VETPARTNERS has announced two key appointments following a period of strong European growth.
Vet Tim Shearman has been appointed Group Director of Culture and People, while Fiona Nichol, who began her working life as a veterinary nurse in small animal practice, becomes the new Group Director of Training and Development.
The new roles have been created with the aim of protecting and further embedding VetPartners’ culture within the business following a period of significant growth, with 12,000 employees now working in practices and animal healthcare businesses across the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland and Portugal
VetPartners was founded by vets and the two appointments maintain the group’s ethos of being led by members of the veterinary profession.
Both Tim and Fiona have been part of VetPartners’ journey from a small northern group to becoming one of Europe’s leading veterinary businesses.
Announcing the appointments, CEO Jo Malone said: “Tim and Fiona live and breathe our culture of warmth and belonging, and caring for people, and as we continue to grow, it is important that we preserve that culture as we believe it makes being part of VetPartners something special.
“Tim’s new role will involve him overseeing all aspects of how we care for our people and the environment in which they work, while Fiona’s role in training teams on how to interact with clients and with each other will continue to embed our culture in our ways of working.
“These appointments will also align our people management practices of putting colleagues at the forefront of everything we do with our overall business goals and objectives.”
Tim will take responsibility for VetPartners’ People teams across all countries. He will also oversee wellbeing initiatives, training and development, ESG, Health and Safety and maintain a coordinating role with the international integration teams. This unites many of the different central support function teams within the business that help to shape and maintain VetPartners’ culture.
Tim, who graduated from University of Glasgow in 2000 and has an RCVS Certificate in Veterinary Cardiology, has been part of VetPartners since it was founded by Jo in October 2015. Both he and Jo were small animal vets and partners together at Minster Vets in York, one of VetPartners’ founding practices.
He left clinical work to join VetPartners’ senior leadership team and has latterly been Operations Director.
Tim said: “I like nurturing and developing people and helping them to grow within the organisation. Our values of being approachable, respecting and supporting each other, and working in collaboration are not just words on a piece of paper, they are truly lived within the group.
“Having been part of the group since its inception, I really understand our culture and how we care for people and want to see them thrive, and this is something we want to preserve as we grow.”
Former RVN Fiona joined the group in 2016 to lead their business support team.
She oversees 
management training for the group and her new role will see her provide oversight for the clinical training provided centrally, as well as for the UK learning and development team and digital learning platform.
After beginning her career as a veterinary nurse at Garth Vets in Beeford in East Yorkshire, she has spent more than 20 years in the veterinary profession, including a spell in the pharmaceutical and animal healthcare industry. Fiona helped to set up Zoetis’ business consultancy service for practices.
Speaking about her new role, Fiona said: “After being part of the exciting journey at VetPartners, I am hugely excited about this new role. I have the privilege of working with such a talented team of business support managers, who provide valuable coaching, training and support to our practices and businesses.
“Expanding on what we do by incorporating the wider training and development work will enable us to create further opportunities for our colleagues to develop thriving careers.”
For media enquiries, please contact Amanda Little, VetPartners PR and Communications Director at amanda.little@vetpartners.co.uk or 07970 198492