Leadership transitions reshape VETgirl and Today’s Veterinary Business
Bottom line
Two veterinary media brands are marking leadership transitions, with familiar names stepping aside and successors moving in. At VETgirl, co-founder Dr. Justine Lee said she is retiring and stepping down as director of medicine after helping build the company from a startup launched in 2011 into a global veterinary continuing education platform; leadership is passing to co-founder Dr. Garret Pachtinger, and Lee is framing VETgirl U 2026 in Salt Lake City, scheduled for June 19-21, 2026, as her final official conference in that role. At Today’s Veterinary Business, founding editor Ken Niedziela is retiring in April 2026 after leading the publication since its 2017 launch, with veterinary writer and editor Sarah Rumple Mahan named the incoming editor-in-chief as of January 1, 2026. (linkedin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, these exits are more than personnel notes. They signal a handoff at two institutions that help shape how the profession learns and how it understands practice leadership, economics, and workforce pressures. VETgirl has become a widely used CE platform with expanded tracks beyond small animal medicine, while Today’s Veterinary Business has positioned itself as a practical resource for veterinarians, practice managers, technicians, and other leaders navigating the business side of care. Continuity appears to be the message in both cases, but editorial and educational leadership changes often influence topic priorities, speaker visibility, and the profession’s broader conversation about career development and leadership. (vetgirlontherun.com)
What to watch: Watch how visibly Pachtinger reshapes VETgirl’s next chapter after VETgirl U 2026, and whether Rumple Mahan expands Today’s Veterinary Business coverage of workforce, AI, ownership models, and leadership development, topics she has already identified as priorities. (todaysveterinarybusiness.com)
Two widely recognized veterinary media and education brands are entering new eras, with departures at the top of both VETgirl and Today’s Veterinary Business. At VETgirl, Dr. Justine Lee has announced her retirement and said she is stepping down as director of medicine after years as the company’s public face and former CEO. At Today’s Veterinary Business, founding editor Ken Niedziela is retiring in April 2026, and longtime contributor Sarah Rumple Mahan has been appointed editor-in-chief. (linkedin.com)
The transitions matter because both organizations sit upstream of everyday veterinary decision-making. VETgirl has grown from a startup founded in 2011 into a major online CE provider, and its archived company materials describe expansion beyond small animal education into large animal and equine CE, leadership content, and technician programming. Today’s Veterinary Business, meanwhile, launched in 2017 and has become a steady source of reporting and analysis on practice management, economics, and leadership. (vetgirlontherun.com)
In Lee’s announcement, as reflected in her public LinkedIn post and the VETgirl farewell summary provided in source material, she cast the move as both a personal milestone and a leadership handoff. The company is pointing audiences to VETgirl U 2026 in Salt Lake City, with conference listings showing the event running June 18-21, 2026, and Lee’s farewell note highlighting June 19-21 as her last official VETgirl U appearance. Garret Pachtinger, VETgirl’s co-founder and a longtime visible leader within the brand, is positioned to carry the organization forward. (linkedin.com)
At Today’s Veterinary Business, the succession plan looks more formalized and immediate. The publication announced on January 1, 2026, that Rumple Mahan would become its second editorial leader since launch, succeeding Niedziela. In that announcement, she emphasized continuity in the near term, saying she wants readers to feel confident the publication they rely on is not changing overnight, while also outlining longer-term ambitions to deepen coverage of workforce challenges, ownership models, technology and AI, financial literacy, and leadership development. Her byline pages already identify her as editor-in-chief in 2026, suggesting the transition is underway. (todaysveterinarybusiness.com)
Direct outside reaction to Lee’s retirement announcement was limited in readily accessible reporting, but the surrounding signals point to institutional stability rather than disruption. VETgirl’s public-facing materials continue to foreground Pachtinger and the broader leadership team, and event promotion for VETgirl U 2026 already pairs both Lee and Pachtinger with the next phase of the brand. On the Today’s Veterinary Business side, the organization’s own messaging is explicit: preserve the publication’s practical, data-driven, approachable voice while broadening its relevance to today’s veterinary leaders. That’s less a pivot than a managed transition. (linkedin.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, leadership changes at media and CE organizations can have downstream effects on what the profession talks about, who gets platformed, and which operational challenges receive sustained attention. In an environment shaped by staffing shortages, economic pressure, consolidation, and rapid technology adoption, the editorial agenda of a business publication and the educational agenda of a CE company both carry real weight. If VETgirl leans further into leadership and workforce programming under Pachtinger, or if Today’s Veterinary Business follows through on expanded coverage of AI and ownership models under Rumple Mahan, those choices could influence how practice leaders and clinicians frame their next set of decisions. That’s an inference based on the roles these organizations play and the priorities they’ve publicly described. (vetgirlontherun.com)
There’s also a more human throughline here: succession in veterinary media and education is increasingly part of the workforce story itself. These aren’t just retirements. They’re examples of how institutional knowledge gets transferred, how brands preserve trust during change, and how the profession’s next generation of leaders inherits audiences built over years. For pet parents, these shifts may be invisible. For veterinary professionals, they can shape the information ecosystem behind clinical learning, management strategy, and career development. (todaysveterinarybusiness.com)
What to watch: The next milestones are concrete. For VETgirl, June 2026 will show how prominently Lee remains involved during the transition and how Pachtinger defines the post-Lee era. For Today’s Veterinary Business, upcoming issues will indicate whether Rumple Mahan’s stated priorities, especially workforce, AI, financial literacy, and leadership, become a measurable editorial shift over the rest of 2026. (gervetusa.com)