Dr. Jaime Pickett is chief veterinary officer of Jacksonville-based Pet Paradise, a position she took in 2017.
In 2004, Fernando Acosta-Rua led an equity group to invest in the pet care provider that offers boarding, day camp, grooming and veterinary services for dogs and cats.
Pet Paradise, with headquarters in San Marco, operates in 11 states and is developing in three more. It has 46 locations and will open its 50th this year.
Dr. Pickett leads about 30 veterinarians and is adding more. She previously owned and operated several veterinary hospitals and franchises.
I help with the innovation and vision of Pet Paradise as a company, also while ensuring the veterinary strategy.
We do this through our core values, which are passion, innovation and community.
I also have executive oversight of veterinary operations and am the medical adviser to ensure quality medical care in our hospitals.
One major priority this year has been to place a stronger emphasis on veterinary care and the foundation of comprehensive care.
We recently rebranded our veterinary practice to NewDay Veterinary Care.
Veterinarians, when they graduate vet school, are automatically looked at as leaders.
It’s a transition from being a student into a profession. Leadership development is critical for us.
There is a vet shortage.
With the pandemic, we have millions more pets. We need to use technology, such as predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, to help with efficiencies because there is burnout.
We need to protect the veterinarians and make sure that they have flexible schedules and work-life balance.
For vet recruitment and retention, we are offering equity in the company, profit-sharing and student loan repayment.
I grew up in New Jersey and went to Johns Hopkins University.
It was either premed or engineering.
About my junior year of college, somebody said, why don’t you think about veterinary school? I like science, I like math, and of course I love pets. I applied, I got in.
I went to the University of Florida, which brought me here.
I opened my first veterinary practice, so I was very much a businessperson.
If I could give advice, walk through the door that’s open and see what’s on the other side.
I’ve owned more than 20 businesses, whether franchises or private pet hospitals.
I was in Richmond, Virginia, for about 15 years. A recruiter called and I spoke with Fernando.
It was the team and the innovative business model that brought me here.
This has been an incredible opportunity to do something unique and impactful.
I love the medicine but it’s also the relationship that you build with the client.
You get to watch them from being a puppy until they’re geriatric and then you are caring for those needs.
We believe in the whole health of the pet. At Pet Paradise, they’re out in the play yards. You can watch them swim in the pool. It never gets old.
We’ll go to visit the resorts for a mental break.
I have a dog.
He’s probably 10-ish. He’s a mutt. I rescued him when he was about 1 from a non-kill shelter.
For stress release, I work out.
I fly – I love aviation. I started flying in 2013.
I spend time with my family. I love to travel. I love to see other cultures and ways of doing things because there’s no one tried-and-true way to do anything.
What motivates me?
Making change, disrupting industry, bringing a service or product that not only displaces but replaces existing market leaders.
That usually comes from entrepreneurs or idealists or outsiders.
I do like to disrupt things but for the good. That goes back to the purposeful business affecting society, bringing value.
I don’t practice on a daily basis.
But some of the vets ask, “Can you help out with this surgery?” I grab my scrubs and go because I love surgery, I love internal medicine.
