Speakers
Explore Our All-Star Lineup
Our speakers are among the very best presenters and respected key opinion leaders in the veterinary community. They offer great insights into the challenges veterinary practices face today and provide actionable solutions to help veterinarians and their staff to become a better business. They are also very entertaining!
Featured Speakers
Adam Christman, DVM, MBA
Keynote Speaker | Build a Winning Culture | Friday
Dr. Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, is the Chief Veterinary Officer of dvm360®, the nation’s most influential veterinary media network, under MJH Life Sciences®. As the brand’s strategic voice and public face, Dr. Christman leads content innovation across a vast multimedia empire—including dvm360 Live!™, The Vet Blast Podcast, Fetch Veterinary Conferences, and live national broadcasts.
A practicing veterinarian with over two decades of expertise in private and shelter medicine, Dr. Christman has evolved into an international authority on veterinary communication, media, practice management, and leadership. His presence has been felt across Good Morning America, Fox Weather, z100 with Elvis Duran, and dozens of top-rated podcasts, publications, and book on dogs with disabilities.
A master of modern influence, Dr. Christman connects with over 2 million followers across social platforms, educating and inspiring pet parents, students, and veterinary professionals alike. His engaging content and unmistakable passion have earned him accolades such as the 2025 AVMA Steve Dale Media Award, 2023 VMX Speaker of the Year, Bright Minds Veterinary Influencer of the Year, and Iowa State’s William Switzer Award for Veterinary Excellence.
Dr. Christman shares his life with his husband, Chris, and their beloved pack of four dachshunds—living proof of his belief that no one should be deprived of the magic of the human-animal bond.
Walter L. Brown Jr., RVTg, VTS (ECC)
Master of Ceremonies | Friday & Saturday
Walter Brown is an Emergency and Critical Care Specialty Veterinary Technologist, social media public figure, influencer, comedian, and founder of SKINNI GO LIVE LLC. Walter combines his background in veterinary medicine with comedy to bring education and relief to veterinary professionals worldwide. He has millions of views and continues to create content on multiple platforms.
While devoting some of his time to SKINNI GO LIVE LLC, Walter also works as a Veterinary Technologist program liaison for United Veterinary Care, where he cultivates relationships with veterinary technology programs and provides veterinary technology students with opportunities and resources to pave the way for future career interests. Walter has plans to develop supplemental learning courses and seminars for veterinary technology students, pet parents, and kids of all ages. His ultimate dream is to create veterinary assistant programs for inner-city schools and charter schools in low-income areas.
Walter received his veterinary technology degree from Fort Valley State University. He was academically trained in emergency and critical care at the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Veterinary Teaching Hospital. Walter has two dogs, Bando, a pit bull, and Lexi, a corgi; 25 tarantulas; six axolotls; and a leopard tortoise named Slow Mojo.
New, by popular demand
Sunday Workshops
You’re invited to attend an exclusive limited-seating workshop at the PSIvet Business Symposium—and VetSuite members receive complimentary registration! These workshops are first-come, first-served and expected to fill quickly. Don’t miss your chance for hands-on learning with industry experts!
Block That Pain—Dental Nerve Blocks (Hands-On Workshop)
Mary L. Berg, BS, LATG, RVT, VTS (Dentistry), FVTE
Sunday, October 12 • 9:30am–12:00pm (Breakfast served 8:30am–9:30am)
Cost: $240
Seats Available: 25
Mary received her VTS (Dentistry) in 2006, recertifying in 2025. Her background includes veterinary dental research, practice management, and dental technician in general practice. She’s currently an adjunct at two veterinary technology programs, teaching laboratory animal techniques and dentistry. She is the president and founder of Beyond the Crown Veterinary Education, teaching dentistry to veterinary teams using practical and easy-to-master methods. Mary received her Fellow in Veterinary Technician Education from the AVTE in 2025, the VMX Speaker of the Year in 2024 award, NAVTA Veterinary Technician of the Year award in 2020, the AVDT’s Excellence in Dentistry Education award in 2019. Mary is a textbook author, speaker, and wet lab instructor at numerous state and national conferences. When she isn’t teaching dentistry, she serves as the chair of the NAVTA Veterinary Technician Journal editorial committee and as advisor to the NAVTA District Representatives. She is also the chair of the VTNE committee for AAVSB and serves on the Board of Directors for VetPartners and the Foundation for Veterinary Dentistry. Mary lives on a small farm with her husband, Doug, outside Lawrence, KS. Her hobbies are gardening, food preservation, reading, and spending time with her family. They have two sons who are married, and they have been gifted with five grandchildren. Their lives are managed by a terrier named Gypsy and a feline named Debbie, along with a herd of goats.
Pricing Strategies and Tools (Hands-On Workshop)
Dr. Karen Felsted, CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM, CVA
Sunday, October 12 • 9:30am–12:30pm (Breakfast served 8:30am–9:30am)
Cost: $100
Seats Available: 50
Dr. Felsted is a CPA as well as a veterinarian and has spent the last 20 years working as a financial and operational consultant to veterinary practices and the animal health industry. She is active in multiple veterinary organizations, has written an extensive number of articles for a wide range of veterinary publications, and speaks regularly at national and international veterinary meetings. She was awarded the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management Continuing Educator of the Year award in 2011 and 2027, the VetPartners Distinguished Life Member Award in 2014, and the VHMA President’s Award in 2023.
Reserve Your Workshop Spot Today!
Register for the 2025 PSIvet Business Symposium today and select your preferred workshop to include in your registration. Already registered for the Symposium? Reserve your seat now by emailing [email protected] with your name and registration confirmation number. Our team will help you update your existing registration.
Additional Speakers
Dr. Stacey Bone, DVM
Winning With Senior Pets & Nutrition | Saturday
Stacey Bone, DVM, is an experienced and innovative veterinarian. His professional passions lie deeply in enhancing the well-being of senior pets and pioneering preventative care strategies. He currently serves as the Director of Data-Driven Business Models at Hill's Pet Nutrition, playing a key role in guiding the company's growth through innovative initiatives. With almost two decades of experience as a small animal veterinarian, he brings a deep understanding of pets' needs and a passion for enhancing their well-being.
Stacey's educational background includes a BA in biology from the University of Missouri (2003) and a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (DVM) degree (2008). He spent 11 years working as a full-time small animal veterinarian, building expertise and strong industry connections before joining Hill’s Pet Nutrition. At Hill’s, Stacey has served in multiple positions from field veterinarian to new business ventures. Beyond his current role, Stacey continues to work as a relief veterinarian and also founded a startup dedicated to developing assistive devices for senior pets.
Debbie Boone, BS, CVPM
How to Win With Customer Service | Friday
Debbie Boone, BS, CVPM, Fear FreeSM Certified, has worked in the veterinary profession for more than 40 years. After earning her bachelor’s degree in animal science from North Carolina State University, she began as a client care representative and quickly moved into hospital administration. Debbie has experience in the management of small animal, mixed animal, specialty, and emergency practices.
Debbie is considered an expert in team communication, creating positive practice culture and developing operations efficiency for veterinary practices. Debbie published her new book, “Hospitality in HealthCare: How Top Performing Practices Give the Best in Care to Their Patients and Boost Team Happiness,” in July of 2023, which launched at a book signing at AVMA Convention 2023. Her business, 2 Manage Vets Consulting, helps practices develop extraordinary team communication and business skills, enhancing patient care, improving profitability, and increasing practice value. She strives to improve the lives of animals by using her expertise to improve workplace culture and the well-being of veterinary professionals.
Major national and international animal health organizations, including AVMA, OVMA, CanWest, WVC, NAVC, AAHA, and more, consistently seek Debbie out for her skills as a trainer and speaker. She has even been quoted in The Wall Street Journal. She has been published in numerous veterinary publications, was the 2022 President of VetPartners, and served as a member of the VetPartners Board of Directors for 6 years. She is on the Fear Free Advisory Council, Stokes and Epicur Pharmacy advisory board, and a is a key opinion leader, where she enjoys sharing her real-world clinic experience with companies. She is currently hosting a vodcast and podcast called The Bend, which invites guests to share their stories of triumph over adversity and how they are changing the veterinary profession for the better.
Her latest collaboration is the creation of a non-profit association for veterinary client service representatives called NAAVR, The North American Association of Veterinary Receptionists. This association will support, empower, and educate front office team members and elevate the job to a career.
Debbie lives in North Myrtle Beach, SC, where she spends her off time in her garden, at the beach, walking her dog, Tucker, or on the boat with her husband, Mike.
Monica Dixon Perry, CVPM
Recruiting & Staffing Wins | Saturday
Monica has been involved in the field of veterinary medicine for more than 39 years. She earned her bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Monica has been a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM) for more than 20 years and remains a strong advocate for other veterinary practice managers to pursue this designation.
For over a decade, Monica managed a successful full-service, small animal eastern and western medicine veterinary practice in Raleigh, NC. As hospital administrator with Bowman Animal Hospital & Cat Clinic, Inc., she managed every aspect of the seven-day-a-week, nine-doctor hospital’s operations. For 15 years, Monica was a consultant/partner with Mark Opperman, CVPM, at VMC, Inc. where she presented a seminar called "Principles of Veterinary Practice Management" throughout the United States and Canada. She has lectured at numerous national veterinary conferences and veterinary schools in the United States as well as presented internationally.
As a consultant, Monica enjoyed lecturing and working with practices that participated in VMC’s on-site consultation services. Monica was also a part-time university lecturer at North Carolina State University in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics, where she taught Veterinary Practice Management at the undergraduate level. In her current position, she is the Veterinary Division Senior Manager at BerryDunn and enjoys consulting with practices and lecturing nationally and internationally.
Monica is the 2024 President Elect of VetPartners, an active member of the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA), Youth Director at her church, and sits on the board of Casa Esperanza Montessori Charter School in Raleigh, NC. Monica will let you know that her two primary purposes in life are working with veterinary practices and their teams and being the best possible wife and mom. She shares her Raleigh, NC, home with her supportive and loving husband and their teenage daughter.
Monica is the 2022 Practice Management Speaker of the Year at the VMX Veterinary Meeting and Expo.
Dr. Karen Felsted, CPA, MS, DVM, CVPM, CVA
How to Win With Pricing | Saturday
Dr. Felsted is a CPA as well as a veterinarian and has spent the last 20 years working as a financial and operational consultant to veterinary practices and the animal health industry. She is active in multiple veterinary organizations, has written an extensive number of articles for a wide range of veterinary publications, and speaks regularly at national and international veterinary meetings. She was awarded the Western Veterinary Conference Practice Management Continuing Educator of the Year award in 2011 and 2027, the VetPartners Distinguished Life Member Award in 2014, and the VHMA President’s Award in 2023.
Eric Garcia
Winning with New Clients (and Retaining Existing Ones) | Friday
When it comes to helping veterinary practices streamline their technology and attract and retain clients, Eric Garcia has a proven track record of educating the industry and producing results. Eric is an internationally recognized IT and Digital Strategist working exclusively within the field of veterinary medicine. Garcia’s work has been recognized throughout the industry.
Eric was voted VMX 2020 Speaker of the Year by conference attendees and speaks regularly at conferences all throughout the world.
Travis Meredith
Industry Trends (Animalytix) | Friday
Travis Meredith holds a unique insight into the animal health market that spans over 20 years and has extensive knowledge in the scope of the animal health supply chain. He has successfully launched new products into the companion animal, equine, and cattle markets for companies ranging from venture-backed start-ups to global manufacturers, and has owned and operated multiple companion animal and equine veterinary practices. He also has effectively guided several new-stage animal health ventures through both the investment and product development processes.
Travis holds a DVM from Texas A&M University, did his residency training at The University of Pennsylvania, and earned an MBA from the University of North Carolina. Travis is a Maryland native who operates from his office outside of Philadelphia, PA.
Patricia Porter, MBA
Winning with Technology (AI Panel) | Saturday
Patricia Porter is the founder and CEO of VEA (Veterinarian Exam Assistant), an AI-powered platform transforming veterinary medicine by automating clinical workflows, treatment planning, and SOAP note documentation. With over a decade of experience leading AI initiatives across healthcare, consumer, and enterprise sectors—including projects for IBM Watson, Google, and Blue Cross Blue Shield—Patricia brings deep expertise in building scalable technology solutions that improve care and efficiency. Under her leadership, VEA has partnered with industry leaders such as PSIvet, Purina, and Antech and was named the 2025 Purina Pet Care Innovation Prize winner.
Rob Tiffany
Winning with Technology (AI Panel) | Saturday
A Research Director at IDC focused on cloud and edge computing, Rob has held technical leadership roles at Ericsson, Hitachi, and Microsoft.
As Vice President and Head of IoT Strategy at Ericsson, he drove 5G connection management with the IoT Accelerator and participated in global M&A activities. As Chief Technology Officer at Hitachi, he received the Presidential Product of the Year award for designing the Lumada Industrial IoT platform which landed in Gartner’s “Leaders” Magic Quadrant. Spending most of his career at Microsoft, Rob was Director and Global Technology Lead for the Azure IoT cloud platform, which also made it to Gartner’s “Leaders" Quadrant. Prior to Microsoft, he co-founded NetPerceptor, developing one of the industry’s earliest enterprise mobility management (EMM) platforms for smartphones.
As a bestselling author and keynote speaker, Rob is a frequently sought-after source of insights globally. He’s been featured in Wired, Forbes, FierceWireless, Inc. Magazine, Dataconomy, Thinkers360, Onalytica, Mobile World Live, Techonomy, and SXSW.
Mark Donovan
Winning with Technology (AI Panel) | Saturday
A serial innovator, inventor and entrepreneur, Mark lives at the intersection of data, AI, consumer technologies and digital health – always seeking opportunities to solve customer pains in new and better ways. Mark is a pioneer in the use of hybrid AI solutions that create emotionally resonant, digital experiences that bring pets and the people who love and care for them closer together. With more than 30 years experience driving digital transformation and product innovation across multiple industries and product categories, Mark has held global leadership roles at Fortune 100 companies, has founded his own health and fitness startups and had a successful parallel career as a senior officer in the US Air Force Reserves. His work spans AI-driven personalization, connected devices, digital solutions, consumer products, go-to-market strategies, global Logistics and Production systems; creating experiences that delight millions along the way.
A dynamic speaker and storyteller, Mark is known for translating cutting-edge technology into real-world value, always seeking, first, to have an empathic understanding of the problem in order to best inform understanding the technologies best-suited to deliver solutions that delight.
Mark left a hugely successful corporate career at Nestle Purina PetCare in late 2024 to focus on his passion for creating transformational products that make life better. He recently became Chief Experience Officer (CXO) for PawsitiveTouch, a startup building the world’s 1st AI-enabled platform to improve the emotional health and wellness of pets and the people who love them, ensuring their time together and apart is the best possible – keep your eyes open for their flagship product launch, the TouchOne Smart Dog Harness system, that senses changing emotions, health and behavior trends and takes personalized action, applying novel sound and haptic therapies that calm and reassure your dog and you when apart.
While at Purina, Mark’s career was unique in having held leadership positions in global R&D, IT, the US commercial business and in the PetCare Global Strategic Business Unit. Of note; while at Purina, Mark led development of the Petivity-branded predictive pet health platform whose early products include the Petivity Smart Litterbox Monitor and the Pet Microbiome Assessment Kit. He led development of Purina’s 1st AI-enabled personalized-nutrition product recommendation engine that lives in many Purina digital products. He also led discovery and development of Purina’s game-changing Tidy Cats Lightweight Cat Litter technology platform – one of the most successful new product launches in Purina history.
Prior to Purina, Mark led Point-of-Sale (POS) product development at PetSmart Inc, led custom SAP software testing at Monsanto (now Bayer Health Science) and digital product development at Anderson Consulting (now Accenture).
In his spare time, Mark became a certified fitness and nutrition coach, founded two small businesses - StormCloud CrossFit and BodyComp - and was a globally ranked competitive CrossFit Master’s Athlete. Mark has significant non-profit Board experience as Board President for the Good Samaritan House, a shelter for homeless women with children and as a board member at T-REX, the St Louis region’s leading early-stage Technology Innovation Center.
Today, Mark continues to advise and consult early-stage PetCare companies such as Veterinary Exam Assistant (VEA) and Lumiinus. He is also an early investor in Copernic Space, the world’s 1st web3 platform to democratize access to space and space ventures and where he owns the world’s first portfolio of “catronaut” and “spacedog” digital asset’s (highly collectible NFT’s) that landed on the moon earlier this year aboard the world’s 1st successful commercial moon landing mission.
A serial inventor, Mark holds many patents and led creation of significant trade-secret Intellectual Property. He has an MS in Logistics Process Engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology and a BA in Biology from the Richard Stockton University. Having lived across the US and Europe, Mark, his wife, Michelle, and their rescued Pit Bull, Jocko, currently live in a small town near St Louis, Missouri.
Full schedule will be shared soon! Final speakers and agenda are subject to change and more exciting additions are in the works!