NAVC expands VetFolio with HLC endorsement and live workshops
Bottom line
NAVC is expanding its VetFolio virtual education platform with three moves aimed at strengthening its reach and credibility: it has hired Dr. Katy Nelson as senior director of veterinary education and custom programs, secured a Higher Learning Commission endorsement as a short-term credential provider, and opened registration for its first instructor-led eWorkshop. The inaugural six-week program, From Rookie to All-Star: Designing the Veterinary Excellence Operating System, starts September 18 and focuses on practice management, training systems, leadership, engagement, and retention. NAVC says VetFolio, launched in 2014, is part of its broader push to serve a more global veterinary audience through year-round digital education. (petage.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, this is less about a single hire and more about where CE is heading. NAVC is putting added weight behind structured, workforce-oriented online learning at a time when practices are looking for flexible ways to train teams, build managers, and support retention. The HLC endorsement also gives VetFolio a third-party quality signal in a crowded credential market, while the new workshop format suggests NAVC is moving beyond on-demand CE into more guided, applied professional development. (petage.com)
What to watch: Watch for whether NAVC rolls out more instructor-led VetFolio workshops and credentials tied to management, leadership, and team development over the next year. (petage.com)
NAVC is making a bigger play in online veterinary education, using VetFolio as the centerpiece. This week, the organization said it is adding Dr. Katy Nelson as senior director of veterinary education and custom programs, has earned a Higher Learning Commission endorsement for short-term credential providers, and is launching its first instructor-led eWorkshop, a six-week practice management and leadership program that begins September 18. (petage.com)
The announcement builds on a longer strategy rather than marking a sudden pivot. NAVC launched VetFolio in 2014 as a year-round digital extension of its conference education, then expanded its virtual learning footprint in 2021 through the VirtualXP initiative, which organized content around watching, reading, listening, attending, and certification. NAVC has framed that digital model as a way to reach veterinary professionals beyond North America and beyond the conference calendar. (navc.com)
The latest update adds three practical pieces to that strategy. First, Nelson brings a high-profile veterinary media and industry background to a role focused on partnerships, educational growth, and custom programming. Second, the HLC endorsement gives NAVC outside validation as a credible provider of short-term credentials, something HLC says is meant to help learners, employers, and institutions identify trustworthy workforce-focused education partners. Third, the new eWorkshop format shifts VetFolio further toward cohort-based learning, with the first course promising take-home systems for team structure, training pathways, competency measurement, and recognition programs. (petage.com)
That HLC piece is especially notable because the endorsement is relatively new. HLC launched the process in late 2025 as part of its Credential Lab initiative to evaluate nontraditional short-term credential providers, and industry coverage has described the first endorsements as part of a broader move by accreditors into the microcredential market. In other words, NAVC is aligning VetFolio with a quality-assurance framework that reaches beyond veterinary CE and into the wider workforce-education conversation. That doesn’t make the endorsement the same as accreditation of a college or degree program, but it does give NAVC a more formal quality marker than many CE platforms can claim. (hlcommission.org)
The workshop launch also fits with what many practices are asking for now: training that helps teams function better, not just accumulate CE hours. The first session, led by Susie Crockett and Crystal Schaeffer, focuses on operating systems for veterinary teams, including learning pathways, adult learning principles, and retention-oriented recognition programs. That emphasis mirrors a broader trend in veterinary education and workforce development, where leadership, onboarding, and team effectiveness are being treated as business-critical skills, not side topics. NAVC has already been building in that direction, including business and leadership certification partnerships announced in 2024. (petage.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, especially practice leaders, the significance is in the format and the signal. VetFolio already offers a large on-demand library, but instructor-led workshops and endorsed short-term credentials could make it more useful for hospitals trying to build supervisors, standardize training, and retain staff in a tight labor market. For associates, technicians, and managers, this kind of programming may be more directly applicable to daily operations than traditional lecture-based CE alone. For industry partners, Nelson’s role in custom programs suggests NAVC also wants VetFolio to become a more tailored education channel for employer and sponsor needs. (help.navc.com)
There’s also a competitive angle. Online veterinary CE is crowded, and many platforms can offer convenience. What may differentiate VetFolio now is the combination of NAVC’s brand, a growing certification ecosystem, live and cohort-based formats, and a third-party endorsement that speaks to workforce relevance and quality processes. That could matter to employers deciding where to direct training budgets and to professionals weighing which credentials are worth their time. This is an inference based on NAVC’s recent moves and HLC’s stated goals for the endorsement. (hlcommission.org)
What to watch: The next question is whether NAVC turns this into a broader series of workshops, stackable credentials, or employer-facing training packages. If uptake is strong after the September 18 launch, VetFolio may evolve from a CE library into a more structured workforce-development platform, with leadership and practice operations likely among the first growth areas. (petage.com)