Galaxy Vets will take your practice to the next level with employee ownership

Dr. Zak is a veterinarian, an entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate for the well-being of veterinary professionals.

Twelve years as an ER vet inspired Ivan to create Smart Flow, a first-in-the-industry workflow optimization system, later acquired by Fortune 500 company IDEXX. In 2019, Ivan founded Veterinary Integration Solutions, an executive consulting firm where he helped veterinary groups systematize acquisition, integration, and improvement of practices with particular attention to burnout prevention.

Along the way, Ivan obtained an MBA degree in International Healthcare Management with a thesis, “Implementation of lean thinking to improve the employee experience.”

Emmitt Nantz has been part of the veterinary family for nearly two decades and is driven by a personal mission to make the domain better.

Emmitt spent 12 years working at Banfield, starting out as a manager of two different hospitals. Having majored in analytics and financial modeling, he expanded his education to include an MBA, Six Sigma and project management. Emmitt applied these learnings by creating large-scale operational improvements for the entire Banfield network with a focus on improving employee and client satisfaction.

Emmitt brings a breadth of experience and a strong passion for operational improvement in veterinary hospitals to the role.

Steven served as Director of Operations and Vice President of Operations at PetVet Care Centers from 2016 to 2021.
Previously, Steve held the position of Field Director, Arizona West, while working at Banfield Pet Hospital Inc. In addition, he was a member of the Operations Support team designing and implementing strategic improvement solutions for the organization. Steve held this role for six years (March 2011 – September 2016).
Before this, he held the position of General Manager/Central and South Texas, while working at The Hertz Corporation. Steve occupied this position for seven years (November 2003 – March 2011). He completed his Lean/Sigma Green Belt, and an M.A. in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Additionally, Steve received a B.S. in political science from Kansas State University.

Dr. Zak is a veterinarian, an entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate for the well-being of veterinary professionals.

Twelve years as an ER vet inspired Ivan to create Smart Flow, a first-in-the-industry workflow optimization system, later acquired by Fortune 500 company IDEXX. In 2019, Ivan founded Veterinary Integration Solutions, an executive consulting firm where he helped veterinary groups systematize acquisition, integration, and improvement of practices with particular attention to burnout prevention.

Along the way, Ivan obtained an MBA degree in International Healthcare Management with a thesis, “Implementation of lean thinking to improve the employee experience.”

Emmitt Nantz has been part of the veterinary family for nearly two decades and is driven by a personal mission to make the domain better.

Emmitt spent 12 years working at Banfield, starting out as a manager of two different hospitals. Having majored in analytics and financial modeling, he expanded his education to include an MBA, Six Sigma and project management. Emmitt applied these learnings by creating large-scale operational improvements for the entire Banfield network with a focus on improving employee and client satisfaction.

Emmitt brings a breadth of experience and a strong passion for operational improvement in veterinary hospitals to the role.

Steven served as Director of Operations and Vice President of Operations at PetVet Care Centers from 2016 to 2021.
Previously, Steve held the position of Field Director, Arizona West, while working at Banfield Pet Hospital Inc. In addition, he was a member of the Operations Support team designing and implementing strategic improvement solutions for the organization. Steve held this role for six years (March 2011 – September 2016).
Before this, he held the position of General Manager/Central and South Texas, while working at The Hertz Corporation. Steve occupied this position for seven years (November 2003 – March 2011). He completed his Lean/Sigma Green Belt, and an M.A. in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Additionally, Steve received a B.S. in political science from Kansas State University.

Dr. Zak is a veterinarian, an entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate for the well-being of veterinary professionals.

Twelve years as an ER vet inspired Ivan to create Smart Flow, a first-in-the-industry workflow optimization system, later acquired by Fortune 500 company IDEXX. In 2019, Ivan founded Veterinary Integration Solutions, an executive consulting firm where he helped veterinary groups systematize acquisition, integration, and improvement of practices with particular attention to burnout prevention.

Along the way, Ivan obtained an MBA degree in International Healthcare Management with a thesis, “Implementation of lean thinking to improve the employee experience.”

Emmitt Nantz has been part of the veterinary family for nearly two decades and is driven by a personal mission to make the domain better.

Emmitt spent 12 years working at Banfield, starting out as a manager of two different hospitals. Having majored in analytics and financial modeling, he expanded his education to include an MBA, Six Sigma and project management. Emmitt applied these learnings by creating large-scale operational improvements for the entire Banfield network with a focus on improving employee and client satisfaction.

Emmitt brings a breadth of experience and a strong passion for operational improvement in veterinary hospitals to the role.

Steven served as Director of Operations and Vice President of Operations at PetVet Care Centers from 2016 to 2021.
Previously, Steve held the position of Field Director, Arizona West, while working at Banfield Pet Hospital Inc. In addition, he was a member of the Operations Support team designing and implementing strategic improvement solutions for the organization. Steve held this role for six years (March 2011 – September 2016).
Before this, he held the position of General Manager/Central and South Texas, while working at The Hertz Corporation. Steve occupied this position for seven years (November 2003 – March 2011). He completed his Lean/Sigma Green Belt, and an M.A. in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Additionally, Steve received a B.S. in political science from Kansas State University.

Dr. Zak is a veterinarian, an entrepreneur, and a passionate advocate for the well-being of veterinary professionals.

Twelve years as an ER vet inspired Ivan to create Smart Flow, a first-in-the-industry workflow optimization system, later acquired by Fortune 500 company IDEXX. In 2019, Ivan founded Veterinary Integration Solutions, an executive consulting firm where he helped veterinary groups systematize acquisition, integration, and improvement of practices with particular attention to burnout prevention.

Along the way, Ivan obtained an MBA degree in International Healthcare Management with a thesis, “Implementation of lean thinking to improve the employee experience.”

Emmitt Nantz has been part of the veterinary family for nearly two decades and is driven by a personal mission to make the domain better.

Emmitt spent 12 years working at Banfield, starting out as a manager of two different hospitals. Having majored in analytics and financial modeling, he expanded his education to include an MBA, Six Sigma and project management. Emmitt applied these learnings by creating large-scale operational improvements for the entire Banfield network with a focus on improving employee and client satisfaction.

Emmitt brings a breadth of experience and a strong passion for operational improvement in veterinary hospitals to the role.

Steven served as Director of Operations and Vice President of Operations at PetVet Care Centers from 2016 to 2021.
Previously, Steve held the position of Field Director, Arizona West, while working at Banfield Pet Hospital Inc. In addition, he was a member of the Operations Support team designing and implementing strategic improvement solutions for the organization. Steve held this role for six years (March 2011 – September 2016).
Before this, he held the position of General Manager/Central and South Texas, while working at The Hertz Corporation. Steve occupied this position for seven years (November 2003 – March 2011). He completed his Lean/Sigma Green Belt, and an M.A. in organizational management from the University of Phoenix. Additionally, Steve received a B.S. in political science from Kansas State University.

Ryan is an experienced business development and sales leader with a history of growing businesses through highly scalable sales models.

As the former Director of BD of Hippo Manager, Ryan began his education in the veterinary industry learning from his family of two veterinarians and the amazing veterinary community.
During his career, Ryan led sales for startups before starting his own sales consulting firm. His personal business was set aside for the next great idea, VIS’ Consolidator Operating Platform, and then Galaxy Vets.

Dr. Sarah Wallace is a veterinarian, telehealth expert, and staunch believer that our industry “doesn’t have to be this way”. Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, Sarah experienced early career burnout in the clinical setting and found her niche in telehealth. In 2018, she helped Fuzzy Pet Health successfully build and launch a standalone telehealth platform. Soon after, she was approached by Modern Animal to help improve their hospital-integrated telehealth solution.
These experiences, along with her desire to create a sustainable working environment for veterinary professionals, have shaped Sarah’s ongoing commitment to find ways to use telehealth to increase access to care and mitigate workload for veterinary teams.

When she’s not working, Sarah’s hobbies include hiking, biking, trying to cook, reading, finding new music and having conversations around a campfire. Sarah lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her dog Birdie.

Andrew Ciccolini is a dynamic leader who oversees veterinary operations, teams, and improvement initiatives. He possesses a background in the U.S. Army, where he worked his way up from Associate Veterinarian to VP of Operations.

In addition to his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, he has Master’s in Organizational Leadership. Andrew is a Medical Director at the National Mill Dog Rescue, a large non-profit located in Peyton Colorado.

Extensive leadership and analytical experience in executive management including mergers and acquisitions, negotiations, marketing, sales, strategic planning, corporate valuations, financial planning and analysis, treasury and cash management, capital projects, risk and insurance management.
Over 15 years with EMA Partners, a boutique M&A firm doing primarily sell-side transactions in a variety of industries. 10 years in the Pharma/Biotech industry as a finance leader with Amgen and Immunex.
Experienced treasurer and executive member on Board of Directors for multiple non-profit organizations. BA degree in finance from Honors College at Washington State University with study abroad certificates from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Kharkiv Agricultural Institute, Ukraine. MBA from Pacific Lutheran University.

Rory started in the US Air Force as a computer programmer, flight test engineer, and systems analyst working on classified programs. After 15 years, he went to work in Hollywood’s post-production industry as a software and systems engineer and served in VP Engineering and CTO positions.
From there, as an entrepreneur, he started an IT services company to serve small- to medium-sized businesses. Recently, after hearing about this game-changing veterinary consolidator, Galaxy Vets, he joined the organization as the Vice President of IT.

Sarah is a Registered Veterinary Technician with extensive experience in small animal medicine. She moved to the industry side of things in 2018, working as a Certified Customer Success Manager at Smart Flow and continued in that role at IDEXX. She managed multiple private practices and enterprise groups, ensuring they made full use of their veterinary software.
Now Sarah is part of the Galaxy Vets team as a Business Development Associate and loves working with practice owners to bring veterinary medicine back to veterinarians!

Alex is the head of marketing at Galaxy Vets. He’s been in marketing for over more than 10 years now, after selling his first software business at age 24. Alex helps Galaxy Vets find more fans and passionate colleagues with much entrepreneurial drive every day.
Alex holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and currently resides in Chania, Crete. Outside of work, you can find him on a Cretan beach with his lovely wife Natalie, son Max, and Griffon Bruxellois Mango.

Ryan is an experienced business development and sales leader with a history of growing businesses through highly scalable sales models.

As the former Director of BD of Hippo Manager, Ryan began his education in the veterinary industry learning from his family of two veterinarians and the amazing veterinary community.
During his career, Ryan led sales for startups before starting his own sales consulting firm. His personal business was set aside for the next great idea, VIS’ Consolidator Operating Platform, and then Galaxy Vets.

Dr. Sarah Wallace is a veterinarian, telehealth expert, and staunch believer that our industry “doesn’t have to be this way”. Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, Sarah experienced early career burnout in the clinical setting and found her niche in telehealth. In 2018, she helped Fuzzy Pet Health successfully build and launch a standalone telehealth platform. Soon after, she was approached by Modern Animal to help improve their hospital-integrated telehealth solution.
These experiences, along with her desire to create a sustainable working environment for veterinary professionals, have shaped Sarah’s ongoing commitment to find ways to use telehealth to increase access to care and mitigate workload for veterinary teams.

When she’s not working, Sarah’s hobbies include hiking, biking, trying to cook, reading, finding new music and having conversations around a campfire. Sarah lives in Fort Collins, Colorado, with her dog Birdie.

Andrew Ciccolini is a dynamic leader who oversees veterinary operations, teams, and improvement initiatives. He possesses a background in the U.S. Army, where he worked his way up from Associate Veterinarian to VP of Operations.

In addition to his Doctorate in Veterinary Medicine, he has Master’s in Organizational Leadership. Andrew is a Medical Director at the National Mill Dog Rescue, a large non-profit located in Peyton Colorado.

Extensive leadership and analytical experience in executive management including mergers and acquisitions, negotiations, marketing, sales, strategic planning, corporate valuations, financial planning and analysis, treasury and cash management, capital projects, risk and insurance management.
Over 15 years with EMA Partners, a boutique M&A firm doing primarily sell-side transactions in a variety of industries. 10 years in the Pharma/Biotech industry as a finance leader with Amgen and Immunex.
Experienced treasurer and executive member on Board of Directors for multiple non-profit organizations. BA degree in finance from Honors College at Washington State University with study abroad certificates from University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and Kharkiv Agricultural Institute, Ukraine. MBA from Pacific Lutheran University.

Rory started in the US Air Force as a computer programmer, flight test engineer, and systems analyst working on classified programs. After 15 years, he went to work in Hollywood’s post-production industry as a software and systems engineer and served in VP Engineering and CTO positions.
From there, as an entrepreneur, he started an IT services company to serve small- to medium-sized businesses. Recently, after hearing about this game-changing veterinary consolidator, Galaxy Vets, he joined the organization as the Vice President of IT.

Sarah is a Registered Veterinary Technician with extensive experience in small animal medicine. She moved to the industry side of things in 2018, working as a Certified Customer Success Manager at Smart Flow and continued in that role at IDEXX. She managed multiple private practices and enterprise groups, ensuring they made full use of their veterinary software.
Now Sarah is part of the Galaxy Vets team as a Business Development Associate and loves working with practice owners to bring veterinary medicine back to veterinarians!

Alex is the head of marketing at Galaxy Vets. He’s been in marketing for over more than 10 years now, after selling his first software business at age 24. Alex helps Galaxy Vets find more fans and passionate colleagues with much entrepreneurial drive every day.
Alex holds a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics from the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and currently resides in Chania, Crete. Outside of work, you can find him on a Cretan beach with his lovely wife Natalie, son Max, and Griffon Bruxellois Mango.

Michael is a forward-thinking product manager who led cross-functional development teams that created cutting-edge products across a diverse set of industries — from technology start-ups to large FMCG distribution and retail companies.
Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, Michael grew his own startup, a mobile app that gamified and improved monthly sales by up to 30% for over 120,000 points of sales through goal-setting and healthy competition.
Michael brings a unique blend of experience in holistic design and R&D to leverage data for the improvement of business performance and employee experience to the veterinary industry.

Tara is a veterinarian with 16 years of experience in private practice, both large and small animals. She has a background in health and wellness along with her career in veterinary medicine. Tara owns a CrossFit gym with her husband and an online health and wellness business with a team of over 800 people. Her particular passion is helping working moms, especially DVM moms with their health and nutrition. In her role as Head of Community Engagement at Galaxy Vets, Tara is focused on attracting like-minded people that want to change the course of the veterinary industry and live a life of passion and fulfillment.

Galyna is an experienced communications leader with 15 years in reputation management, crisis communications, executive counsel, media relations, and public affairs. Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, she managed global PR for technology startups and worked on the agency side as client service director leading a team of 25 professionals.
Throughout her career, she served a cross-section of corporate, government, and non-profit clients including Microsoft, Ericsson, Bayer, U.S. State Department, and others. Galyna is passionate about corporate social responsibility strategies, storytelling, and initiatives that drive positive change.

With over 20 years dedicated to the veterinary industry, Shannon combines her years of team management and passion for the industry into her role as Director of Hospital Integrations.

Shannon is responsible for the successful transition between the hospital team and Galaxy Vets.
She focuses her attention on the needs of the team to provide a thoughtful approach to this change, while continuing to drive the operational success of the hospital.

Ann McGrath is from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She has a B.S. in accounting from the University of St. Thomas and MBA from Upper Iowa University and she is working on her DBA in Accounting. Ann’s professional career started in public accounting where she performed audit and tax work, then moved into the private sector where she has been a controller for over 15 years.
She has spent the last six years contracting with various companies on both short and- long-term projects.
She is married with three adult kids, two dogs, and a cat. Ann enjoys traveling, gardening, and running marathons; she has completed 39.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Michael is a forward-thinking product manager who led cross-functional development teams that created cutting-edge products across a diverse set of industries — from technology start-ups to large FMCG distribution and retail companies.
Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, Michael grew his own startup, a mobile app that gamified and improved monthly sales by up to 30% for over 120,000 points of sales through goal-setting and healthy competition.
Michael brings a unique blend of experience in holistic design and R&D to leverage data for the improvement of business performance and employee experience to the veterinary industry.

Tara is a veterinarian with 16 years of experience in private practice, both large and small animals. She has a background in health and wellness along with her career in veterinary medicine. Tara owns a CrossFit gym with her husband and an online health and wellness business with a team of over 800 people. Her particular passion is helping working moms, especially DVM moms with their health and nutrition. In her role as Head of Community Engagement at Galaxy Vets, Tara is focused on attracting like-minded people that want to change the course of the veterinary industry and live a life of passion and fulfillment.

Galyna is an experienced communications leader with 15 years in reputation management, crisis communications, executive counsel, media relations, and public affairs. Prior to joining Galaxy Vets, she managed global PR for technology startups and worked on the agency side as client service director leading a team of 25 professionals.
Throughout her career, she served a cross-section of corporate, government, and non-profit clients including Microsoft, Ericsson, Bayer, U.S. State Department, and others. Galyna is passionate about corporate social responsibility strategies, storytelling, and initiatives that drive positive change.

With over 20 years dedicated to the veterinary industry, Shannon combines her years of team management and passion for the industry into her role as Director of Hospital Integrations.

Shannon is responsible for the successful transition between the hospital team and Galaxy Vets.
She focuses her attention on the needs of the team to provide a thoughtful approach to this change, while continuing to drive the operational success of the hospital.

Ann McGrath is from Saint Paul, Minnesota. She has a B.S. in accounting from the University of St. Thomas and MBA from Upper Iowa University and she is working on her DBA in Accounting. Ann’s professional career started in public accounting where she performed audit and tax work, then moved into the private sector where she has been a controller for over 15 years.
She has spent the last six years contracting with various companies on both short and- long-term projects.
She is married with three adult kids, two dogs, and a cat. Ann enjoys traveling, gardening, and running marathons; she has completed 39.

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!

Bio coming soon!