President: Pete Orpin  BVSc FRCVS
Peter graduated from Bristol in 1983 and worked in practice for 38 years. He travelled and worked in New Zealand and the Far East in 1987 before becoming a partner aged 29 in a traditional mixed practice in 1989. Over the next 38 years the practice grew to have 7 business operations working from 4 geographic clinics employing over 30 vets and 120 people.
Pete became President of BCVA in 1999 and helped tutor over 400 vets in Health Planning approaches.
Throughout his career he has published over 50 papers on clinical and management topics and lectured widely in the UK and overseas. He won the Tuckey Award for the best paper from a practitioner at BCVA three times over his career.
Pete is a co-founded Myhealthyherd in 2007, a web-based program designed to predict and prevent health problems in cattle herds and co created the first online Johne’s disease control programme.
He has worked as a part time business consultant for Anval since 2000 and helps provide practical insights into how veterinary practices can improve their business operations and achieve their goals.
When Peter retired from clinical practice he joined the Board of SPVS. He was Chair of the Association before progressing to Junior Vice President of the Society of Practising Veterinary Surgeons (SPVS) in 2024.
Peter has been involved in the EMS, CMA and Legislative working groups and takes a keen interest in how practices can continue to thrive and develop.

Pete has been involved in the Action Group Johne’s task force since 2009, is the current Chair of the Technical Group for AGJ and has helped shape the National Johne’s Management Program which provides a proactive approach to Johne’s in over 90% of UK dairy herds. In 2021 he worked with Panlivestock to develop the Johne’s Tracker which is a tool designed to engage and measure progress with Johne’s control at herd, practice and national level.
He is currently a Board member for the International Association of Paratuberculosis.
Peter was awarded Dairy Vet of the year in 2016 and has recently achieved a RCVS Fellowship for Contributions to the Profession in 2021.
His major passions have always been how to improve the quality of work we can provide for clients whilst achieving a happy well-balanced motivated team and how infectious diseases in cattle can be more effectively controlled using risk based approaches.

Senior Vice President: Dr Ami Sawran BVSc CertAVP(CP) PGCertVPS PhD FRCVS
Ami graduated from Liverpool University in 2011 before undertaking a farm animal internship in production animal health and welfare at the Royal Veterinary College alongside Westpoint. Afterwards, she moved to London to complete her PhD on dairy cattle lameness and genomics, while locuming for the RSPCA and teaching. She has worked with several branches of Westpoint, and took on the role of Clinical Director at Chelmsford in January 2019 and was appointed to the VetPartners Farm Executive Board in 2021. A member of the VetPartners farm marketing team, she is also Westpoint Farm Vets’ Marketing Manager.
Ami’s clinical interests include small ruminant health and welfare, and medicine of camelids. She is an RCVS Advanced Practitioner in Camelid Practice, runs the Camelid Clinical Interest Group for VetPartners and is the Secretary of the British Veterinary Camelid Society. Ami is particularly driven to improve wellbeing in the veterinary workforce, steering Westpoint Chelmsford to a win at the 2018 Veterinary Wellbeing Awards, and also being the first farm vet to receive the Bright Minds Veterinary Practice Game Changer Award in 2023. It is her firm belief that a safe and fulfilled team is key to a smooth running practice and client service. Ami has continued to develop ideas on how to improve wellbeing across her group, also working to foster inclusivity and promote diversity in farm practice.
Outside of work, Ami snowboards, plays netball, and does agility with her dogs.

Junior Vice President: Kate Higgins BVetMed MRCVS
Kate is an experienced vet, business owner and director.
After graduating from the RVC in 2002 she spent 10 years in small animal practice before acquiring her own practice in Formby, Merseyside in 2012.
Since acquiring her single vet practice she has invested heavily in team and culture, growing it to a 2 site, 7 vet practice with a reputation for a supportive and collaborative practice culture, and outstanding client care.

The practice has received multiple awards including the 2023 SPVS Awards for Business Excellence in Team Dynamics and Leadership.
Kate has a particular interest in business management and leadership and is regularly invited to speak on these subjects at a number of veterinary conferences. As well as running the practice, she undertakes occasional veterinary business consultancy work and is North West Regional Representative for the British Veterinary Association.

Outside of work she enjoys “relaxing” with her 2 young children and house full of pets!

Chair of the Board: Vicki Farbon MA Vet MB GPCert (SAM) PgC SADI MRCVS
I graduated from Cambridge in 2003 and have worked in the same independent practice in Bedford ever since. Initially it was a mixed practice and over the years has become a small animal and exotic practice. During my time I gained my GP cert in small animal medicine and I am currently and advanced practitioner in small animal diagnostic imaging.

I became a director of the business in 2013 and a shareholder in 2018. Alongside the clinical work I have a passion for business development, responsible leadership, promoting financial literacy within the practice and encouraging an excellent standard of EMS.

Out of work I have two young boys which keep me busy and I enjoy long distance running and strength training. I joined the SPVS board in 2021 in the hope I can make a difference and inspire and encourage more young women to join the organisation. 

Past President: Silvia Janská BSc(Hons) MSc BVetMed PgCertVBM FRCVS
Silvia is a high-energy individual passionate about supporting the veterinary profession and the animal health industry. After a decade of working as an equine veterinarian and an independent consultant, Silvia now works as the Zoetis Lead for Strategic Alliances and Business Development. She is also the Founder of Flexee Ltd., supporting veterinary teams improve clinics’ flexible working arrangements to aid retain and attract staff. Silvia’s tio-combination of expertise in fundamental science, veterinary medicine and business development is supported by her qualifications from London’s Royal Veterinary College, Liverpool University and Cornell University, and include BSc in Veterinary Science, MSc in Wild Animal Biology, BSc in Veterinary Medicine, and a postgraduate certificate in Veterinary Business Management.

Julie Eastham
I qualified as an RVN in 2004, after a career change later in my life and have worked in both SA & Mixed practices.  I have been at my current practice for over 17yrs, where I started as the Nursing Manager.  I have helped support the growth over these years seeing the practice grow from around 40+ employees to over 120+.  I continued to develop my own career and studied leadership & Management at evening classes at a local college where I achieved a Level 7 in Strategic Management and Leadership and I am now a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, in 2017 I became the Practice Manager of the hospital with 5 branches and rehabilitation hub.

My passion is to help support staff to grow and develop their careers, ‘nothing is impossible’.   I believe in the importance of the ‘Team’.  Successful businesses have solid values and beliefs and work with their teams to ensure these are part of their everyday thinking.

Outside of work I have 7 working breed dogs to keep me busy and I volunteer at a local dog training club, I run the puppy and advance puppy training classes, I also teach gun dog training. 

Rachel Simmons BVM&S MRCVS
Rachel is a veterinary surgeon, owner and director. She graduated from The Royal Dick in Edinburgh in 2014, starting out in mixed practice and then opting for small animal only after 5 years. She has worked all around the world carrying out veterinary charity work, rabies vaccinations programs and wildlife work, including South Africa, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Opening Edhen Vets, a small animal practice, 2.5 years ago and delivering round the clock care in mid Cornwall, she has a lot of first hand experience in juggling how to keep clients, the team and herself happy!

Steven Goodear BVSc MRCVS
Steven is a Veterinary Surgeon and the owner of a small family of vet practices in the Midlands. He has experience in starting up, buying, and managing vet practices over the last 25 years. His particular interests are in encouraging and teaching both the clinical and non-clinical team to thrive in the veterinary world, as well as advising and guiding members of the profession to take those first bigs steps in starting their own practice or moving into leadership, whether that be for Vets, Nurses or in the field of Client Care. A large emphasis is on the practical measures to empower the practice team and help them grow and understand the different personalities and how they interact. He is also keen to keep veterinary practices at the forefront of technology such as AI and automation to ensure that our practice teams can concentrate trade on what they do best, and that our patients and clients can get the best care and service possible.

His practice has most recently been awarded Most Dynamic Team at the Vet Dynamics Awards in 2025.
Outside of work, he has the never-ending task of maintaining the horsey women in his life.

Emily Bridges BVM BVS MRCVS
Emily is a veterinary surgeon and coach. She graduated as a part of the first cohort through Nottingham in 2011 and has worked in a variety of small animal practices, both independent and corporate, since then.

Her interests lie predominantly in supporting the development of others. Early on in her career she began mentoring and teaching the graduates and students in practices she worked in, which later led to a role running a successful veterinary graduate programme. In this time she broadened her understanding of the challenges faced by recent graduates and the practices working hard to support them. She worked closely with many of the vet schools and introduced a large EMS bursary scheme to address just some of the challenges faced by students.

She has now moved into a people leadership role within a busy practice, whilst setting up her own coaching business alongside. Her coaching focus is supporting those in the profession to feel fulfilled by their career whether that be through 1:1 coaching or in a team environment. She is a trained Insights practitioner.

She is especially keen to support those new to leadership roles, those who may not recognise themselves as leaders and those who just want to dip the first toe in – all of whom benefit from building communities of support like SPVS as much as building their skills.
Outside of work she enjoys taking on (sometimes overly) ambitious DIY projects and getting in the sea.

Natalie Granger BVetMed MRCVS
I qualified from the Royal Veterinary College in 2002, and spent the next 20 years in general practice, 19 of which, at The Park Vet Group in Leicestershire. I moved through many clinical roles there, as a mixed practitioner, small animal vet, lead vet and eventually clinical director of 4 sites and over 100 staff members.

In 2022 I moved into a regional director role for Linnaeus, overseeing small animal primary care services across the midlands.
2025 brings a new chapter, moving back into clinical work and the independent veterinary sector, plus enabling me to join the board of SPVS.
I have a huge passion for primary care practice and championing the joy and diversity it can bring, as a career. My interests include motivating and empowering teams, mentoring and supporting development, especially into leadership and management.

Outside of work I have a growing family of three children (two teenagers and a tweenager), and the obligatory dogs, cats and ponies, all of which keep me very busy!

Vicky Jux BVetMed BSc CertAVP MRCVS
Vicky graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2013 and began her career with an equine hospital internship before spending the next decade in equine ambulatory practice, working across both independent and corporate settings in Hampshire. She has completed her RCVS Certificate in Advanced Veterinary Practice and recently stepped into the role of Clinical Director.

Passionate about ensuring equine veterinary careers are progressive, sustainable, and rewarding, Vicky is committed to supporting and developing her team. She is particularly interested in creating positive workplace cultures that empower and retain equine veterinary professionals.

Outside of work, Vicky enjoys a busy family life with her three young daughters, a horse, two Shetlands, and lovely large hairy dog.