Leaders

Reed Howlett, Chief Executive Officer

Reed is a seasoned consumer goods executive who has been extremely active in the natural pet food industry and beyond. From his start in corporate finance at Chase Manhattan Bank to senior leadership roles across finance, marketing, and sales at Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, he has played a role in growing companies across a variety of disciplines. But once he experienced the world of natural pet food, there was no going back – not even to ice cream.

He first served as the CEO of Nature’s Variety, a full-line natural pet food company, and the North American leader in raw diets for dogs and cats. While there, he led the rapid expansion of the company into new channels and saw the company named to the Inc. 5000 for three years in a row. Now, he leads Wellness Pet and all of its brands, bringing high-quality, natural meals, treats, and dental chews to pets and pet families around the world.

At home, he stays active with his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Jack, who excels in agility drills, playing fetch, and serving as CEO of the sofa. When he’s not following Jack’s lead, Reed spends his time running, swimming, traveling, hiking, reading, and gathering as a family with his wife, two kids, and, of course, Jack.

Bill McDonald, Chief Financial Officer

Bill started out in public accounting at PricewaterhouseCoopers before making the jump to the company side and has been blazing trails at Wellness Pet ever since. During his time as a Wellie, he has led business development efforts resulting in the acquisitions of several new brands, co-led strategic planning processes, and established first-wave international expansion efforts. And those aren’t the only trails he’s been busy blazing. 

When the workday is done, he hits the trails around his house with his family, including their Cockapoo named Izzy, and then they all recover with a snuggle on the couch during TV time. But it’s not long before they’re outside yet again – as Bill enjoys skiing, camping, and almost any outdoor activity in addition to being a big-time hiker. He’s also currently on a mission to knock out all 48 of the 4,000-foot mountains in New Hampshire. Talk about new trails!

Heather Gadon, Global Vice President, People & Engagement

Heather has brought best-in-class HR practices and solutions to companies of all sizes, from start-ups to multinational organizations experiencing fast growth and diverse cultures. At Wellness Pet, she creates, implements, and leads the people strategy – working to make Wellness Pet a best-in-class organization. When your personal values mirror your professional values, you do your best work and that is what makes Wellies special.

Heather and her family are lucky to have two dogs. Her Golden Retriever named Ellie, who is simply bursting with personality, and Bean, a mixed-breed lab rescue who enjoys curling up on a blanket. Both dogs have a blast whether on a long walk or a hike in the woods.

Clark Reinhard, Chief Marketing Officer

Clark has been disrupting the human health and nutrition category since his start in Marketing and Innovation, first with Procter & Gamble and then Ocean Spray. Now, he gets the daily opportunity to do the same for his four-legged friends with Wellness Pet’s natural pet nutrition, treats, and dental care. He is passionate about serving pets and their parents and building the Wellness brand.

A pet parent for most of his life, Clark doesn’t like to play favorites…but his favorites have been his Black Lab named Scrappy and his Tabby Cat named Bingo (after Cleveland Cavalier great Bingo Smith). He also has a Desert Tortoise cleverly named Sheldon (after Sheldon Cooper on Big Bang Theory). No matter how busy life gets, Clark finds the time to play with his pet (even Sheldon has a favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle action figure!) and spend time with his wife Dina and three kids Mitch, Marlee, and Elise. He’s also a fan of, you guessed it, any and all Cleveland professional sports, and exercises any chance he gets.

Greg Kean, Global Vice President, Advanced Innovation, R&D, and Sustainability

Greg has a job that most people – and pets – would love to get their paws on: Innovation & Product Development (also known as creator & tester). He has worked on Innovation and R&D for most of his career, almost all of which has been in the pet food industry. Using consumer insights, he and his team actively put their knowledge and passion to work in developing nutritious and purpose-based products that support healthy, happy, and meaningful relationships between pet parents and their beloved pets. While he’s proud of every product created, he’s even prouder of the way they’ve accomplished bringing products to market – with a focus on nutrition, safety, and supporting long-term health.

The luckiest pet on the planet, his loving and playful Boston Terrier mix named Violet takes just as much pride in her role as official tester – and Greg loves to watch her enjoy the team’s new creations. They balance out the taste tests with a healthy amount of fetch and cuddles (to aid in digestion, of course). Greg also finds balance in a life of running and swimming, picking on the mandolin or guitar, exploring new healthy foods, and savoring a great Belgian Lambic beer.

Roger Parsons, Senior Vice President, Sales & Customer Experience

Roger has a strong track record of leading growth strategies at major CPG companies. His experience includes launching innovative products such as Swiffer while at P&G and Activia while at Dannon. Roger shares his passion for pets through building high-performance teams, delivering consistent revenue and profit growth, and strengthening customer partnerships – all to spread the message of the benefits of natural pet food and use the insights learned to further improve pets’ wellbeing.

At the heart of his drive to help pets everywhere are the two pets closest to his heart – Benji the Lhasa-poo and Chloe the Shepherd Lab Ridgeback rescue. They happily keep him on his toes with endless long walks and sessions of “tennis ball” in the backyard. Whenever he’s not busy throwing the ball, Roger can be found boating, landscaping, or enjoying a game of golf.

Colm Geraghty, Global Vice President, Operations

Colm has focused all of his energy on operations and factory management for the entirety of his career, starting as an engineer with General Electric, and taking on a series of operations and end-to-end CPG supply chain roles with various companies since then. He has overseen plant expansions, restructured operating work systems at factories, and implemented productivity programs – all to keep Wellness Pet operating as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

When he’s not focusing on work, all of his time and attention goes to his equally productive Jack Russell Terrier named Minnie, his wife, and two children. Together, they enjoy running and swimming at the beach and playing ball in the backyard. To cap off an active day, Colm likes to return to his chemistry and engineering roots to brew beer at home. Cheers!

Erica Hageman, General Counsel

Erica is the first person to hold the position of General Counsel at Wellness Pet. After spending the majority of her career as an effective leader and General Counsel in the hospitality industry, she’s now focused on improving the wellbeing and lives of pets and pet parents through natural pet nutrition.

While Erica’s focused on corporate legal matters, her Cavachon pup named Tess likes to test her jurisdiction around the house with the guilty pleasure of stealing shoes. Once all the shoes have been accounted for, Erica and her family enjoy lacing up and taking Tess on long walks on the trail and playing fetch.

Not just an expert in legal, compliance, and contractual matters, Erica is also a triple threat outside of the office, where she is an avid triathlete with a passion for running, biking, and swimming.

Ernie Huber, Chief Information Officer

Ernie holds a strong track record of Information Technology leadership roles, including leading the corporate IT team at Stanley Black & Decker as the company completed over 40 acquisitions, and doubled in size. Now, Wellness Pet is lucky to have him managing all aspects of Information Technology on a global scale. During the week, he works closely with teams around the world to develop and implement Wellness Pet’s technology strategy and align technology investments to business objectives. 

On the weekends, he can be found more locally – walking the local Rail Trail with his wife and Black Mouth Cur rescue named Brewster. Walking or not, he and Brewster both look forward to any form of daily exercise to help release some energy, stay physically healthy, and keep their stress levels low.

Tricia DiPersio, PhD, RD, Vice President Food Safety, Quality Assurance, & Regulatory

Tricia is the first person to hold the position of Vice President of Food Safety, Quality Assurance & Regulatory Affairs at Wellness Pet. But her experience of leading food safety and quality for food manufacturers around the globe runs deep and has even won her the coveted Black Pearl Award for Corporate Excellence in Food Safety and Quality. Now, she’s bringing that award-winning expertise to the pet food industry to build on Wellness Pet’s best-in-class food safety culture and provide high-quality nutrition to pets everywhere.

As a pet parent of six–two Boston Terriers (Leroy & Layla), one Chihuahua (Kittiy), one Tabby Cat (Charlotte), and two Parakeets (Jerry & Lemon)–Tricia literally has pets everywhere and knows firsthand that providing safe, premium, natural nutrition to ensure their health, and wellbeing is of utmost importance.

She also knows the importance of not just playing it safe, but of just plain playing. When she’s not assuring the quality of global food initiatives, you can be sure to find her right outside her door–walking, hiking, and playing fetch with her family of pets, horseback riding, or discovering new restaurants down the block.

Wim Petermans, Managing Director, EMEA

Wim is a passionate entrepreneur known for building brands, breaking barriers, and coaching high-performing teams to success. He holds both a Master’s in Law and an MBA and has worked as a Sales Director for Unilever (Belgium), and The Wonderful Company (EMEA). Most recently, he built up his e-commerce experience and learned the true power of digital while running a chocolate venture in China as Managing Director. He now brings all of that drive and experience to help grow the brands and teams at Wellness Pet.

While Wim may be a rock star in the business world, the real rock star of his home is his Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Charlie. Charlie has made a name for himself as a big hugger and a lover of walks. He’s always there to help Wim warm-up for his 1st Iron Man 70.3 – which he hopes to do in 2022 – after already being well on his way to becoming a Six Star medal holder of the Marathon Majors.

Martin Bahr, Managing Director, Asia Pacific

Martin has chased his passion for pets all over the Asia-Pacific region. Starting in Marketing and Sales and moving into General Management early on in his career, his focus has always been on developing new business and setting up strong local teams. He set up the Wellness Pet APAC organization, the first company venture outside of North America, which is now successfully established with offices in Japan, Australia, Taiwan, and Singapore.

He currently lives and works in Singapore, where he doesn’t have a dog at the moment due to travel and space. But he is lucky to have a lot of friends with pets – and those friends’ pets are lucky that he always brings along a bag of WHIMZEES® dental chews when he visits. In addition to being a great house guest, he considers himself a passionate hobby chef and baker, collector of contemporary art, fashion, and interior design enthusiast, and the proud owner of a growing jazz record collection.