Overhead view of professionals networking. Representative of UVSA’s NextGen Cohort.

UVSA Building Blocks

Industry | May 2025

Written by:

Graham Garrison is an editor and writer with experience in business and trade publications across several industries. He has worked for Veterinary Advantage since 2009.

UVSA’s NextGen Cohort is designed to ease young professionals into networking and leadership opportunities as they progress in their careers.

Julia Loew, senior vice president – commercialization, MWI Animal Health believes networking is a cornerstone of professional development. “I would not be where I am today without a strong network.”

But creating a network can be difficult, especially for young professionals. Some people don’t know where to start. And it’s even harder to build relationships in a post-COVID era when not everyone works in the office. “Finding those connection points can be really hard,” she said.

The United Veterinary Services (UVSA) created a NextGen program to build more of those connection points between young professionals and more senior leaders in the industry. In 2024, the association rolled out a two-year cohort with a few key tenants.

First, the cohort provides access to executive-level leadership, whether it’s UVSA board members or just being at the events.

Second, NextGen provides a professional development opportunity outside of what’s being offered at an individual’s company. “It gives them a little different perspective outside their organization of professional development,” said Betsy Watkins, senior director business development, Pegasus Laboratories.

“We’re not trying to replace what’s happening within somebody’s organization, because those languages are very important,” Loew said. “We stick to topics we think are more universal with leadership capabilities, that no matter the language or leadership competency models at your individual organization, this would complement those versus compete.”

Third, UVSA wanted to foster a sense of community and networking for entry level professionals or lower-level managers. Often these professionals have fewer opportunities for networking at major industry events. “Maybe they’re not allowed to go to VMX, or they’re not geographically located to attend Western, so this program gives them a chance to start a networking community amongst their peers and leaders,” Loew said.

 

Professionals in a conference room meeting.

 

A full calendar of events

The program’s kickoff involves attending UVSA’s annual spring meeting. The topic for this year’s meeting being held early May in California was on executive presence.

Following the spring meeting, UVSA will host virtual meetings where the cohort will hear leadership journeys from more senior UVSA members: how they got to where they are, what they learned along the way, mistakes and successes, etc. Cohort members will also have a chance to ask questions to the leader.

The next quarter, Lesli Denhart Stasiek, senior director, human resources at MWI Animal Health will cover intentional career conversations with the cohort, including how to actively convey your goals and ambitions to your leader, how to understand what leaders are thinking about in regard to talent across the organization and how you can move into different roles within your organization.

Then participants will do some career mapping they can use in future conversations with their manager on how they can be supported by the company. The NextGen cohort also focuses on personal well-being and mental health.

The following year, cohort members are invited to UVSA’s board meeting in January at VMX to expose them to how a board works. They’re also invited to UVSA’s VMX Gathering so they can network.

Finally, after cohort members go through the first year of structured curricula, they will become mentors for the next class.

Breaking the ice

UVSA is a group of individuals with a lot of industry history, so NextGen is a way to ease younger professionals into the association, said Tara Rowe, executive director, U.S. strategy and business channels at Merck Animal Health. “It can be pretty intimidating if you don’t have the relationships and have never been to a meeting,” she said. “So, putting an event together specifically for them, getting them to connect and be able to talk, breaks the ice, and helps people feel more comfortable to join.”

Watkins has been involved in WILMAH’s mentorship program for the last several years and has seen a few of the people she’s mentored already being promoted to positions with greater responsibility within their organization. She’s hoping UVSA’s NextGen program can yield similar results for participants.

UVSA Executive Director Amy Kulp said there has already been a couple of situations where NextGen cohort members have stepped into more active roles for UVSA, such as networking and outreach, or gotten involved in task forces.

“Now that we have this two-year cohort, it extends the opportunity,” Kulp said. “Once they get to know the ins and outs of how the organization is run and what projects we’re working on, they can step forward and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea, or ‘Can I help you with this?’ I’m excited to see what happens after they step out of the cohort officially. They have a presence. They have a voice. And they have the official connection now to UVSA leadership.”

UVSA 2024-2025 Cohort:

  • Walt Keeshen
  • Kate Arrick
  • Michael Brickman
  • Trisha Wheeler
  • Greg Adams
  • Jamie Hayes
  • Chris Engel
  • Gentrie Zeller
  • Bill Harpster
  • Matt Meyers
  • Tiffany Fairchild
  • Alyssa Rathsabandith
  • Mark Steiner
  • Kameron Gustafson

 

Photo credit: istockphoto.com/sanjeri

>