VCA Animal Hospital’s Todd Lavender Transitions to Chief Transformation Officer for Mars Veterinary Health as Patty Wu Joins as New VCA President

VCA Animal Hospitals, part of Mars Veterinary Health, has appointed Patty Wu as president, effective May 2024. Wu succeeds Todd Lavender, who, following a successful 20 years at VCA, will become Chief Transformation Officer of Mars Veterinary Health.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside Dr. Lavender for many years and throughout this time, he’s encouraged our teams to lead in medical quality, spread the joy of our profession and innovate for our clients,” said Doug Drew, president, Mars Veterinary Health. “As Chief Transformation Officer, Todd will sharpen our future focus across our network, continuing to do more today to improve the experience of pet ownership and the experience of those caring for pets tomorrow.”

Drew continued: “I’m thrilled to welcome Patty to VCA and the Mars Veterinary Health family. As an accomplished senior executive with more than 20 years of experience leading and growing CPG, omni retail and direct-to-consumer businesses in the US, Canada, China and Asia Pacific, Patty believes exceptional client and patient outcomes grow from a strong Associate and client experience.”

Wu comes with a track record of strong execution and consistent focus on the associate and client experience across categories ranging from health and wellness to baby and children and personal care. She has held senior roles at companies including Bed, Bath & Beyond, where she served as EVP and Brand President for buybuy BABY, as well as The Honest Company, The Clorox Company, Walmart, Mattel and Beautycounter.

Wu said, “Over the past few years, VCA has expanded access to care, experienced amazing growth and stayed true to an associate-first, pet-centric culture. I am excited and honored to join an organization with such clarity of mission and purpose.”

As Chief Transformation Officer, Lavender will lead programs designed to increase access to care and inspire the next generation of veterinary professionals.

Reflecting on VCA, Lavender said, “We are serious about our obligation of taking care of the future of veterinary medicine. We have expanded access to care across the US and to Canada and Brazil, strengthened the associate experience and continued to scale the highest-quality medicine for our patients. Patty is joining a network of hometown hospitals that puts patient outcomes, compassion and client experience at the center of everything we do. We welcome Patty to VCA.”