Jamie Brennan
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’
Bruce Casalis
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.
