Practice Management Speakers

Dr. Peter Weinstein is a husband, father, pet parent, veterinarian and leader.  He has been involved with virtually all aspects of veterinary practice from a 15-year-old kennel kid to a hospital owner.  Organized veterinary medicine has been a passion as well with various roles and leadership and presidencies of Southern California VMA, California VMA, and Vet Partners.  He is a published author, most notably of the E-Myth Veterinarian-Why Most Veterinary Practices Don’t Work and What to Do About It. Currently, he is teaching business and finance at the Veterinary College of Western University of Health Sciences.  He likes to think of himself as a free-thinking change agent and disruptor who, because he has a daughter who just graduated from veterinary school, is working for an even better veterinary profession in the future.

Dr. Jenna Jackson, DVM is a USDA APHIS veterinary medical officer based out of middle Tennessee. She is a 2014 graduate of the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine. Her career with APHIS began in 2016, as an international export veterinarian. Over the years she’s endorsed tens of thousands of international export health certificates – for domestic and exotic animal species – to hundreds of destinations worldwide. There are few international health certificates she has not seen, and she’s happy to help you navigate the stressful task of completing livestock and pet health certificates.
Currently, Dr. Jackson works as a USDA field veterinary medical officer and foreign animal disease diagnostician. She deploys to animal disease outbreaks within the United States (such as avian influenza) and performs foreign animal disease investigations locally, as needed. She and her family farm 30 acres – they raise Katahdin sheep and backyard chickens … with a menagerie of horses, goats, a pet pig, dogs and barn cats.

Dr. Joel Sailor grew up in Florida and has recently relocated to North Carolina. He is a 1990 graduate of the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. He was inspired to become a veterinarian due to his love of science and his knack for solving problems. He has been participating in clinical research of Merck Animal Health products for over a decade.

Dr. Sailor was drawn to Merck Animal Health because of its culture of science, collaboration, and integrity. He feels that Merck Animal Health is unconditionally committed to its partnership with veterinarians and to communicating clearly with them to provide the best veterinary care.

As Associate Director Veterinary Professional Services East, Dr. Sailor connects the details in the science that help to drive the business. He enjoys teaching about practice management, speaking with practice owners, and helping them to achieve their individual goals. He is excited about the future of veterinary medicine as technology progresses to revolutionize the diagnostic and patient management processes.

When he’s not in the field, Dr. Sailor enjoys hiking and spending time in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina.

Jessica Decesare is the Chief People Officer at VetEvotve, where she is responsible for leading the effort to retain veterinarians, practice managers, and leaders through discussions and plans regarding practice culture, health/wellbeing, production reports, and operational process improvements.

Decesare has more than 30 years of experience in the veterinary industry. Prior to joining VetEvolve in 2016, Jessica served at Novartis as a National Key Account Manager from 2007 to 2010 and at Rocky Gorge Animal Hospital as a Hospital Administrator from 2010 to 2015.

Decesare holds a BA in Marketing from Loyola University, is a Certified Veterinary Practice Manager (CVPM) is a Certified Compassion Fatigue Professional (CCFP) and received the 2021 Friend of the VVMA award. Based in Westminster, MO, she has been married for 30 years to her husband Michael, has 3 grown children named Olivia, Marc and Gabrielle, a granddaughter named Hannah, and a cat named Toby. In her free time, Jessica enjoys exercising, the outdoors, traveling, and great food.

Dr. Meredith Robbins is the Director of Talent Acquisition at VetEvolve, where she is responsible for highlighting each practice’s unique attributes to attract new team members, as well as providing excellent candidate experiences to veterinarians and veterinary technicians.

Robbins has more than 5 years of experience in veterinary recruiting, Prior to joining VetEvolve in July of 2022, Meredith worked as a General Practice and Mobile Hospice Veterinarian in Jacksonville Beach, FL and transitioned from clinical practice to talent acquisition with a large veterinary group in 2018, where she led a team of 12 Talent Acquisition Specialists.

Robbins worked as a veterinary assistant while obtaining her undergraduate degree in Biology at Florida State University, and then went on to graduate from the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine. Meredith resides in Jacksonville Beach, FL where she enjoys spending time with friends and family, paddleboarding, and playing pickleball.

Mike Panter has consulted with Veterinarians for over 25 years and has developed a systematic but totally innovative and holistic approach to counseling owners through the practice transition and succession planning process. He has helped many Vets over the years by approaching the process as a multi-year endeavor, which allows time for more pro-active Associate Buy-in programs, Owner Earn-outs, mergers, good will transfers, partner buy/sell agreements and other outside-the-box methods which can dramatically increase pay-outs and drastically lower tax liabilities.

Mike is the Founder, President, and CEO of Southern Practice Consulting Group affiliate company, Southern Financial Consultants, Inc. He opened the agency in Blue Ridge, Georgia in 1983. Mike has been in the insurance and financial services industry since 1983, He has qualified over 25 times for numerous national award conferences. He specializes in the areas of insurance, investments, retirement and estate planning strategies. Mike is a U.S. Army Veteran and recipient of the Army Accommodation Medal. He is actively involved in the local community including the Chamber of Commerce and is a two time past president of Kiwanis. He has coached youth sports for the past 30+ years including basketball, baseball, softball, football, and soccer. Mike is a Graduate of the University of Georgia with a Bachelor of Science in Education. He has a LUTCF designation and is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table. He is licensed in the areas of life & health insurance, variable life, and variable annuities. He holds his Series 6 and 63 securities licenses.