinary practices to deliver the best service possible to their clients and patients.

He’s passionate about the potential of marketing to inform and inspire, especially in the veterinary industry, which he comes to love more with every heart-warming good news story and example of practice growth.

A proud pet parent to Maine Coon, Poppy Gabriella, he understands the bonds between owners and pets, and the key role vets play in their lives – something he believes underscores the importance that communication in the industry continues to improve.

Vickie is Head of Commercial Content for AgriConnect. Since 2016 she has been leading on delivery for the InsightFul brand across Farmers Guardian, Dairy Farmer and Arable Farming magazines and www.fginsight.com. InsightFul works with leading industry businesses to engage audiences with compelling thought-leadership and content marketing initiatives across print, digital and face-to-face. In addition, Vickie leads on conference content production for the company’s events including LAMMA, CropTec and the Rural Portfolio. She has a BA in Journalism and more than 24 years of experience in agricultural journalism and content production. Previous roles include Deputy Editor and News Editor of Farmers Guardian.

Libby graduated as a vet from University College Dublin in Ireland and spent 10 years working in mixed and small animal practice, followed by 7 years in industry working for a major pet food supplier as Veterinary Affairs Manager. She then set up her company Mojo Consultancy, specialising in technical communications, marketing and PR, and project management within the veterinary industry.

Libby has built on her direct practice experience of client relationships with the development of vet professional and client support materials and programmes, website and e-communication content, as well as delivering training and writing course material on diverse topics. She also enjoys writing and has served as the nutrition expert for both Dog’s Monthly magazine and Your Cat magazine, along with contributing regularly to many veterinary magazines and journals on nutrition and client care topics.

A 2008 University of Bristol veterinary graduate with a First Class intercalated degree in veterinary pathology from the Royal Veterinary College, Justine has over 12 years’ experience in zoo medicine, small animal practice and mixed practice in Oxfordshire, London and Hampshire, as well as internationally. In 2014, she completed a Master’s degree in Wild Animal Health from the Royal Veterinary College and the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Since 2015, Justine has worked as the Veterinary Services Manager at Marwell Zoo in Hampshire. Alongside her veterinary and conservation work, Dr Shotton also works as a small animal and emergency veterinary locum.