Betsy Charles

Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” Charles brings 20+ years of leadership development experience in veterinary medicine in order to change the world by cultivating a community of leaders through curiosity, creative conversations, and connection. What are the specifics? She holds a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine with advanced residency training in diagnostic imaging as well as a master’s degree in Organization Leadership. She served as the Executive Director of the Veterinary Leadership Institute from 2011 until 2021 where she was instrumental in helping develop an effective small group based leadership development curriculum with published results. 

She uses all her expertise to help veterinary professionals understand how servant leaders can facilitate the development of high functioning organizations. She has worked in general equine practice, specialty practice and was a faculty member at Western University of Health Sciences in the College of Veterinary Medicine for over 8 years. She has presented at over 85% of the veterinary colleges in the U.S., numerous state veterinary medical associations, the American Association of Equine Practitioners National Convention for several years, and the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Veterinary Leadership Conference for multiple years. She has been a keynote speaker for both veterinary audiences as well as non-veterinary audiences and has been a commencement speaker. She currently serves on the AAEP’s Board of Directors and is the board liaison to the DEI committee. She is an assistant professor at Texas Tech’s School of Veterinary Medicine as well as an adjunct faculty member at Lincoln Memorial University.  

She also absolutely LOVES her day job with Mission Veterinary Partners where she serves as the Vice President of Leadership Development. She developed and supports the leadership development program, MVP Leads, which has seen nearly 1,000 participants since its inception in 2022. 

She believes we all have the capacity to be exceptional people of influence by living into our true identities and learning the skills necessary to become emotionally intelligent and effective communicators, relationship builders and boundary setters.  When she takes a break from trying to make a positive difference for the profession, she enjoys having meaningful and authentic conversations with all who cross her path, developing young entrepreneurs as they pursue their passions, hanging out with her 4 horses, and reading. She is always game for an adventure.