Banfield Pet Hospital CEO Vincent Bradley was the featured guest at Wednesday morning’s fall 2016 Boardroom Breakfast, held at the Red Cross Building at Fort Vancouver.
Here are 10 things we learned about Bradley and the Vancouver-headquartered company during the discussion:
- Bradley’s first job was as a paperboy for the Cincinnati Post in Ohio.
- He spent his junior year of college studying abroad in Japan, which really shaped his world view after having grown up in a small town. With a passion for teaching, Bradley returned to Japan after finishing college to teach.
- Three common denominators have helped Bradley navigate his career path: the potential for personal growth, the opportunity to contribute to something meaningful and getting to work with great people.
- In designing Banfield’s Vancouver headquarters (which the company refers to as Central Team Support), Bradley spoke of four non-negotiable features that the building needed to have: An open collaborative atmosphere; a design which reflected the Pacific Northwest and incorporated green building practices; a pet-friendly environment (associates can bring their pets to work); and connectivity between Central Team Support and the hospitals they support.
- Individuals working at Banfield are known as associates, not employees. Bradley said this is a purposeful, culture-driven way to honor the shared benefit of what they’re trying to achieve.
- Associates at the Vancouver campus work in the following departments: Information Technology, People & Organizations, Finance, Medicine (including Medical Quality Advancement, Medical Operations and Research), Corporate Affairs, Sales & Marketing (including an in-house call center), Operations and Legal.
- Bradley said banfield’s diversified growth plan looks a bit different compared to five years ago, pointing to the number of freestanding clinics under development.
- Because giving back to the community is part of the company’s mission, the Banfield Foundation was formed about a year ago. Bradley said the foundation has already given $1.5 million to organizations around the nation, including right here in Southwest Washington.
- When asked about what helps him make decisions on a day to day basis as CEO, Bradley said he relies on the guiding question, “How are we becoming the employer of choice for veterinarians?”
- If they’re not joining him at work, at Bradley’s home you’ll find two dogs: a black lab mix named Bingo and a three-year-old Maltese named Ollie.
Register for the Vancouver Business Journal’s next Boardroom Breakfast event here.
