Sarah Gibson Tuttle
Malena Higuera
Dr. Lun Yu
Rustin Moore
Dr. Rustin M. Moore was born and raised in West Virginia, the heart of Appalachia. He earned his BS from West Virginia University in 1986 and his DVM and PhD from the Ohio State University in 1989 and 1994, respectively. He became a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Surgeons in 1994.
He spent 12 years on faculty at the Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine where his clinical interests included equine lameness, surgery, and colic and the associated complications. His research led to him being a principal or co-investigator on approximately 120 funded grants. In addition, he has authored or co-authored more than 15 academic book chapters, and his work has been published as 125 peer- or editor-reviewed manuscripts and 175 scientific abstracts.
Dr. Moore was recruited back to Ohio State in November 2006 as the Chair of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, a position he served until 2014. He also simultaneously served as the Executive Director of the Veterinary Medical Center and Associate Dean for Clinical and Outreach Programs from 2009 to 2014, and then served as the Associate Executive Dean from 2014-2015 before being named the 11th Dean beginning September 2015.
A passionate advocate for animal health, Dr. Moore has led community outreach and disaster response initiatives, including the rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming of nearly 500 horses after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He serves on multiple boards, including the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and The Wilds, and the Ohio Wildlife Center, among others, and is currently the immediate past president of the American Association of Veterinary Medical Colleges.
He is a sought-after speaker on topics such as the importance of creating and fostering a community in the college, university, community, and the veterinary profession where all people feel welcome, comfortable and can thrive. He also is invited to speak about the importance of biodiversity to conservation and sustainability, competency-based veterinary education and spectrum of care, health and wellbeing of people in the veterinary profession, and the One Health approach to animal, human, and environmental health.
He has been frequently invited to share his passion, perspective, and expertise about the human-animal bond since his 2016 TEDx talk titled “The Power of a Pet.” To that end, Dr. Moore authored the recently released book, Unleashing the Bond: Harnessing the Power of Human-Animal Interactions, a broad and deep exploration of the often-mystifying connection between humans and animals, which is available on Amazon. He donates a portion of proceeds of book sales organizations that promote, protect, and preserve the human-animal bond. Be sure to leave a book review.
Erin Simpson
Brandy Kuentzel
Brandy Kuentzel is the CEO and co-founder of Ease Pet Vet, the company making expert veterinary behavior care accessible to all pets. Prior to starting Ease, Brandy led legal strategy and advocacy efforts for one of the nation’s most influential animal welfare organizations, the San Francisco SPCA, for more than a decade. As General Counsel, she oversaw numerous groundbreaking legislative victories including shutting down California’s last gas chamber for shelter pets, challenging restrictive laws on veterinary telemedicine, and establishing the nation’s first legal aid organization dedicated to shelter animals. Brandy saw firsthand that behavior was the silent crisis behind so many heartbreaking outcomes for pets, and founded Ease as the first online solution to bring specialty behavior care into the mainstream. An accomplished entrepreneur and corporate attorney, Brandy was the season winner of NBC’s The Apprentice, and previously founded and sold her own venture in the food industry. She earned her JD from the University of Chicago Law School and holds a BA from UCLA, and enjoys time with her family of two cats, two children and husband in the Bay Area when not building Ease.
Chuck Johnson
Jason Meltzer
Jason Meltzer is a pet care entrepreneur with a track record of building category-defining brands. He is the founder of Live Work Pet, a new real estate platform that combines premium rental housing with integrated pet care and curated lifestyle amenities designed for modern pet parents. The company is launching its first community in Denver with plans to scale nationally.
Previously, Jason co-founded Wag, where he served as CEO & Chief Dog Officer and helped grow the company into one of the most recognized pet tech startups in the country. He led market expansion, product launches, sales operations, investor relations, and brand storytelling during the company’s early growth.
Jason brings over ten years of experience at the intersection of pet wellness, technology, and consumer real estate. His work is focused on building scalable solutions that improve quality of life for pets and their people while unlocking long-term enterprise value.
Ryan Reed
Ryan has been an entrepreneur since 2008, right out of college. He started a successful Digital Marketing agency where he worked with many large ecommerce companies and helped some to exit. Ryan also started a lifestyle brand with his wife in 2017, Lifebyher LLC, which provides lifestyle content for women. He and his wife Ashley have built the following to 700,000 followers and growing. In 2020, Ryan partnered with his friend and former client, Gary Nealon, to start Pawzitivity Pets where they have acquired 8 brands in the pet space, ranging from supplements to content websites.