Looking forward to Vet Technology Forum!

Michelle Gratton

Donor Relations Manager, Vetlife

Michelle Gratton has been working for Vetlife as the donor relations manager for 3 years. She has become proficient in wellbeing and mental health, specifically within the veterinary profession and, as a certified inferno Hot Pilates instructor, understands how to use the mind / body connection concept to support both physical and mental wellbeing.

Adele Williams-Xavier

Expert Consultant in Veterinary AI

Adele is an equine internal medicine specialist and veterinary AI expert. She has led the development of AI tools for the veterinary sector and is a recognised thought leader in responsible, ethical AI adoption. Adele speaks and writes internationally on AI literacy in veterinary medicine and runs an AI consultancy supporting vets and practices on their adoption journeys. She also works part time at CoVet, a veterinary AI copilot designed to assist vets during consultations.

Dane Walker

Director & Co-Founder, DNA VetCare

Dane is an experienced Veterinary Surgeon and the Director and Co-Founder of a multi-award-winning group of independent veterinary surgeries, with a strong presence across the UK. Under his leadership, the group has grown into a respected provider of high-quality first opinion (GP) veterinary care, recognised for its commitment to clinical excellence and client-focused service. Driven by a vision to raise standards within the profession, Dane is dedicated to delivering an elevated level of care for patients, clients and veterinary teams alike. His approach combines clinical expertise with a strong emphasis on education, helping to improve client understanding, compliance and overall animal welfare. Alongside his clinical and leadership responsibilities, Dane regularly contributes to industry events, sharing insights on veterinary practice growth, clinical standards and advancing patient care. He is deeply committed to supporting the wider profession and fostering the development of fellow veterinary professionals. Dane's leadership continues to shape a forward-thinking veterinary group focused on innovation, sustainable growth, and the highest standards of animal care.

Liz Barton

Co-Founder, Vet Validaite · MA VetMB FRCVS

A veterinary surgeon with over 17 varied years in clinical practice, I am driven by curiosity and a commitment to strengthening the profession. I co-founded WellVet and Vet Mums as non-profit initiatives to tackle key challenges facing the veterinary community. Through a global communications lead role at VET.CT, my experience has spanned workforce sustainability, environmental responsibility, and the real-world impact of artificial intelligence, underpinned by a One Health mindset. As co-founder of Vet Validaite, I am seeking to address existing gaps in transparency, safety and confidence in the development and use of AI applications for animal health. Through independent validation against best practice standards, we help to ensure the outputs from AI benefit animals and support the people responsible for their care.

Nick Lloyd

Chief Veterinary Officer, Lupa

Nick Lloyd is a practising vet, former practice owner in Devon, and Chief Veterinary Officer at Lupa. Across more than two decades in the profession he has worked every side of practice life, from the consult room to running the business, which gives him a grounded view of where technology actually helps clinical teams and where it just gets in the way. A former SPVS President and long-time Chair of the VetXML Consortium, Nick has been a leading voice on data standardisation across the sector for years. At Lupa he helps steer product and execution, keeping the veterinary and business owner perspective at the centre of what the team builds.

Serina Filler

Group Clinical Director, Pennard Vets

Serina Filler is Group Operations & Clinical Director at Pennard Vets, an independent eight-site group in Kent. A vet with a PhD and formal project-management credentials, she builds operational and clinical systems that help clinical teams get the best outcomes with less friction. Her remit spans workflow and workflows/PMS, AI strategy, data infrastructure, and clinical leadership.

Catherine Hemingway

Project Lead, RCVS

Catherine has 20 years' experience in the veterinary professions. She graduated as a veterinary surgeon from the RVC and initially worked in first opinion small animal practice for eight years. Catherine moved into higher education in 2014 where she was a programme leader for 10 years, initially for a veterinary nurse degree programme and subsequently a veterinary nurse top up programme. Catherine joined the RCVS in January 2025 as Head of Academy (maternity cover) and moved into her current role as Product Lead in January 2026. Catherine coordinates and leads projects and initiatives that support strategic needs of the College. One of her current projects involves supporting the Veterinary AI Transparency Alliance who are developing a framework to support veterinary professionals use of AI tools. Catherine holds a CertAVP, is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and has reached the dissertation stage of the MSc in Digital Education at The University of Edinburgh.

Lizzie Lockett

CEO, RCVS

Lizzie joined the RCVS in February 2005 as Head of Communications, bringing with her 13 years' experience working in marketing, public relations, communications and public affairs both in the UK and across Europe. As Head of Communications, and later Director of Strategic Communications, Lizzie and her team were responsible for all of the College's communications, including media, publications, events, web and digital, design and public affairs. Lizzie was also responsible for managing the RCVS side of the joint RCVS/British Veterinary Association project, Vet Futures. In autumn 2014, Lizzie set up the Mind Matters Initiative (MMI), alongside its then Chair, Neil Smith. MMI aims to make a difference to the mental health and wellbeing of members of the veterinary team. Lizzie took up the role of Acting CEO in September 2017 and was appointed CEO in November 2017. Lizzie is a member of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and holds a degree in English Language and Literature from St John's College, Oxford, a postgraduate qualification in journalism, and diplomas in the History of Art, also from Oxford.

Susie Samuel

CEO, Digital Practice

Susie is CEO and Co-Founder of Digital Practice and was a practising vet for over a decade. Digital Practice is building the connective layer for veterinary client communication, joining up every interaction from online search to follow-up care. Four years after launch, it supports over 900 veterinary clinics, 300 grooming salons, 500,000 monthly conversations and £3.6M in monthly payments, combining messaging, payments, websites, reviews, price transparency and trusted client education in one ecosystem for practices.

Ashley Gray

Co-Founder, Vetsure

Ashley graduated from Cambridge University Veterinary School in 1997. After five years in small animal and equine practice and research in the UK, he moved to the Netherlands to work in International Marketing for Intervet, where he developed a passion for pet owner communications. In 2005, he joined Hill's Pet Nutrition where he developed various marketing and research initiatives focused around client communications. In 2007, Ashley returned to clinical practice at Village Vet in London. It was here that he identified the challenges with pet insurance models and so in 2009, alongside another vet, Vetsure Pet Insurance was born. Since then, Vetsure has expanded to over 1,100 UK clinics championing the cause of independent practices, offering pet insurance, the Buysure Buying Group, Vetsure Pet Health Plans and the newly launched online dispensary Vetsure Meds with the ambition of helping new start-ups and established businesses alike.

David Harris

Head of Compliance & Veterinary Content, Digital Practice

David is a qualified veterinary surgeon with clinical experience in large and small animal practice, as well as pharmaceutical retail and supply. He lectures in Animal Health, Veterinary Nursing, and Applied Veterinary Pharmacology at Duchy and Bicton Colleges, as well as being co-editor of the BSAVA Guide to the Use of Veterinary Medicines. He is currently Head of Compliance and Veterinary Content at Digital Practice, with a focus on making regulatory compliance easy for practices.

Jon Hewitt

Founder & MD, Teleos Systems

Jon Hewitt is the founder and Managing Director of Teleos Systems Limited, a market leader specialising in veterinary practice management systems. An electronics design engineer by trade, Jon transitioned into the veterinary sector over 30 years ago. Since then, he has been at the forefront of designing and implementing innovative IT systems tailored specifically for veterinary practices. Under his leadership, Teleos has grown to a dedicated team of 23 professionals - the majority of whom boast over a decade of tenure with the company. This deep technical expertise is uniquely paired with real-world clinical insight, as Teleos also owns and operates its own small animal veterinary practice. Jon brings a wealth of practical knowledge on bridging the gap between advanced technology and daily clinic workflows.

Peter Orpin

President, SPVS

Peter Orpin graduated from Bristol University in 1983 and spent 38 years in veterinary practice, becoming a partner at 29 and helping grow a mixed practice into seven business operations across four clinics, employing more than 120 people. A former President of BCVA, Peter has published over 50 papers, lectured widely in the UK and overseas, and has tutored hundreds of vets in health planning. He is co-founder of Myhealthyherd, a web-based cattle herd health platform, and co-created the first online Johne's disease control programme. Since retiring from clinical practice, Peter has focused on consultancy, leadership, disease control, and his work with SPVS, where he is now President. He has contributed to SPVS working groups on EMS, CMA, and legislation, with a strong interest in how veterinary practices can thrive and develop. Peter was named Dairy Vet of the Year in 2016 and awarded an RCVS Fellowship for Contributions to the Profession in 2021.

Rob Williams

President, BVA

Rob Williams qualified from University College Dublin in 2001 and has since worked in a variety of small animal practices in the UK and is the current BVA President. In 2018 he joined the People Team at VetPartners looking after a wide portfolio of Human Resources activity. Rob's areas of interest are employee engagement and experience, talent development, clinical & business leadership, and organisational culture. He holds an MBA and is Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, and is also a Chartered Member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

Ricky Sussams

Founder, VetStack

I've spent close to twenty years in and around veterinary software, from rolling out practice management systems across hundreds of clinics to leading customer success at PetsApp and Lupa. Today I run VetStack, helping practices, vendors and investors make sense of a market that rarely behaves the way the brochures suggest, from choosing the right PMS to commercial due diligence on a nine-figure deal. No referral fees, no reselling, no agenda. Just honest, operator-level advice from someone who has actually done the job.

Jack Peploe

CEO, Veterinary IT Services

Jack is a Veterinary IT Expert, Certified Ethical Hacker and CEO of Veterinary IT Services. He has worked alongside the veterinary sector since he set up his first business at age 16. He has made it his mission to help veterinary clinics across the UK utilise their technology so that they can function in a secure, professional and efficient manner, leaving vets to focus on patient care. He is passionate about ensuring he has created something that outlives him and supports other businesses to be efficient and profitable.

Hamza Afridi

Head of Engineering, VetDrive

Hamza Afridi is Head of Engineering at VetDrive, with over a decade of experience building and scaling technology products, from early-stage startups to enterprise SaaS platforms. As VetDrive's lead engineer, he led the development of the platform from its earliest stages, helping grow it into Ireland’s largest veterinary practice management system, trusted by over 200 veterinary clinics. Over the years, Hamza has led product development, platform architecture, engineering growth, and major integration initiatives, helping veterinary practices streamline operations and improve patient care through technology. His interests include SaaS architecture, AI, interoperability, and building connected ecosystems that enable practices to get more value from their technology investments.

Samantha Davies

Head of Business Systems, XL Vets

Sam joined the XLVets team last year as Head of Business Systems, having spent 10 years in the IT industry. "I'm Samantha Davies, Head of Business Systems at XLVets. My role focuses on improving how we use systems, data and reporting to support better decision making across the organisation. I enjoy working with teams to simplify processes, solve problems and make technology feel more useful and accessible."

Francesca Verney

Veterinary Director, Pet People

Francesca is all about pets and their people. Graduating in 2012 from Cambridge, she pivoted away from cows to the big smoke where she has worked ever since in a range of veterinary roles. A baptism-of-fire new grad job in Croydon, followed by nearly a decade at Village Vet seeing its transition from independent to Linnaeus-owned. During this time she moved from 100% clinical work to a Lead Vet job and eventually the London Lead Clinical Director role, overseeing the financial performance, clinical standards and people happiness for 21 sites including a 24hr hospital. Now smitten with leadership and all things business, she couldn't resist the lure of entrepreneurship and opened Pet People Vets together with Ian Stroud in 2022. Truly believing in collaboration she also set up LIVE (London Independent Vet Enterprise) in the same year as a community, knowledge-sharing group which hosts non-clinical CPD and converses actively about all things start-up. An unashamedly committed vet, Francesca spends lots of time in the consult room still, enjoys learning and contributing to the profession outside of her practice, runs ultramarathons very slowly and cares for two little people one of whom is currently pretending to be a dog full time.

Kim Goodson

Customer Success Manager, Digital Practice

Customer Success Manager with over 15 years of experience, working across VetHelpDirect and Digital Practice. Having grown alongside the rapid development of digital technology, Kim is passionate about helping independent veterinary practices get the most from their services, particularly the Digital Practice platform. Kim enjoys working closely with practice teams, supporting adoption and engagement, and takes great satisfaction in seeing improved communication and positive outcomes with their clients.

Henry Bennetts

Operations Manager, Edhen Vets

Having been with Edhen Vets since our early months, Henry has seen first-hand how embracing technology has supported our rapid growth and operational development. He has also played a key role in helping both our team and clients adapt to new systems and digital solutions as we continue to improve efficiency, scalability, and the overall client experience. His practical experience of introducing and embedding technology within a fast-growing independent veterinary practice would allow him to offer valuable insight and real-world perspective to the discussion.

Ben Sweeney

CEO, VidiVet

Ben Sweeney is the CEO of VidiVet and a leading voice in how the veterinary profession can adapt to changing client expectations. With experience across clinical practice and business, he focuses on the practical realities of delivering care in a world where access, communication and trust are under increasing scrutiny. Ben’s work centres on optimising the veterinary customer journey and helping practices create meaningful change for both clients and clinic teams to build stronger, longer lasting relationships. He is particularly interested in how the profession can evolve at a pace that is even close to that of the consumer world we serve and do so in a way that doesn't add more and more layers of complexity.

Kristie Faulkner

Co-Founder & Operations Director, Harrison Family Vets

Kristie Faulkner is Co-Founder and Operations Director at Harrison Family Vets. With 30 years of experience in the veterinary profession, she is committed to providing affordable, high-quality healthcare for pets in a Fear Free environment, while ensuring clients receive an outstanding experience. Passionate about innovation, Kristie champions the use of technology to modernise elements of veterinary practice to improve outcomes for both pets and their owners.