This article in Your Pet and the Administrative State follows from our previous writeup, Some Are More Equal Than Others, about occupational licensing and its problems. After you read the current article, continue on to The Voice You Don't Have and meet the public veterinary board members who theoretically represent people like you and me.
When assessing whether an agency has been captured one obvious place to look is the people running it. In the case of the veterinary board, it’s somewhat more challenging because the very design of the system requires some level of capture by veterinary interests as a matter of law. The story doesn’t end there as the veterinarians that have taken over are quite interesting even by the low standards of modern government. Over the past decade or two, you’ll find people apparently recommending their own successors for nominations. There is significant overlap with major industry stakeholders, educational institutions, employers, and professional associations. Volunteer positions turn into Board positions and full-time jobs. Strange personal and business connections and side-hustles emerge ranging from emergency hospitals to nightclubs and at least one case when a father and son apparently swapped out an investigator role.
Robyn Jaynes, a Board member since 2018, is an excellent example of the wide reach of many veterinary board members. She initially worked at clinics including Robert Kritsberg’s Apollo Animal Hospital, went up the chain at PetSmart Corporate, then became Vice-President of Operations at the Arizona Humane Society and VP at Exceptional Pets/The Pet Club. Jaynes then bounced in and out as the head of Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, and she eventually settled in as a Director of Veterinary Affairs at PetSmart Charities. She also served on the Investigative Committee as far back as 2005, concurrent with Robert Kritsberg’s tenure as a Board member. She also served alongside C. Jeffery Brown, President of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association from 2003 to 2004, who ended up serving on the Investigative Committee for almost a decade. She was subsequently joined on the Board by her former colleague Melissa Thompson, a former Banfield Chief of Staff who was Vice President of Medical Operations at the Arizona Humane Society.
Jessica Creager, who was appointed to the Board in 2016, had previously been appointed by the Board to one of its Investigative Committees. She’d previously worked for the Arizona Humane Society as a Community Engagement Manager. Her uncle may well be an attorney employed by a prominent lobbying firm once hired by the board; it seems he called into her Senate hearing to support her nomination but didn't speak on the record. She was later joined by public member and retired bureaucrat Jane Soloman, a facility development committee member for the Arizona Humane Society and legislative advocate for the University of Arizona veterinary program.
Nancy Bradley-Siemens, a board member from 2010 to 2014, worked as Director of Medical Services at the Arizona Humane Society, including during her tenure on the Board. Prior to that, she worked as veterinarian and chief veterinarian at Maricopa County Animal Care and Control, and she was also a Director of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association. After her stint at the Arizona Humane Society, she became a faculty member at Midwestern University’s shelter medicine and forensics program. A former animal abuse cop, she’s considered an expert on animal sexual abuse and has authored articles and educational information on the topic, photos included.
Brian Sidaway, Investigative Committee member, was the founding dean at Midwestern University’s veterinary program. Sidaway was also active in local veterinary medicine as a consultant through Incise Veterinary Surgery, going so far as to be discussed in a complaint in which he allegedly provided surgical advice over the phone at a hospital where he later became CEO.
While at Midwestern, he was listed as a faculty advisor for a proposed branch of the Christian Veterinary Mission. Alongside him on the roster was none other than Jana Jones, a veterinary anesthesiologist who later went on to be a veterinary expert witness while interpreting Biblical End Times theology in The Apocalypse....Is The Timeline Now? Another proposed advisor was none other than lawyer-veterinarian Carla Gartrell, named as a respondent in a prominent series of complaints regarding a soon-to-be-dead dog treated by the university and later an advisory member of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association. Sidaway was also a former Arizona Veterinary Medical Association Director.
Midwestern faculty also included fellow investigator and military biosecurity expert Donald Noah, who helped launch their One Health program before migrating to a different university. Investigator Jarrod Butler also appears to have taught toxicology courses as an adjunct faculty member. Failed Investigative Committee candidate Nellie Goetz had ties to Midwestern at one point but later moved on to the University of Arizona’s veterinary program.
Nikki Frost, veterinary technician board member since 2016, also makes herself known in the veterinary community, especially if you’re in the Prescott area. During her Senate hearing she stated that she was recommended for the position by her predecessor in the role, the first CVT member appointed to the Board, Prescott Animal Hospital veterinary technician Julie Mumford. Frost herself is a co-member in at least two veterinary hospitals, Urgent Pet Prescott and Yavapai Emergency Animal Hospital, an honor she shares with veterinarian Amie Dow, the wife of former Investigative Committee member Cameron Dow. One of her other business partners was none other than veterinarian Barbara Batke, a veterinarian who served on the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association’s Board alongside Cameron. She was also involved in starting the Arizona Veterinary Technician Association.
Cameron Dow, meanwhile, wasn’t just an Investigative Committee member. He was also the co-owner of Prescott Animal Hospital along with Amie Dow, something they inherited from Cameron’s parents, Steven and Janeth Dow. Steven Dow was himself a former Arizona Veterinary Medical Association Director and a member on the veterinary board from 2001 to 2006. Steven later came back to work on the Investigative Committee in 2021 after his son, Cameron, quit. Veterinarian Kenneth Skinner, a president of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association, also had an ownership stake in Prescott Animal Hospital with the Dow family.
Christina Tran, also a Director of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association at the same time as Cameron Dow, served on the opposite Investigative Committee at the same time as well. When she wasn’t doing that, she was working on the faculty of the University of Arizona veterinary school that advocates like Jane Soloman had lobbied so vigorously for. She also served on the boards for the Multicultural Veterinary Medical Association, Veterinary Virtual Care Association, and Rarebreed Veterinary Partners. (Prior to her time in Arizona, she was actually part of an AVMA accreditation team alongside Midwestern University vet school founder and Board investigator Brian Sidaway.) So extensive was her outside involvement that the Board once politely suggested dropping her to an alternate status because of her attendance record.
Julie Young was a public member of the board from 2010 to 2018. Aside from some volunteer work with the Arizona Animal Welfare League, her connections to the veterinary sector were generally earlier in life. She worked at a veterinary clinic throughout high school and paid her way through college working at a different veterinary clinic. One of the clinics was apparently associated with Alan Eads, a local vet who had served on both the Board and the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association. Eads also started Kaibab Animal Hospital all the way back in 1971.
Decades later Kaibab Animal Hospital was sold to former Banfield Chief of Staff and future Board member Darren Wright. Wright, in turn, operated the hospital and also used its address for 4Play Nightclub LLC, the corporate entity behind the now-defunct Phoenix nightclub Club Volt. Veterinarians are often found to have an aggressively entrepreneurial spirit, but this is beyond a doubt the most creative side hustle we've seen managed out of a veterinary clinic. Aside from being a Board member, he was also Chairman of the Bylaws and Resolutions Committee on the American Association of Veterinary State Boards.
Darren Wright, of course, wasn’t the only owner-operator at our favorite state agency. Among others we haven’t mentioned elsewhere, Investigative Committee member Justin McCormick, himself the target of at least two complaints and a related lawsuit, operated an equine clinic with his veterinarian wife. Board member John Greg Byrne also ran his own equine practice and actually traveled in from the Westworld horse show to his Senate hearing. Investigative Committee member Alex Casuccio was a big Banfield manager until he went back to private practice by starting Scottsdale Animal Healthcare.
Ryan Ainsworth, also an Investigative Committee member, owned various veterinary enterprises including the infamous Bark Avenue Animal Hospital where one of his employees went on to fatally mangle a cat during a botched surgery. Investigative Committee member Amrit Rai owns and operates a veterinary hospital that advertises services in everything from endocrinology to basic ophthalmology despite having no listed specialists on staff. Former Board member Christina Bertch-Mumaw owned and operated Bell Rock Veterinary Clinic and was once quoted as claiming that acupuncture makes lame dogs walk.
Craig Nausley, a 2021 addition to the Board, was largely a hospital practice owner, having owned and operated Briarcrest Animal Clinic, Canyon Pet Clinic, and Briarcrest Veterinary Care Center before launching his own LLC to practice part time as a relief veterinarian. He stated during his Senate interview that his interest in the position stemmed from a former Board member suggesting that he apply.
Robert Kritsberg, a former co-owner of Apollo Animal Hospital, originally served on the Board from 2003 to 2008, including what was described in a newsletter as an “unprecedented” three years as the Chair. He then went on to serve on both Investigative Committees for the Board and recommended that his friend, health care executive Steve Seiler, apply for an open position on his Committee. Seiler was approved by the Board and got the gig.
Michael Lent, owner of Pantano Animal Clinic, served as President of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association from 2006 to 2007. He was also serving on the veterinary board from 2004 to 2009. Lent was succeeded as President from 2007 to 2008 by none other than Wayne Anderson, who went on to run the AZPetVet chain of pet hospitals.
Brian Serbin succeeded Anderson as the President of the Arizona Veterinary Medical Association from 2008 to 2009 and then served on the state veterinary board from 2010 to 2016, including time as Chair. In 2016 he withdrew his acceptance to the American Association of Veterinary State Boards Board of Directors because of time pressures but found the time to be a veterinary advisor to Trupanion, the pet insurance company. He’d also been the owner-operator of Ingleside Animal Hospital since 2000.
Donald Levesque, who served on the Board from 1996 to 2001, also started Veterinary Neurological Center (VetNeuro), the major veterinary neurology facility in the state. Another VetNeuro veterinarian, Scott Plummer, was later appointed to the Board from 2010 to 2013 and served as Chair.
Tracy Riendeau, the current Senior Medical Investigator for the Board, started out as a volunteer investigator on an Investigative Committee before getting a job with the Board as a veterinary investigator, eventually moving up to a Senior Medical Investigator title. Prior to that she also served as Veterinary Technician Section Chair for the Wild West Veterinary Conference, a conference historically co-owned by the Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon Veterinary Medical Associations.
Riendeau wasn’t the only one to turn a volunteer position into a government job. Jenna Jones, a public member on the Board from 1997 to 2002, came back in 2004 to be the Board’s new Executive Director. In a reverse move, M. Elizabeth “Lisa” Miles, a former Arizona Assistant Attorney General who had represented the Board, eventually served as a public member on the Board from 2007 to 2012 as a Napolitano appointee.
Continue on to The Voice You Don't Have and meet the public veterinary board members who theoretically represent people like you and me.