James Ross

Maintained as a selective consulting and advisory practice to deliver discrete operational turnarounds, executive coaching, and systems integration during career transitions and for specialized external clients. Provide high-level, cross-functional consulting and strategic advisory for organizations requiring operational stabilization, change management, and workflow modernization. Partner directly with executive leadership to audit underperforming systems, design scalable backend support infrastructure, and align field execution with corporate strategy. ● Cross-Functional Turnarounds: Retained by multi-unit and corporate teams, and early and mid-stage veterinary to diagnose operational bottlenecks, seamlessly integrating field operations, JR functions, and risk management protocols to drive profitability and performance. ● Story-Driven Change Management: Architected and deployed agile operational frameworks using behavioral psychology and communication strategies. Transformed dry, complex compliance and process updates into compelling narratives that eliminated adoption friction and accelerated team buy-in. ● Technology & Digital Product Integration: Collaborated directly with client IT and software product teams to build, test, and integrate modern digital workflows and AI tools, successfully automating friction out of backend support systems and frontline operations. ● Team & Culture Leadership: Built and optimized high-performing, award-winning field structures rooted in a deep commitment to internal customer service, ensuring all departments - from corporate support to the frontline - were aligned to exceed KPIs. ● Risk & Asset Protection: Designed comprehensive enterprise risk management assessments, compliance guidelines, and investigative protocols to safeguard organizational assets while cultivating cultures of accountability.

Senior operational leader reporting to the CEO, responsible for scaling national operations and driving financial and organizational performance across a rapidly growing mobile veterinary business. ● Directed operations for 60+ field teams across 27 cities, overseeing logistics, quality, and compliance. ● Built and scaled repeatable SOPs, leadership playbooks, and communication systems for consistent growth. ● Owned P&L accountability, implemented KPI-driven performance systems, and improved retention through leadership development. ● Mentored Regional Managers and department heads, preparing high-potential leaders for senior roles.

Following Thrive Pet Healthcare’s acquisition of Jobs Unleashed, I led the integration of the Jobs Unleashed platform into Thrive’s operational ecosystem—bridging technology, process design, and training to ensure a smooth transition across all teams. ● Managed post-acquisition integration of Jobs Unleashed, overseeing platform operations, strategic direction, and feature upgrades. ● Designed and delivered the onboarding and training program for the platform across Thrive’s network. ● Led cross-functional initiatives to improve operational efficiency and customer retention. ● Directed a national revenue recapture project to reduce pharmacy losses by re-engaging clients who had chosen external providers—creating a customer service program that offered next-day home delivery and restored significant lost revenue.

Led strategic and operational turnaround of a veterinary technology platform connecting relief veterinarians with hospitals through a two-sided marketplace model. • Partnered with Product and Technology leadership to redesign platform architecture, user flow, and positioning to enable scalable adoption within a large veterinary ecosystem. • Orchestrated product, design, and operational changes to improve internal usability and enterprise readiness. • Drove 25% month-over-month user growth through strategic targeting, positioning, and engagement initiatives. • Established early-stage proof of product-market fit by scaling user adoption across relief veterinarians and hospital partners. • Positioned the company for successful acquisition; Thrive Pet Healthcare acquired the platform and company following growth acceleration and ecosystem alignment. • Reported directly to Founder and Board; advised on growth strategy, market positioning, and exit readiness.

Appointed to lead operational strategy and expansion of a multi-location veterinary services company during executive succession planning. • Designed and led the company’s aggressive growth strategy targeting 25 new clinic locations; built real estate model, site selection criteria, and financial assumptions. • Directed end-to-end development of new locations including vendor negotiations, lease agreements, construction oversight, and clinic blueprint design. • Established standardized floor plans, operational workflows, and staffing models to enable scalable replication. • Opened 4 targeted locations aligned to revised capital allocation strategy. • Oversaw daily operations across clinics, managing vendor relationships, contracts, and resource deployment. • Reported to Board of Directors; advised on expansion pacing, capital requirements, and strategic risk. • Transitioned following reduction in growth plan due to funding constraints and strategic reprioritization.

Oversee diverse portfolio of 20+ hospitals in market to deliver on P&L performance measures through principled decision making while balancing operational needs with building a healthy environment for all associates and developing leaders to operate an effective and productive team. *Mentored and developed 3 internal leaders into high potential ready now successors and created the Area Manager position for the promotion to Field Director *Instituted development plans for all associates, in all positions with support process of monthly 1-1 partnership conversations with line managers *Increased gross profit YoY 35%, net revenue growth 11.4%, reduced turnover rate 50% *Recognition of market with alpha test of multi-divisional project, top 4 markets award with recognition event for highest contribution supporting Banfield Foundation, National Quality Veterinary Care Team of the Year Award

Successfully developed and led the Regional Asset Protection Leader team (4 Regional based Leaders) by assessing loss prevention-related risk of a $1.5B business with 1000 hospitals through coaching field/hospital leaders in operational behaviors, reducing loss through improving foundational operational practices, and working with influence not authority to inspire business leaders to make change. *Mentored and developed an internal entry level associate into being the first in-field Regional Leader and ready now successor who was promoted into Regional APro Manager role. *Coached and developed Regional APro associate on leadership and operations, who was promoted into the Field Director role *Led improvement in managing and measuring work by establishing metrics and alignment of expectations and then motivating team to successfully complete hospital visits and checklists in more than 600 hospitals in two years and more than 1000 training calls *Developed enterprise wide Markdown initiative, leading the enterprise to substantial improvement by exploring the operational, systematic, and cultural opportunities and challenges with the existing business processes. This resulted in reducing Markdown spend (2013-2017) from 3.07% revenue to 1.6% for a reduction of $50M.

Successfully managed multiple Gap locations with increasing responsibilities, revenue, and complexity of locations. This was accomplished through a personal focus on creating a positive work environment that ensures both internal and external customer satisfaction, maximizing productivity and profitability while caring for the growth and development under my care. *Developed five management candidates who were promoted within six months to next level leadership *Hired and trained 100+ new employees with a team of two HR Managers for new opening in Alaska *Promoted to GM after leading as the Operations Manager - Seattle Flagship location *Successfully, reduced turnover rate by 50%, reduced sexual harassment investigations from 30 to 4 in a six month timeframe, and comp sales improvement of 6% in a complex multi-brand location (Flagship)