This summer I was privileged to participate in the mid year meeting of Vet Partners in Kansas City. Missouri. One of the founder members of VetPartners, formerly known as the AVPMCA - the Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants and Advisors - was Dr James Wilson DVM JD.

James F. Wilson, DVM, JD graduated from Iowa State University's College of Veterinary Medicine in 1967 and UCLA's School of Law in 1973.

During the 16 years he lived in California, Dr. Wilson practised small animal medicine. He was a partner in Four Corners Veterinary Hospital in Concord, California and in 1986 he moved to Pennsylvania where he served as medical Director at the University of Pennsylvania's small animal hospital. Currently he teaches veterinary law, ethics, business management, and career development at 18-20 veterinary schools each year throughout the USA with sponsorship from the Veterinary Pet Insurance Company.

Dr. Wilson has authored six books and over 130 articles in various veterinary journals. Since 1990, he has been consulting with veterinary practitioners, students, residents, specialists, and lawyers on such issues as personnel management and motivation, employment contracts, restrictive covenants, starting new veterinary practices, evaluating the reasonableness and accuracy of existing practice appraisals, veterinary malpractice issues, drafting and implementing the use of legal consent forms, and customizing production-based compensation procedures to fit individual practices and coaching them as to how to implement this method for paying associates.

In 1994 Dr. Wilson was a founder of the American Veterinary Medical Law Association and in 1996 was awarded the prestigious Clinical Sciences Teacher of the Year Award by the Student AVMA House of Delegates, the only time this has been awarded to a non-clinician.

In 2000 he co-founded the Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants and Advisors (now known VetPartners) and currently serves on the Career Development Committee of VetPartners and as a faculty advisor for several veterinary school chapters of the Veterinary Business Management Association

The Veterinary Business Management Association (VBMA) is the largest independent veterinary student organization in the world and the fastest growing veterinary student group in the United States. The Association has 28 chapters at veterinary schools across the country, 3 international chapters including one at the Royal Veterinary College in the UK, and over 2,600 student members. The organisation is founded on the determination, innovation, and entrepreneurial spirit of future veterinary leaders who desire a higher level of business education than that which is being offered through veterinary colleges.

The VBMA is lead, managed and organized entirely by veterinary students. VBMA student leaders and members have aspirations that vary from being the most valuable part-time associates possible to being the leaders of veterinary industry and the veterinary profession. Through their involvement in this organization, veterinary students develop communication, customer service, negotiation, leadership, and managerial skills that enable them to elevate their careers and our profession as a whole.

The organization is truly a grass-roots movement that is organized and advanced by veterinary students working within their own schools. Each school is different, and each chapter at that school focuses on issues and topics of greatest interest to their own student body.

The National VBMA is an umbrella organization for these chapters, providing a conduit for communication among schools and resources that support educational and organizational opportunities for every chapter. The National Board is also comprised entirely of veterinary students who work to provide programs, mentorship opportunities, and financial support to chapters while creating a consistent level of quality and style in our educational programs nationwide.

You can click here to visit the VBMA website

VetPartners (formerly known as the Association of Veterinary Practice Management Consultants and Advisors) which promotes excellence and ethics in veterinary consulting and advising through continuing education, communication, collaboration, and collegiality, and to establish and improve business practices and standards.

VetPartners objective are:

• to increase the knowledge of veterinary practice consultants and advisors in the fields of veterinary business management and veterinary practice valuations.
• to elevate the profession's understanding of veterinary business practice management and practice valuations through educational programs.
• to cooperate with veterinary, legal, accounting, appraisal and other allied professional organisations to enhance the public benefit in the application of veterinary practice management, consulting, advising and practice valuations
• to communicate with veterinarians, veterinary related parties and veterinary students to improve the profession's understanding of business principles and to
• to create and maintain a member code of ethics

VetPartners' focus today is to provide a credible environment and stimulating forum where members can grow and learn from each other, address industry trends and concerns that affect the stability and growth of members and their clients and drive partnerships that work to ensure solid and cost-effective outcomes.

You can click here to visit the VetPartners website