AVMA Board To Serve As Official AVMF Board Effective Jan 1, 2019

For more than 55 years, the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) has helped veterinarians help animals by providing support for research, education, advocacy, animal welfare and disaster-relief programs through its foundation, the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF). As the AVMA has increased its strategic focus to bring ever-increasing value to members, a critical component of its recent strategic plan is a focus on the valuable support the Foundation brings to the profession.

To reinforce the critical role of the Foundation, the AVMA and the AVMF are pleased to announce a new formation of the AVMF Board of Directors which brings even greater alignment with AVMA’s strategic future. As of January 1, 2019, the members of the AVMA Board of Directors will serve as the official AVMF Board of Directors, and the previous AVMF Board of Directors will function in a supportive role as the AVMF Board of Advisors. The newly constituted AVMF Board of Directors will continue to include a representative of the Auxiliary to the AVMA as well as a member from the AVMA House of Delegates to maintain these important perspectives and voices on the Board.

As the new AVMF Board of Directors focuses on setting the strategy to maximize the foundation’s contribution to the profession, the AVMF Board of Advisors will provide them with thoughtful and actionable input, advice and guidance. Together they will advance the foundation’s mission, activities, services and programs. To officially launch the new Board of Advisors, the AVMA Board of Directors will consider a recommendation to finalize the composition and mission of the Board of Advisors at its upcoming meeting this January in Chicago.

“This is a natural progression of the strategic alignment the AVMA and the AVMF embarked on several years ago,” said Dr. Mike Topper, AVMA Immediate Past President and new chair of the AVMF BOD. “The AVMA is your association and the AVMF is your foundation, dedicated to helping veterinarians help animals.”

Additional shifts to the AVMF Board of Directors include:

• AVMA’s Immediate Past President will serve as chair of the AVMF BOD;
• The representative of the Auxiliary to the AVMA, currently Ms. Kimberly Topper will continue her service on the AVMF BOD;
• The chair of the House Advisory Committee, currently Dr. Sandra Faeh, will represent the House of Delegates;
• The SAVMA president-elect, currently Kyre Larrabee, will be an invited participant.

The AVMF Board of Advisors will be a standing committee of the AVMF. This committee will be appointed by the Chair of the AVMF Board of Directors and will be comprised of four members of the AVMF Board of Directors, including the director representing the Auxiliary to the AVMA, and up to eleven additional at-large voting members.

“The AVMF has been providing vital support for the profession for more than 55 years,” said Dr. Karen L. Davis, who has served as AVMF chair and will serve as chair of the AVMF Board of Advisors under the new structure. “Each passing year has seen development in our programs and promotion of our mission.”

Past AVMF officers, volunteers and a long list of generous donors, from within the profession and the public, have demonstrated tireless support for research, education, advocacy, animal welfare and disaster-relief programs.

“We are incredibly excited about the future,” said Dr. Davis. “This shift provides the opportunity to build on past success in an even more collaborative way, keeping the AVMF and the AVMA on a rewarding path of service to both animals and people.”

For more information on how to help veterinarians help animals, visit www.avmf.org.