Veterinary technology company, Vet-AI, has appointed its first People Director as the business builds its senior team to forge ahead with scale-up plans.
Laura Stocker has joined Vet-AI as the Leeds-headquartered vet-tech firm confirmed a major investment from Hill’s Pet Nutrition and Correlation One Holdings to move forward with its mission to provide preventative veterinary care and ease pressure on veterinary professionals.
Stocker has extensive HR experience, having spent five years at Push Doctor, where she most recently held the position of People Director. Before this, Stocker was Senior HR Adviser at The Hut Group and HR Adviser at AdviserPlus.
Vet-AI, which offers digital vet consultations via its vet care app Joii, now employs more than 110 people worldwide. It has adopted a skills-first approach to recruitment, helping to attract and retain top talent. This has been especially effective for tech and vet roles, while also giving employees flexibility in order to support their mental health and wellbeing. This approach allows the vet team to work remotely with a ‘follow the sun’ approach to shifts – reducing the need for night shifts in the UK while offering a 24/7 service for customers.
Stocker said: “Vet-AI is in a really exciting phase. Its people-centric approach is thriving and we are in a position to grow and build a truly award-winning culture as we scale-up. I’m excited to be part of this and for the opportunity to be working with such an inspirational leadership team.
“My focus is to add value to the business by amplifying engagement, retention, and performance whilst assisting with the mission to improve the lives and wellbeing of everyone working within the veterinary industry.”
It is the second senior hire for Vet-AI in recent months, with Matt Elcock recently joining the team as Vet-AI’s first COO. The business is also continuing a recruitment drive to hire people in several key roles as it develops innovative technology.
Paul Hallett, co-founder at Vet-AI, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Laura to the leadership team at Vet-AI. Our culture is incredibly important for the future direction of the business and we are committed to keeping this in place as we scale-up. We’re proud to offer people the chance to make a huge positive impact on the lives of vets, pets and pet parents while working flexibly in a business making huge strides in shaping the vet industry of tomorrow.
“Vet-AI has come a long way since 2017 and this wouldn’t have been possible without the incredibly knowledgeable and committed team we have had with us on that journey.”
Vet-AI was founded in 2017 by entrepreneur Paul Hallett in partnership with veterinary surgeons Dr Robert Dawson and Dr Sarah Warren. The trio set out to improve engagement and access to veterinary care and since launching its revolutionary app Joii Pet Care, they have conducted well over 150,000 consultations online and have received more than 70,000 five-star reviews across platforms.
Joii Pet Care offers a “virtual veterinary clinic” created by world-class veterinary surgeons with the goal of taking some of the burden off local veterinary practices with preemptive tasks that pet parents can perform online directly in the Joii app. Joii’s proposition includes a free symptom checker, paid, in-app video calls with veterinarians and free vet nurse calls.
