Calum Macrae

Calum Macrae became Regional Managing Director (Northern region) for Nestle Purina Pet Care in April 2017, having returned to his native UK after 14 years abroad with Nestle Purina.  The Northern Region comprises UK, Ireland, Netherlands and the Nordic countries. Calum leads a team of over 500 pet care professionals across these markets and is a member of both the NPP EMENA and Nestle UK operating boards. In addition Calum is a board director of Tails.com, a direct to consumer, tailored pet food company, that Nestle Purina acquired a majority stake in earlier this year.   

Before returning to the UK, Calum was Marketing Group Director for Nestlé Purina Europe, Middle East and North Africa region for 5 years, based in Lausanne, Switzerland.  There he led a team of around 100 associates across all the marketing disciplines, including the set-up of a digital expertise unit, now in Barcelona, working closely with over 50 countries.

Calum brings over 25 years consumer goods experience, including 20 years working in the pet care category in various commercial functions internationally.

Previous roles include leading the redesign of the Nestle Purina organisation in Europe and 7 years working in Nestlé’s Asia, Oceania and Africa region, ultimately as Vice President of Generating Demand for Nestlé Purina, based in Sydney, Australia.  Prior to that, Calum held a number of marketing roles in the European and UK businesses, based in London.  Calum joined Nestlé as part of the acquisition of the Spillers Pet Food business in 1998 where he was category marketing director, including responsibility for the Felix brand, now Nestlé Purina’s largest pet food brand in Europe.

Calum Macrae holds an Honours degree in Commerce from the University of Edinburgh and a Diploma in Advanced Marketing from the Chartered Association of Marketing in the UK. 

Calum is a UK citizen, married to Linsay, with two teenage daughters, Arabella and Flora, who are now at University in the UK, and an Australian whippet, Zephyr.

Bruce Casalis

Peter Pitchard

Peter is an experienced retailer with over 30 years’ experience having worked for M&S, Sainsbury’s, Iceland, ASDA and Wilkinson Hardware Stores. 

Peter is now Group CEO of Pets at Home Group PLC appointed in 2018. He has been with the retailer since 2011 initially as Commercial Director then COO & more recently Retail CEO.

Peter is a life-long pet parent and today is “dad” to Oscar and Leo two very cute but very mischievous cats.

Peter has refocused the strategy of the business to bring all its assets together and become “The Best Pet Care Business in the World” enabling pet parents to do their best for their beloved pet.  Pets at Home wants to make being a pet parent, easy, convenient but above all rewarding.

The business has amazing assets - V.I.P. – The Very Important Pets Club, the award winning pet loyalty scheme launched in 2012 now with over 4.5 million members with 1 in 3 dogs and 1 in 4 cats, in the UK registered on the scheme.  A truly seamless web and store operations allowing pet shoppers to shop with Pets at Home in any way they wish with 65% of all orders being chosen to be collected in store.  The business recognizes the importance of educating and helping pet owners, running highly successful children pet workshops, puppy socialization classes, puppy training, dog agility and even dog birthday parties.

Pets at Home also runs the UK’s largest joint venture veterinary business under “Vets4Pets” as well as owning 4 specialist hospitals performing life changing surgery and treatments for pets.

In July 2019 Pets at Home extended on its services capability by becoming the lead investor in Tailster.com the UK’s leading digital dog walking and pet boarding business.

‘Today the business has 453 Pet Superstores, 440 Vet Practices, 316 Groom Room Salons and 4 Specialist Hospitals. Pets at Home is the UK’s leading Pet Care Business, with sales in excess of £950m’

Jamie Brennan

Matt Diffey

Matt Diffey is Head of Group Strategy & Transformation at Pet at Home.  He works closely with the Pets at Home management team to develop and implement the Group’s strategy – which is centred on the vision ‘to be the best pet care business in the world.’  Matt also plays a leadership role in driving the Group’s M&A agenda, including the Group’s recent investment in Tailster, the UK’s leading dog walking and pet boarding service, and now represents Pets at Home on Tailster’s Board.

Prior to joining Pets at Home in 2016, Matt was a Case Team Leader at Bain & Company in London, where he worked primarily with consumer-oriented businesses to develop solutions to their most important strategic and organisational issues.  He also spent a year in Bain’s Private Equity Group, supporting several of the world’s leading private equity funds on commercial due diligence.

He started his career in the social impact sector and is passionate about the role large businesses, such as Pets at Home, can play in being a force for good in broader society.

Matt grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, USA, and received a BA in Philosophy from Tufts University and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.

Matthieu Wincker

Peter Dunkley

Michael Hurnaus

Jürgen Degrande

Marketing & sales academic background. Moved to New York in 2010 and build a career as sales director retail.

Returned to Belgium to pursue a financial MBA and co-founded Edgard & Cooper in 2015. Responsible for commercial department at Edgard & Cooper.

Pablo Pazos

Entrepreneur and software craftsman.

Founder of Barkibu, a platform to connect veterinaries and pet lovers.

Founder of ReallyLateBooking, a new way of travel, same-day hotel booking from your mobile.

Founder of IIPIR, a startup specialized in mobile applications development.

Darcy Bomford

Darcy Bomford is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of True Leaf, a leading global cannabis and hemp wellness brand for pets, headquartered in British Columbia, Canada. 

Darcy is a pet industry veteran who started out as a veterinary assistant and then turned young entrepreneur when he recognized a gap in the market for higher-quality natural pet products. At the age of 16, he started marketing his own supplements for dogs out of his van, which evolved into a small bakery and eventually became a public company with three federally-inspected plants and 50 employees.

In 2012, and with almost three decades of experience in manufacturing, branding, distribution, and sales, Darcy founded True Leaf – a company that pioneered hemp-based pet supplements that are legally compliant in all markets.

True Hemp™ is the first hemp-based pet product line to be marketed globally. The company’s dog and cat chews, dental sticks, and oil supplements are now sold in more than 3,500 stores across North America and Europe, as well as on Amazon. The success of the product is rooted in an innovative formula of active ingredients – and anchored by hemp – to target specific pet health challenges such as calming support, hip and joint function, and the supplementation of healthy omega-3s. 

Inspired by the unconditional love our pets give us every day, Darcy and True Leaf return that love through products which help maintain and protect the natural vitality of our pet companions. “Return the Love” is the purpose that drives True Leaf’s business and is at the heart of the company’s values to bring happiness to pets and their owners.  

True Leaf continues to build momentum around the world as pet owners recognize the health benefits of hemp and cannabis – not only for them – but for their pet companions too.