Strategic Veterinary Group Director

A vet, published author and industry speaker with 12 years’ experience studying and working in Austria, America, Germany and the UK has been appointed as group clinical director at independent veterinary group, Pennard Vets. Serina Filler has joined the 134-year-old group, which was founded in Sevenoaks, Kent in 1890. Employee owned Pennard Vets has eight practices, employing a 172-strong team throughout Kent, and it recently invested £3.5 million in one of the largest and most advanced practices in the South East.

Serina said: “I studied to become a vet in Austria with most of my final year spent at Washington State University in America, where I was fortunate to spend time in a hands-on clinical environment with plenty of direct exposure to pets and clients. Whilst at university in Austria I also ran a cat rescue network and after qualifying I worked as a vet in private clinics and a university teaching hospital in Germany.

“I then moved to the UK and achieved a postgraduate certificate in small animal medicine and surgery, spending three years studying under world-renowned professor, Severine Tasker, for a PhD in feline hemoplasmas, which is a blood born disease that causes amenia in cats. I also worked part time in two private practices in Bristol during my PhD studies as I couldn’t stay too far away from clinical practice.

“After that I moved to London to work at the London Cat Clinic, where I gained another clinical qualification on the medicine of cats and helped the start-up transition to a 24-hour hospital. After that I took on a non-practice role at Mars Petcare R&D for two years as operational lead on its large-scale Biobank clinical study into how we can detect pets’ illnesses earlier. I then moved back into practice as a clinical lead at London’s first subscription-based veterinary practice start-up.

“My move to Pennard Vets in a leadership role is an exciting opportunity for me, and I feel like it’s the right place to be – especially looking at how the profession might change in the future and the opportunities we’ll see with new technologies emerging. The team are committed to innovation in pet care and investing in their people. I know that I’ll enjoy supporting, mentoring, and leading the clinical teams, as well as overseeing and developing new protocols, practical workflow improvements and strategic business planning and development across the entire group. From everything I know about Pennard Vets, it’s a place where people do the right thing, there is a genuine commitment to its teams, clients and pets to deliver excellence in veterinary care, and I can’t wait to be a part of that.”

Matthew Flann, from Pennard Vets, said: “Having become an employee ownership trust, B-Corp Certified and expanding to eight practices, as well as opening our brand-new state of the art practice in Sevenoaks, all in recent years, we felt now was the right time to create a new role of group clinical director. Serina’s qualifications, experience and personality made her the ideal fit for this position, and we can’t wait to see how the changes she implements benefit everyone associated with Pennard Vets.”

Pennard Vets was founded in Sevenoaks, Kent in 1890 and has eight practices, employing a 172-strong team, throughout Kent in Allington, Borough Green, Langley Park, Maidstone, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and West Malling. In 2021, Pennard Vets became the largest practice in the world to be transferred into employee ownership, within an employee ownership trust (EOT), meaning all employees are now stakeholders in the business. Pennard Vets was the first veterinary practice in Europe to become B-Corp certified in 2022.