Vets Plus, Inc., the Wisconsin-based nutraceutical manufacturer has announced that Paul Hays has joined its senior management team. Mr. Hays, most recently President and CEO of Virbac US, joins Vets Plus as Chief Commercial Officer and will lead sales, marketing and commercial development activities for all Vets Plus brands and for the company’s Noble Pharma manufacturing division.
The addition of Hays to the management team comes two months after Vets Plus acquired Merrick’s Inc., a Wisconsin-based supplier of nutritional supplements to the dairy industry. According to David Nelson, Vets Plus’ President, “Paul’s broad leadership experience, extensive list of industry relationships and his expertise in commercial strategy will be invaluable to Vets Plus, especially as we begin to branch out from our traditional business model.”
Mr. Hays led Virbac’s North American operations from 2012 through 2018 where he accelerated its growth through key product acquisitions, sales force expansion and by revamping its production facility.
Prior to Virbac, Mr. Hays served as President & CEO of Synbiotics Corporation where he was responsible for the re-organization and turnaround of the veterinary diagnostics company and orchestrated the sale of the company to Pfizer Animal Health in 2010. He continued with the enterprise as Pfizer’s Vice President of Global Diagnostics until 2012. These roles were preceded by 10 years in executive roles at Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, serving successively as VP-US Sales & Marketing, VP-Global Swine Business, VP-Global Area Management & Marketing and EVP-US Business Operations.
According to Mr. Hays, “This is an exciting opportunity for me to join an entrepreneurial and agile culture with so much potential. Vets Plus has enormous scientific and manufacturing resources and it is clear to me that Raj Lall (Vet Plus’ founder & CEO) and the rest of the management share a vision for the business that will be transformative. I am looking forward to contributing to shaping and achieving that vision.”
