United by our
love of animals

Sinead joins the business with a deep experience as a leader in care-centred industries who are people-centric and with aspirational growth plans. Her most recent experience includes leading Dentistry group Abano Healthcare, as well as the Junior Adventurers Group – an education and primary school care provider where Sinead is still on the Board as a Non-Executive Director.

Sinead’s focus over the coming months will be spending time traveling to clinics across Australia, NZ and Singapore so she can get to know team members and look for opportunities to continue building a strong and sustainable business.

Sinead is based in Melbourne Victoria where she lives with her partner Mark and son Ronan, along with her lab Tate, and staffy Zues, affectionately called the “the twins”.

Dr Brett Hodgkin is one of the founders of VetPartners and after nine years as our Chief Veterinary Officer decided to transition to the new role of Executive Director Veterinary Advisor in 2025.

Brett has had a rich and varied history as a veterinarian. He started out in mixed animal practice in Western Australia, worked in the UK as a locum, then moved back to his hometown of Adelaide to join the Vets4Pets group as a small animal associate before progressing to senior partner. In 2016, he and his partners united Vets4Pets with the Vetfriends group and 11 other practices to form the original VetPartners community.

Being involved with a great team of talented people and helping them achieve individual and collective growth year-on-year for nearly two decades has been a highlight of Brett’s career. He is thrilled to maintain his connection with VetPartners and continue to help provide opportunities for passionate people in the profession.

Away from work, Brett loves nothing more than spending time with his family, travelling, playing a round of golf for a dollar or two with old mates, and sharing a meal and a big Barossa red with good friends.

With more than 15 years of working experience across Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific, Stephen is an accomplished growth strategist and passionate advocate for customer-led business improvement and digital transformation.

Stephen’s extensive background in human health spans Aged Care, Primary Care, Health Insurance and Dental operations. Prior to joining VetPartners, Stephen helped establish and grow Bupa’s aged care services, led their customer agenda in the International Markets division and progressed industry-leading propositions for the dental profession at Bupa Dental.

Stephen joined VP executive leadership team in 2021 with accountability for driving new business strategy and transformative enablers aligned with VetPartners’ growth ambitions.

Stephen holds an MBA from Macquarie University. In his spare time, he stays fit by chasing after his three kids and French Bulldog Georgie, and loves coaching his daughter’s League Tag team and is a long-suffering Wallabies supporter.

Aaron joined VetPartners in 2024 as Chief Financial Officer, with more than 20 years’ experience in finance, business development and change management.

Aaron has a strong track record in restructuring and acquisition, and most recently served as Chief Financial Officer with Infinity Group helping to build the business from 40 to 115 locations. Prior to that, he worked as a Senior Relationship Manager with both Westpac and NAB supporting the needs of care-centred business owners, including vet emergency hospitals, private (human) hospitals, pharmacies, dental practices and medical centres.

A key part of Aaron’s success is his hands-on approach to building dynamic, high-performance teams that deliver growth. He is excited to work with VetPartners to build on the great foundations and take the business to the next level.

Based in Brisbane, Aaron enjoys long-distance triathlons, trail running and spending time with his wife Kim, their two children and French Bulldog Ruby.

Russell brings a wealth of experience and cross-industry knowledge to the VetPartners leadership team as Chief Veterinary Officer.

In his most recent role as General Manager of Dog and Vision Services with Guide Dogs Victoria, he established a range of new initiatives to benefit people living with low vision and blindness, including expanded therapy dog services, on-site veterinary services, a dog welfare and ethics committee, employment services, and a wellbeing and mental health support program.

Russell was previously Head of Hospital Services at Lort Smith Animal Hospital and the Chief Outcomes Officer and Deputy CEO at Melba Support Services. He currently serves on the board of Seymour Health and is Deputy Chair of the Animal Welfare Advisory Committee providing expert advice on animal welfare issues to Victoria’s Minister for Agriculture.

Based in Melbourne, Russell lives with his wife Bridget, their two children Patrick and Matilda, and their Maltese cross Boris.

Keiron joins VetPartners as Executive Director of Specialty & Emergency with over 20 years’ experience managing complex hospital operations, including emergency department, ICU and CCU services. Since migrating to Australia from the UK, Kieron has held senior leadership roles in hospitals in the public, not-for-profit and private sectors, and is passionate about achieving the best possible experience and clinical outcomes for patients.

At home, Kieron lives with his wife Josie, son Declan, daughter Jordi and their dog, Star. In his spare time, Kieron enjoys supporting his children with their sporting interests, spending time in the garden, and cooking.

Ben Waterhouse is the Chief Information Officer of Vet Partners, with over 17 years’ experience across all areas of enterprise IT teams. He was recognised as one of the top 50 CIO’s in Australia in the 2020 and 2021 CIO magazine awards. Ben is big advocate of Agile practices and is passionate about Digital Transformation, helping organisations get the most from technology by providing a seamless customer experience.

Away from work Ben loves spending time with his wife, daughter and their three cats and when time permits enjoying the colder months at the snow.

John joined VetPartners in May 2024. In his role, John is focused on delivering transformation initiatives to help drive positive change that benefits both our network of clinics and hospitals, and the sustainability of the profession.

John is a collaborative leader and experienced in a variety of businesses globally, including most recently catch.com and Kmart. He is passionate about challenging others towards shared goals, and has been successful in developing and nurturing a team culture which delivers great customer experience and value.

John lives on the Mornington Peninsula with his wife and son and their two beagles.

Nick is passionate about the pet care sector and is excited to develop our growth plans and support our people to deliver the best possible patient and client care.

He joined VetPartners from Ochre Health, where as Chief Acquisitions Officer he grew Ochre’s practice network by 50 per cent during his three-year tenure. Prior to that, Nick was with Petbarn/Greencross in the property and acquisition team. He was responsible for overseeing the lease portfolio for 450 locations and helped grow the retail business from 60 to 250 stores in Australia and New Zealand.

Nick is based in Brisbane’s inner north, where he lives with his wife Elicia, their young children Harry and Maggie, and their seven-year-old cavoodle Winnie. Nick’s weekends are often spent supporting his children’s sporting activities and, when he gets the chance, he enjoys going to the Sunshine Coast for beach time and surfing with his family.

Deborah is an accomplished people and culture executive with extensive leadership experience across healthcare, aged care, media, hospitality and construction.

Most recently she spent nearly five years at GenesisCare, the world’s largest radiation oncology business, where she served as Senior Vice President People and Culture (Strategy and Global Partner Services) prior to being appointed Chief of Staff. In these roles she enhanced the people and culture service offering globally, developed innovative attraction strategies, and played a key role in scaling the business for local and international growth.

Deborah lives on Sydney’s Lower North Shore with her husband Simon and teenage children Hugo, Anton and Henrietta. Their home is full of energy thanks to their mini dachshunds Caesar and Nelson. When she’s not training (or cleaning up after) puppy Caesar, Deborah loves bushwalking, the theatre and adventure travel.