Fast-Growing Petriage Names New CEO, Creates Two New Leadership Positions

BELLEVUE, Wash., July 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Petriage named Joseph Coury, a veterinary industry and business development leader, as CEO of the fast-growing B2B pet health technology company. Coury, whose appointment is immediate, succeeds Allon Freiman, a co-founder of four-year-old Petriage, who becomes chief strategy officer and continues as a member of the leadership team.

The appointment comes as Petriage accelerates an ambitious expansion program for its fully integrated telehealth tools and resources that help vets and pet parents provide the best care for their pets. Coury, 37, was previously CEO of OMNI Practice Group, a Kenmore, Wash., provider of veterinary, dental and medical-related business, real estate and consulting services. Earlier, he was senior vice president of the Veterinary Division at California Bank of Commerce, and during his career, he provided start-up and financial and other banking services to over 1,000 veterinarian clinics across the country. 

In a related leadership team announcement, Wendy Hennig, Petriage's vice president of Sales and Marketing, was elevated to Chief Growth Officer. Hennig, 44, with almost 20 years of veterinary industry sales experience, has been with Petriage since May 2018 and previously was at  Patterson Veterinary Supply Co., where she held several posts.  

"Petriage's board and I are delighted to have Joe join our company as CEO," said Freiman, who has known Coury for several years. "Petriage's rapid growth, spurred by our ability to tap into the surge in interest in veterinary telehealth as the result of the coronavirus pandemic, is getting us closer to accessing external sources of funding. Joe's experience as a proven team leader with deep knowledge of veterinary practice operations and economics and his superb animal health industry credentials and connections make him the right person to take the reins at this exciting time to lead Petriage through its next phase of growth."

Freiman, 32, emphasized he is not stepping away from Petriage. "Like most startup co-founders, I am committed to participating in our company's long-term success and look forward to continuing to contribute to Petriage. We have a wealth of potential opportunities in, for example, other AI-driven applications, expanding internationally and incorporating data from wearables, where Petriage's adaptable technology positions us for success."

Dan Kingston, Petriage board member, co-founder and member of Frontbridge Capital, and formerly Head of Portfolio Management for Vulcan Capital, said of Coury's appointment, "We are delighted to have attracted a proven team leader with deep veterinary industry knowledge." as Petriage's new CEO."

Kingston added, "Joe's arrival rounds out an all-star team of industry veterans, including the hiring last year of Gary Watson as the Chief Technology Officer. Together, the team will build upon Petriage's leading position in veterinary telehealth and scale its service offerings globally."

Petriage Differentiated by Its Unique Software Platform
Coury said what drew him to Petriage is the potential of its unique software platform – which remotely treats vets' patients and integrates pets' medical data effortlessly into vet practice management systems – to transform vet clinics' profitability, productivity, efficiency, return on investment and quality of life for vets and their staffs.

Petriage's suite of services includes pet teletriage, teleconsult, telemedicine and telemonitoring, enabling vets to expand their business as a "brick-and-click" practice. This lets them capture a significant portion of cases occurring after-hours that they wouldn't have been aware of and likely would result in emergency room visits. It also keeps medical records up to date by unloading all information automatically to the vet's practice management software.

"I've seen the difference the Petriage platform makes in helping vets manage their time and help achieve work/life balance, and no other vet telehealth solution can rival the complete circle of care it delivers," Coury maintained. Exemplifying the superior results, he said, is the 21-year-old veterinary practice of Dr. Shlomo Freiman, DVM, another of Petriage's co-founders.

Coury noted that even before establishing Petriage, Dr. Freiman used its telehealth approach to engage his clients in the care of their pets after-hours, including its proprietary teletriage app that lets pet owners assess the urgency of a dog or cat's health symptoms and deliver trusted recommendations to the vet. Coury said the telehealth platform has helped Dr. Shlomo generate more than three times the gross revenues of the typical solo practitioner and placed him among the top one-tenth of one percent of most productive veterinarians.

Remarkable Growth in 2020
Petriage has grown dramatically in 2020, through partnerships and other actions, as veterinarians become more familiar and accustomed to telehealth services. Their interest intensified with COVID-19 that has limited traditional vet-and-pet interactions and threatened their ability to stay open.

Since mid-March, Petriage has partnered with leading veterinary suppliers in the U.S., including MWI Animal Health, Miller Veterinary Supply Co. and LifeLearn Animal Health to reach clinics nationwide. It also partnered with  other membership groups such as The Veterinary Cooperative and PSIvet, both leading independent veterinary purchasing and support groups, and the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association is offering Petriage's services as a new benefit to members. Other collaborations are in the works.

With a pet in an estimated 67% of U.S. homes, according to the 2019-2020 American Pet Products Association survey, Petriage anticipates accelerated growth to continue in the number of  veterinarians and pets it serves, including outside the U.S. The survey indicates that 63.4 million U.S. households own a dog and 42.7 million own a cat.

Consequently, Petriage is developing further telehealth technology and services led by Gary Watson, its chief technology officer and a leading pet industry tech strategist and software architect. It also plans enhanced data analytics capabilities. Recently, it integrated all practice metric software used by vet clinics with its pet data-reporting services.

The anticipated surge in Petriage's growth has spurred the company to step up consideration of securing Series A financing to fund future expansion of additional state-of-the-art telehealth technology and services.  Previously, it has completed two funding rounds and a convertible note sale.

About Petriage
Petriage is a B2B pet health technology company that brings fully integrated telehealth services to veterinary practices and their clients. Designed by a vet specifically for veterinarians, its platform provides a unique user-friendly way for vets to communicate with clients and deliver care to pets remotely, including a proprietary teletriage app in which pet parents are provided a recommendation in real-time about the need and urgency to seek medical care for their pets. Learn more at petriage.com.

SOURCE Petriage

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https://petriage.com