Your Pets, Our Pets: Conversations about companion animals, animal health, and the human-animal bond‪.‬ Regency

In this eposide of Your Pets, Our Pets podcast, Scott Buttz, President & Chief Operating Officer of Regency Pet, speaks with Coleen Ellis, Director of the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care, also known as IAAHPC. Coleen is a renowned lecturer and educator on pet end of life for both veterinarians and pet families. She’s an entrepreneur owning many companies and is an accomplished author and well-recognized thought leader on the subject of pet death care.
 
Coleen discusses why she wants every family to think the end of life care for their pets was perfect and the services the IAAHPC provides to ensure this. She shares what she thinks has been the most instrumental change in the industry and where the industry is going in the next decade. She also talks about what was the most exciting thing about the recent IAAHPC virtual conference and what to expect at the upcoming VMX 2022, hosted by North American Veterinary Community (NAVC).
 
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Why she wants every family to say “The end was perfect.”
What is the IAAHPC
The most exciting thing about the conference and upcoming IAAHPC events
What to expect at the upcoming VMX 2022
The most important message Coleen wants to deliver to veterinarians and their staff regarding end of life
What’s been the most instrumental change and where she sees the industry going in the next decade
 
QUOTES
“What’s the beauty of our industry and in our profession right now, Scott, is what do we do with the end of life walk? And my goal and the flag I carry when it comes to this subject is I want every family we work with to turn around and look at us and say, ‘The end was perfect. I have no regrets.’” -Coleen Ellis [05:02]
“We live in a death avoidance society. We live in a society that says, ‘If I die.’ We live in a society where we work with families who say ‘If my pet dies.’ And then on that really bad day because we didn’t want to think about it, because we believed if we thought about it, we would make it happen quicker, and then all of the sudden, we get put in this position and it happens with us with our human loved ones too. We don’t want to believe it's’ going to happen, and it’s a when. It’s not an if. It is a when.” -Coleen Ellis [07:14]
“Everything within IAAHPC is all about what is it the pet parent wants as far as the end walk, and how will we as professionals insert ourselves into help with that walk.” -Coleen Ellis [13:33]
“It’s time to think differently” -Coleen Ellis [25:31]
 
TIMESTAMPS
[00:13] Intro
[00:25] Meet Coleen
[02:21] Is Coleen a cat or dog person?
[03:28] The end was perfect
[10:33] The IAAHPC
[14:41] Exciting thing about the conference
[16:15] Upcoming IAAHPC events
[18:40] NAVC and VMX 2022
[23:29] Coleen’s advice about end of life care
[25:43] What’s been the most 
[28:35] Lighting round
[30:18] Outro
 
RESOURCES
North American Veterinary Community
VMX 2022
The Human Animal Bond Research Institute
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
 
CONNECT
International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care
Regency Pet website
Regency Pet on Facebook
Regency Pet on Instagram
Regency Pet on YouTube
Regency Pet on LinkedIn

SUMMARY
In this episode of Your Pets, Our Pets podcast, Scott Buttz, President & Chief Operating Officer of Regency Pet, speaks with Kevin McAllister, Founder and Managing Partner of Access Holdings.
 
Kevin founded Access Holding in 2013 and has more than 20 years of private equity experience. He manages and oversees all firm activities. Prior to Access Holdings, he was with Sterling Partners, where he was a member of the investment committee. Kevin also served at American Capital, JP Morgan, Accenture and AT Kerney as an M&A (mergers and acquisitions) banker and strategic consultant respectively.
 
Kevin shares more about his journey to Access Holdings. He also discusses why culture is important to have at Access Holding and how he builds that culture. Listen as he defines what is a leader and his approach to M&A and buy and build.
 
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN
Kevin’s journey with Access Holdings
Why it’s important to have culture at Access Holdings and how Kevin builds that culture
How Kevin defines a leader
His approach to M&A and how he defines high velocity buy and build
Why you should be purposeful with your work and move towards it all the time
 
QUOTES
“And that’s part of the journey for us at Access Holdings, which is sitting down with entrepreneurs and not saying, ‘Hey, I want to buy your business,’ but ‘Where do you see an opportunity in the market? Where do you see the challenges? What would you do if you had a clean sheet of white paper and unlimited capital resources or some experts around digital capabilities.’ So it gives us tremendous pleasure to sit down with folks and help them realize on their potential envision.” -Kevin McAllister [06:17]
“It’s one thing to just be unsatisfied. It’s another to be positively discontent with where you are. You just know you can do more.” -Scott Buttz [11:30]
“Continue to lack any contemptment. Keep on reaching. Keep on aspiring to do better.” -Kevin McAllister [20:54]
“You take good care of your employees, Scott. They’re going to take good care of your customers. And us investors will be just fine if you do those things.” -Kevin McAllister [23:16]
 
TIMESTAMPS
[00:01] Intro
[00:39] Meet Kevin McAllister
[03:47] Does Kevin have pets?
[04:09] His journey with Access Holdings
[07:11] How he builds culture
[10:29] Command climate
[12:37] How Kevin defines a leader
[15:34] His approach to buy and build and M&A
[20:04] Be purposeful
[22:46] Kevin’s advice for Regency
[23:29] Lighting round
[27:34] Outro
 
RESOURCES
Driving Growth Through Purposeful and Systematic M&A
The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
 
CONNECT
Access Holdings website
Access Holdings on LinkedIn
Kevin McAllister on LinkedIn
Regency Pet website
Regency Pet on Facebook
Regency Pet on Instagram
Regency Pet on YouTube
Regency Pet on LinkedIn