Robin's Nest from American Humane - John Payne, Chairman of American Humane and CEO of Compassion-First Pet Hospitals

Episode Date: January 1, 2024

Robin is joined by guest John Payne. Payne is the chairman of the board for American Humane as well as President and CEO of Compassion-First Pet Hospitals. He is a well-known leader in both the international and domestic animal wellness and welfare space.

Welcome to Robin's Nest. So many of us have a deep connection with the animals around us and want to protect them from the pets in our homes to endangered species in the wild. That's why I joined American Humane. As one of the oldest and most effective animal protection groups, we help billions of animals around the world. Join us as we explore how we can build a more humane world together. Hello and welcome to Robin's Nest. I'm Dr. Robin Ganzert and this is the official podcast of American Humane and Global Humane, the nation's first and most experienced humane organization focused on the humane treatment of animals all over the world. From certifying zoos to being the first boots on the ground in crises and rescues helping to ensure that animals are safe in the filming of movies and on

sets globally and that 1 billion animals and farms are treated humanely and our military veteran and military dog programs. There's so much to talk about with American Humane's power to touch lives and keep animals safe. But today we're talking to the chairman of the board at American Humane, Mr. John Payne. We want to hear what you think after you've listened. Please make sure to review the podcast on your podcast platform. We're so thrilled today to have in Robin's nest John Payne,

the chairman of the governing board of directors at American Humane and a leader in the space of animal welfare. John, it's such a privilege to have you here today. It's such a privilege and honor to know you. You've been one of my inspirations and my mentor for so many years. Thank you so much for being with us. Well, thanks, Robin. It's a pleasure to be here. And, you know, anything we can do to further the cause for taking care of animals, you know, I'm all in. Are you ever all in? You have been a leader in this space from day one in terms of, I think, about your career career and you've started out with some of the most innovative projects and you continue to this very day. A lot of people would be listening to today's

podcast and want to know how did John get started on this journey because it's a fascinating career. Well it's it is very interesting. I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian and really an equine veterinarian. After graduating from college, I taught high school biology and chemistry and got an offer from an animal health company, one of the oldest animal health companies. And so that's how I started out my career. I love that. High school teacher, turned into a sales professional, and went all the way up the chain to finally becoming the president and general manager of Bear Animal Health North America where I was in

charge of the North American business. Which is huge and significant and I think about people who are looking at career changes are they brave enough to take that leap of faith and I'm sure there's high school biology teachers listening right now thinking I didn't I didn I didn't have my dad say the same thing as your dad. What great advice. And then look at your commitment to animals through that career too, helping those veterinarians be better animal doctors. That's right, exactly.

I can remember calling on veterinarians and reading the book on a new procedure and helping them through it. I used to do that a lot but the other interesting thing was you know I worked in corporate pharmaceutical but also I was an entrepreneur and that is where I think I've been able to help animals the most. Provide so many advancements to bringing it to their own homes is what you've been able to do too. Exactly. So one interesting project that I had, I went to the corporate research facilities in Germany. The home of Bayer is Leverkusen, Germany and we saw a compound that was there and and this was for fleas and ticks and I convinced the powers to be at that time that I'd like to develop this for the United States and it was never never done before where a product could be developed in some

other country it was always developed in Germany first and then spread to the rest of the world so they let me do that and that product eventually became the leading flea product and really changed the way of treating fleas on dogs and cats. And before that we're using organophosphates which were poisonous to dogs and certainly deadly to cats so you couldn't use those so it was a game changer an innovation and I remember in one of the newspapers they the question was asked of consumers on the street, what was the greatest advancement in science in the United States, like sending a man to the moon?

And somebody mentioned Advantage because it saved my cat's life or it saved my dog's life. Oh, I love that. And, you know, John, when you think about this, too, this is the time when, you know, really the role of And you know, John, when you think about this too, this is the time when, you know, really the role of animals in our lives changed, companion animals, because with products like Advantage, you could now feel very comfortable having the dog and cat move in your house and maybe inside your bedroom like they've become now. Because we've seen,

if you look over 50 to 70 years the dogs were in the backyard cats were always outside and now they're in our beds and you've created a product to make that so yeah much easier to do way before that i was always promoting the human animal bond and there were a few people like dr. Marty Becker who promoted that notion. Yes. And, you know, pets have evolved over time from, you know, in the barn to the backyard to the porch to inside and then eventually into the bed. I'm guilty. So am I.

So really it's unconditional love. The other interesting thing about Advantage, that particular product, was we were able to develop a method where you could put it on the back of the neck, just a couple of drops yes never entered the bloodstream Wow so it would spread throughout the fatty layer underneath the skin it was never systemic to the animals so the fleas you know might bite the animal but they they met their doom on the skin yes not through the blood of that animal well that's a huge huge huge huge from a safety standpoint for the animal is a huge advancement and it lasted a full month it is a game changer and it. And it really, your role, your leadership in that, your vision for that helped to change the human-animal bond for the better.

It's very true. And the further developments of products by ourselves and other companies at the time have further helped the well-being of animals. Yes, you have a very special dog in your life, Maggie. And I have Daisy. And I look at Daisy and I saw a little thing that came across one of my social feeds. And it said, you know, they're only a part of your life,

but you're their whole life. And when I think about that with Daisy, as she looks for me and sees me across the room, I know Maggie looks at you and Nancy and you're their whole lives. And all of us who have these special pets, we are their whole lives. We are. Yes, we are. And in a way, they're our whole lives as well. Yes, yes. and in a way there are whole lives as well yes yes because as i mentioned you know unconventional unconditional love yes that they provide but uh also from a mental health standpoint yes you know they have the calming effect and you catch yourself you know if you're maybe not as calm as you should be sometimes,

you see the dog react to that and it calms you down. So Maggie means the world to Nancy and myself. Nancy and myself, it's amazing what animals can do for you and what they can do for society. Yes, so true. I've had the pleasure of working with you now for 13 years. 13 years. It's amazing. Lucky 13. And in that time, we've created the Hero Dog Awards, just listed as Per People Magazine as one of the top reasons to love America, is our own Hero Dog Awards, with the voting and hearing those stories.

We've seen dogs sniff out cancer on their humans. We've seen dogs go on the front lines in the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. We've seen dogs absolutely suffer the worst torture from humans and come back and be so loving when they got into their forever loving home we're in our 13th year of the hero dog awards what what do you think about that it has to make you feel great when you celebrate the bond you know recently we celebrated the 22nd anniversary of 9-11, you know, one of the terrible tragedies in, you know, American history.

Yes. And I remember the Hero Dogs, that first one that we had with Roselle. Yes. Rescuing people at the Twin Towers. I also was very supportive and provided medical care for the animals that were working at that site. The search and rescue dogs. The glass, the toxic elements that were present. Those dogs, you know, worked tirelessly searching for people and certainly the remains of people so that families could have closure and one of the I think the humane things that we did you know as a

company was we took all of them to Disney World oh how special yeah it was really heartwarming. And they gave me a tour down at the bottom of the, once everything was excavated, or at least close to being excavated, where you could go down there. It was just, you know, it shook me to the bone. One of the worst days in American history, for sure. One of the worst days. just, you know, it shook me to the bone. One of the worst days in American history, for sure. One of the worst days. And maybe in the world, the way it provided such instability. But the heroes came out with wagging tails and four legs.

That's right. And again, serving out of unconditional love, trying to find the remains. And as you so beautifully said, foreclosure. Well, what a great way to honor the dogs and their humans with that great trip. Thank you for doing that. Sure.

I am amazed. And we did celebrate our very first year, Roselle, who won the Hero Dog Awards. And she led her person down those flights of stairs after one of the planes hit. Still gives me chills to think about. Yeah, it does. Well, in moving forward from that moment, and again you've been on this incredible adventure as a pioneer really for animal health and well-being and uplifting the human-animal bond. You created one of the

most incredible hospital systems after you were going to retire, I believe. Your wife said you were going to retire. I think that might have lasted 24 seconds. And then you built the most magnificent center and I love the name of the hospital system that you built. Can you share a little bit more? Sure. You know after those couple of years of not being involved on a day-to-day basis, I still felt that there was more work that needed to be done. And so I developed a group of specialty and emergency hospitals called Compassion First and we acquired our first hospitals in at the end of 2014 and the idea was to get the very best hospitals that existed and make them even better.

We acquired some of the best hospitals in the United States, developed some of them ourselves, and now it's turned into, with partners and everything else. We now have 145 of the specialty and emergency hospitals in the United States and Canada. And then we have a general practice group of hospitals in the United States and Canada. And that's about somewhere 1,200 hospitals. Oh my goodness. So we're now the second largest.

Mars is, of course, the first. But we have big plans. And the reason we separated both is general practice does one thing and does it very well and that's really preventative care. But we have the specialty and emergency hospitals that they can refer the difficult cases, the cases that require a specialist to intervene. It's been wonderful. We have a real passion for quality of care. So we did a lot of work establishing that name, but compassion first, that's what clients want. want to know it's it's it's a

saying that I have and it's a saying that clients have yes I don't care how much you know until I know how much you care oh I love that quality of care is paramount and our vision was to become the Mayo Clinic of Veterinary Medicine. And so big, lofty, audacious goal but that describes who we want to be when we grow up. Well I would say in nine years because it's nine years since you founded it to be with that number of hospitals and the Mayo Clinic vision it's like the x-factor it seems to be that when you get involved with something you make that secret sauce happen and then it explodes as a true entrepreneur it's remarkable I think what you did with Bayer think about what you've done

with Compassion First I know you've done that with various Mars and efforts and initiatives. It's remarkable. There's a lot to learn from you John in terms of how you make those X-Factors happen. It's wonderful. I think the the important point is when you know you're doing the right thing, and you're doing the right thing for animals, it comes back to you in multiples of good things happening. So we really want to create the world's greatest specialty and emergency hospital group as well as general practice group and the only way you do that is by putting the patients first so you know Mayo Clinic is patients come first. In veterinary medicine, the patients and their owners come first.

That's beautiful. Because I've never seen a pet come in on their own. No. Daisy doesn't know how to drive, or at least I don't think she knows how to drive. That's right. I love that. I love that. Well, we're going to pivot if you don't think she knows how to drive. That's right. I love that. I love that. Well, we're going to pivot, if you don't mind.

I think your story, your professional journey, is so doggone impressive. And I'm sure it's one that a book, if someone hasn't already started to write your book, they need to because it's incredibly valuable, especially for the next generation of those who aspire to be true business leaders and entrepreneurs on the global stage. What I so admire about you is your commitment to building that better world, and you do

that through, I know, the charitable platform that's American Humane and Global Humane. Tell me, what does it mean for you to be the board chair of now Global Humane and Global Humane. Tell me what does it mean for you to be the board chair now Global Humane? Well it certainly means awful lot. You know I don't believe in getting involved in something where you can't have an impact and to be able to expand the reaches of what we do and what we do so successfully here in the United States to other parts of the world is extremely extremely important. The fact that we now certify, humanely certify zoos and aquariums around the world. We need to go further in other countries.

And we're moving into Africa where we're going to be able to protect the animals in the wildlife preserves that are there through our ecotourism program. So it's so vitally important, the work that we have done successfully here, to be able to launch ourselves into the rest of the world because it's just like the environmental movement, right? Yes. And you can't just do it in the United States.

It has to be done, you know, worldwide. And in a way, it's the same thing with animal welfare. Yes. You can't just do it in one country. You have to do it around the world and that's what Global Humane is about and you know I think our legacy will be that we've gotten that movement started and we'll become you know the global leader in animal welfare around the world. You know, John, when you started as board chair, we were in one country, and today we're in 40 countries

deploying our programs. I think about the same sort of growth you've had with Compassion First and with BEAR and all along your journey, how fortunate we are for the animals we protect to have your energy focused on our global expansion because it's truly wildest dreams come true. And you're absolutely right, animals know, animal welfare knows no geographic boundaries.

No it doesn't, not at all. And you know it takes a good leader like yourself, you know, to be the CEO of American Humane to have these ideas but it takes a team to establish them and push them and get them where you want them to be yes and so you can't you can't listen to naysayers. No. Because, again, it's all about the animals. And if we always keep our focus on the animals and doing the best for the animals, because nobody else will do it, then we're going to be wildly successful.

I love that. Stay focused on the animals. That's right. I'm going to switch us up back to Maggie real quick because I love your pup Maggie. Maggie could talk to you today, John. What would she say to you? Nancy said to me last night, she said said I wish Maggie could talk to me

what does she think Maggie would say to her right I want a different pillow mom well I think Maggie would be obviously she would say how much she appreciates Nancy and everything she does for her yes I mean she expresses it in a lot of different ways yeah rather than verbal yeah but sometimes verbally you know she'll tell her that she wants more bacon I love it so she would say how much she loved us yes that she's grateful that she travels everywhere we travel beautiful where she can right she would say she has the best life of any animal on this planet. Oh, I love that. I love that. Well, John, I think you've made a better planet for all the world's animals with what you've done through your career.

Well, we have a lot more to do, as you know. Yes, we do. We do. career you know we have a lot more to do yes you know I mean there's there's a lot of animals that suffer and you know they all these catastrophes that we've had recently animals have really suffered as a result of that but I think people are starting to recognize that they have to save the animals along with the people themselves. A lot of animals with no homes now. Absolutely. And no people to take care of them.

Absolutely. So that's where we have to step in. And I know we have a huge program when it comes to that but we have to be able to do more globally. We sure do, we sure do. I thought a lot about the animals in Morocco. I think a lot about the animals impacted by the fires in Hawaii and Washington State we were boots on the ground caring for people's animals that were fortunately evacuated. A lot of work for us to do for sure. Yeah, I mean evacuation has to be part of it for animals as well as people.

Absolutely. So we have to come up with a system to be able to do that. Take them when we evacuate, period. Right. As we kind of wrap up today's session, I know there's the next generation listening. What advice would you tell them if they want to devote their lives to making animals have a better world?

What advice would you give the next generation? Well, you have to get involved. So you can't just sit back and say, I want this or I want that. You have to make it happen. You can get involved in many different ways. Yes. But if you really, if that's what your passion is, you need to be the people who step up that are going to take your role in the future, my role in the future, and become leaders in this movement.

Yes, become leaders, because we do need the next generation to step up and continue the fight. We really do. And I know they're there. Yes. But it requires hard work, dedication, you got to you know get a good education. You have to be a thought leader as well as an action person but get involved as early as you can. It's never too early to get started.

I love that. Valuable advice from you, John. Well, I can't thank you enough for joining me in Robin's nest today, our little nest where we're able to talk about our love for animals. And thank you for your leadership and all you have done to make the world a better place, a true innovator. It's my pleasure Robin and animals are tremendous, they need our protection and we really need people to step up, help us with this wonderful cause. Thank you John, that's a beautiful way to close. Thanks so much. Thanks, Robin.