MMI Board Members
Don Beatty
Board Treasurer
Retired VP Strategic Initiatives and VP Finance for Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc..
In June 2023, Don Beatty retired from Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive Company. His most recent positions included leadership roles as VP Strategic Initiatives and VP Finance from 2015 to 2022.
From 2012 to 2015, Don was the Controller for Hill's North America. He partnered with the North America commercial leadership team in restoring growth in an important business unit, achieving record levels of sales and profitability.
Don joined Hill's in 1988 as Controller for Hill's distribution business in the U.S. and held positions of increasing responsibility in Arizona, Texas and Kansas. In 1996, he became Director, Budget and Planning for Hill's and led significant improvements in the planning and management reporting processes. In 1998, Don was appointed Assistant Controller in C-P South Africa and was promoted to Finance Director in 1999. He returned to Hill's in 2001 as Director, Strategic Planning and Budgeting, with responsibility for budgeting and strategic planning processes and leading the analysis of strategic acquisition targets. In 2004, he was promoted to Controller for Hill's, and his responsibilities expanded to include general accounting, treasury and taxes.
Prior to joining Hill's, Don gained public accounting experience with Arthur Andersen & Co. in Phoenix. He holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from Simpson College and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Sean J. Delaney, DVM, MS, DACVIM (Nutrition)
Chair of the Board
Board Certified Veterinary Nutritionist®
Founder, Davis Veterinary Medical (DVM) Consulting, Inc.
Dr. Delaney received his BS in Zoology from the University of California, Santa Barbara and DVM from the University of California, Davis (UCD). He completed a small animal medicine and surgery internship at what is now VCA Sacramento Veterinary Referral Center and the first full-time Clinical Nutrition Residency and an MS in Nutrition at UCD. He has been a board certified veterinary nutritionist® since 2003.
Dr. Delaney was a clinical faculty member at UCD from 2003 to 2013 with a four year hiatus as Senior Executive Vice President and R&D head for Natura Pet Products. Dr. Delaney helped develop the nutrition center at UCD and trained over ten Diplomates of what is now the ACVIM Nutrition RVS while at UCD. He has conducted studies on small animal amino acid, mineral, and vitamin needs and monitoring. In 2003 he also formed Davis Veterinary Medical (DVM) Consulting, Inc. that provided pet food industry consulting services from 2003-2016 and since 2005 offers Balance It® formulation software and food grade products for the feeding of human food to healthy and sick dogs and cats. In 2020 he founded Vet Assistant AI, Inc. which provides machine learning solutions to veterinary practices to efficiently improve client communications and patient outcomes. He is also the co-founder of Codecimal Software Developers, Pvt. Ltd. in Ahmedabad, India. Dr. Delaney currently serves as the Chair of the AVMA VSOC representing the ACVIM and the interests of over 13,000 varied veterinary specialist colleagues from 21 specialty organizations. He is the primary mentor for one ACVIM-approved Nutrition Specialty residency in Northern California. Dr. Delaney is also a former Board member and Board Chair of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (prior to its integration into ACVIM in 2021) and is a current co-editor & co-author of the text Applied Veterinary Clinical Nutrition.
Dr. Delaney lives in Davis, CA with his wife and two daughters along with their Standard Poodle, Rosie.
Siobhan Bridglalsingh
DVM, MHEd., PhD.
Dr. Siobhan Bridglalsingh is a Trinidad and Tobago national who attended the School of Veterinary Medicine at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus. She completed her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree (DVM) in 2005 after which, she was hired initially as a teaching assistant then progressed to lecturer in the department of Small Animal Medicine and Surgery.
Her interest in veterinary education led her to completion of a Masters in Higher Education Teaching and Learning in 2016. One year later she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a PhD program at The University of Georgia (UGA), Athens, Georgia, United States. After completion of the PhD in 2020, she returned to the School of Veterinary Medicine in Trinidad where she resumed her duties until she returned the University of Georgia as the first resident in veterinary clinical nutrition in 2021 as part of the newly developed Veterinary Clinical Nutrition Service at UGA.
Dr. Bridglalsingh has presented her PhD research at the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition Symposium 2020 and as a poster presentation in at the Global Animal Nutrition Summit 2020 for which she was awarded the prize for best poster in the category of new methodology. Her research focus is on advanced glycation end products, pet food processing and effects on companion animal health. Now that she has successfully completed the clinical nutrition residency program and the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine (ACVIM) Nutrition Specialty Examination, Dr. Bridglalsingh has returned to the School of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Medical Sciences, The University of the West Indies to provide clinical service in this area and to continue research into the effects of processing on nutrients and health in animals.
Dr. Bridglalsingh lives in Trinidad with her mom, her sister who is also a veterinarian in private practice, their seven dogs and one parrot. She enjoys days at the beach and participating in Trinidad and Tobago’s annual Carnival celebrations where she dresses in costume for a two-day parade.
Omar Farías, VMD
Senior Manager, Academic Affairs
Hill's Pet Nutrition
Dr. Omar Farías (he/him) received his B.S. from the University of Puerto Rico in Río Piedras and VMD from the University of Pennsylvania. He worked in small animal general practice in the New Jersey and Pennsylvania area for eleven years. During his years in practice he spent seven years as a practice owner in the suburbs of Philadelphia. As a veterinary practice owner he dedicated part of his time to help several local shelter organizations and provided discounted veterinary care to them. In 2011, he joined Hill’s Pet Nutrition as a Professional Consulting Veterinarian and moved his family to the New York City Metropolitan area. In his progression at Hill’s, Dr. Farías has held positions of increasing responsibility and currently serves as the Senior Manager, Professional Partnerships & Events.
Dr. Farías serves as a board member for the Pride Veterinary Medical Community as the Industry Liaison, and as board member for the Mark Morris Institute.
Dr. Omar Farías lives in Kansas City, MO with his husband, Paul, his Chihuahua, La Chispa, and his cat, Desilu.
Peggy L. Schmidt, DVM, MS, DACVPM
Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Affairs
Dr. Schmidt received her BS in Animal Science from the University of Wisconsin – River Falls in 1993 and her DVM from the University of Minnesota in 1997. After graduation, she practiced in a rural Minnesota four-doctor mixed animal practice.
After five years in practice, Dr. Schmidt went to Iowa State University where she completed an MS degree focusing on food safety and preventive medicine in 2004. From there, Dr. Schmidt and her family moved to Southern California where she joined the founding faculty of the Western University of Health Sciences College of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Schmidt helped develop the innovative distributive model of veterinary clinical education and taught courses in the areas of epidemiology, food safety, and public health.
While in academia, Dr. Schmidt developed a passion for teaching and learning. She served in administrative roles as Director of Year 4 Curriculum and Director of Outcomes Assessment while in her tenure at WesternU and Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Student Affairs at Kansas State. She served as a founding steering committee member of the Teaching Academy of the Consortium of West Region Colleges of Veterinary Medicine, an organization dedicated to develop, implement, and sustain the best practices in veterinary medical education.
In 2020, Dr. Schmidt and her family moved back home to Wisconsin where she joined the UW-Madison School of Veterinary Medicine as Associate Dean of Professional Programs.
Dr. Schmidt is married to Gary, a large animal nutritional sales consultant. Their daughter Emma is completing a master’s degree in biomedical engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Jessica Vogelsang, DVM, CVJ
Board Secretary
Chief Medical Officer, American Animal Hospital Association
Dr. Vogelsang received her B.S. from Loyola Marymount University and DVM from the University of California, Davis. Several years into general practice, she decided to explore how to influence pet owners in the online space with the launch of pawcurious.com, one of the first veterinary websites in the world.
For the last decade, Dr. Vogelsang has shared stories and educated readers around the world while working in general practice, emergency medicine, and hospice and palliative care. In that time, she became a professional author and medical educator, writing for both industry and general interest publications on pet care and the veterinary profession. In 2015, she published her first book All Dogs Go to Kevin.
As the online space grew, she turned her attention to training and mentoring veterinarians in professional development using their own writing and storytelling skills. After serving as the founding Editorial Director of drandyroark.com, she launched her second website, drjessicavogelsang.com, to help her colleagues develop their own online presence and influence. In 2021, she joined AAHA and currently serves as Chief Medical Officer.
As a tireless advocate for change and transformation, she pursues her passion for keeping the profession informed of trending topics through her lectures and writing. She is particularly interested in how the medical community can build or reduce trust in evidence-based medicine through the use of social media. She is a founding board member of the World Veterinary Palliative Medical Organization as well as the Veterinary Virtual Care Association. Her current interests include telemedicine, online education, and battling medical misinformation on the web.
Iveta Becvarova, DVM, MS, Diplomate ACVIM (Nutrition)
Director of Global Academic and Professional Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition
Dr. Becvarova currently serves as Director of Global Academic and Professional Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition, USA and she is Adjunct Faculty member in the Department of Clinical Science, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University. She has been Director of Academic Affairs at Hill’s Pet Nutrition Europe from 2011-2018.
Dr. Becvarova became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Nutrition (ACVN) in July 2007. She has been a Clinical Instructor and Clinical Assistant Professor – Veterinary Nutrition at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine (VMCVM) from 2006-2011.
Dr. Becvarova completed her Master of Science degree in Biomedical and Veterinary Sciences and Nutrition Residency program at the VMCVM in 2006 and earned her DVM degree in 1999 from the University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences Brno, Czech Republic. She is a past president of the board of the ACVN, a member of the American Academy of Veterinary Nutrition (AAVN) and of the European Society of Veterinary & Comparative Nutrition (ESVCN). Dr. Becvarova conducted studies in obesity, body composition and oxidative stress.
Catherine L. Walberg, J.D.
Goodell, Stratton, Edmonds, & Palmer, LLC, Attorney-at-Law
With 20+ years of experience ranging from serving as Deputy Secretary/Litigator for the Kansas
Department on Aging to being a key leader in the growth of healthcare and insurance start-ups to
serving as counsel in a mature yet changing corporate insurance industry, Ms. Walberg has honed
a unique specialty at the intersection of these arenas. She has been on the leading edge of health
care and data while having spent a career mitigating and managing risks for the healthcare and
business community and consulting with health care associations, state insurance companies,
legislative and regulatory bodies, and individual business and corporate customers.
At the center of these experiences and wins is a true passion for the health care community and the
business community. Ms. Walberg provides her clients with practical, strategic, and innovative
legal and operational assistance. She supports her clients’ organizational growth and success while
minimizing risk and liabilities.
Ms. Walberg has served on the American Bar Association’s HIPAA/HITECH Task Force &
Security Rule Subcommittee; the Kansas Health Information Exchange’s Policy Committee; the
PIAA Regulatory Committee*; the Chair of the Revised PIAA Model Audit Rule Subcommittee
of Regulatory Affairs Committee, Chair of the PIAA Legal Section; Chair of the Topeka Country
Club; Board Member of the Topeka Symphony; and, Board Member of the Kansas Health Care
Provider Insurance Availability Plan.
In her spare time Ms. Walberg enjoys golfing, riding bicycles with her husband, and coaching
youth cyclists. Ms. Walberg is a supporter of the Arts and strives to attend as many musical and
theatre events as time allows.
*The PIAA is now known as the Medical Professional Liability Association (“MPL Association”).
© 2022 Mark Morris Institute