Thomas E. Catanzaro

Background

Thomas E. Catanzaro was born on September 21, 1944, at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois.

Education

After his graduation from Willowbrook High School in 1962, Catanzaro entered Montana State University where, in 1966, he received a Bachelor of Science in agricultural science. He also received a Bachelor of Science in veterinary science from Colorado State University in 1970, and a Veterinary education in 1974. Thomas also attended the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1983, and received a Master of Health Administration from Baylor University in 1985.

Career

In 1991, Thomas founded Catanzaro & Associates, Inc., and federally trademarked Veterinary Practice Consultants, and grew to be the largest, diplomate-led, veterinary-exclusive, team-based, consulting firm in veterinary medicine today. In 1996, he qualified for Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

In 2007, it was decided that the paper-heavy, phone-heavy, format of Catanzaro & Associates, Inc. (d.b.a. Veterinary Practice Consultants) was no longer serving the profession in a "new millennium" way. To better serve the International veterinary profession, Dr. Tom Cat committed to reorganizing his consulting services into an electronic-based, worldwide, veterinary consulting service. Blackwell Publications and Veterinary Information Network (VIN) have been major factors in allowing this world-wide transition to occur. Veterinary Consulting International was established to better meet the new emerging professional demands around the globe, and the Internet was chosen as the communication playing field.

In 2010, Thomas assumed the role of Hospital Director, at the Veterinary Teaching Hospital, University of Adelaide (Roseworthy Campus), South Australia. Currently, Catanzaro is Chief Executive Officer of Veterinary Consulting International.

Achievements

• Thomas E. Catanzaro is a prolific author, writer, speaker and cutting edge leader in the veterinary profession for over two decades. He has authored over 300 periodical and proceeding articles, and speaks 10 to 15 times a year at national and international veterinary meetings.
  
  Catanzaro has consulted with over 2000 practices, and has 14 contemporary management/leadership texts, from four respected technical publishers, to his credit; three of which are in hospital design. He was the first veterinarian to gain board certification by the American College of Healthcare Administrators (1991). In 2000, Baylor awarded him the distinguished alumnus recognition, again the first veterinarian ever to be so recognized.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Building the Successful Veterinary Practice, Vol. 2: Programs and Procedures

    (The second volume of Building the Successful Veterinary P...)

    1998
  • Beyond the Successful Veterinary Practice: Succession Planning & Other Legal Issues

    (A follow-up to the successful and sensible Building the S...)

    2000
  • Promoting the Human-Animal Bond in Veterinary Practice

    (Most veterinary practitioners have an innate love of anim...)

    2001
  • Veterinary Medicine and Practice: 25 Years in the Future and the Economic Steps to Get There

    (Predicting 25 years is no easy task-long term assessments...)

    2002
  • Veterinary Practice Management Secrets

    (This textbook is presented in an engaging question-and-an...)

    2000
  • Veterinary Management in Transition: Preparing for the 21st Century

    (The new millennium will bring co-operation among multiple...)

    2000

Views

Catanzaro believes that in a professional field like veterinary medicine, the skills of the decision makers are centered on quality health care delivery. The training and understanding of organizational behavior, fiscal management, team building, and other business skills have traditionally been neglected in their professional development, and it must be self-taught over time. It became evident that there was a void in the literature, so he was asked by many in this profession to fill that void.

Most of Thomas's material comes from his veterinary practice consulting experiences. He tries to write about creative and innovative alternatives. The needs of the veterinary health care delivery team have long been neglected in this profession, and someone must champion their importance to the success of the practice. The human-animal bond has long been accepted intuitively, but only recently has it been regarded as ‘important’ for the success of the practice. According to Catanzaro, other influential factors are recognition for staff members who exceed expectations, improving productivity to increase income, using the strengths of the practice team to meet needs unmet by the competition, and focusing on increased net income at the end of the day instead of the gross income for each patient visit.

Membership

Catanzaro was a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, American Animal Hospital Association, American Association of Human-Animal Bond Veterinarians, American Veterinary Medical Association, Veterinary Hospital Managers Association, Colorado Veterinary Medical Association, Nevada Veterinary Medical Association, Denver Area Veterinary Medical Association, Delta Society, Sigma Phi Epsilon, Boy Scouts of America and of the Scout Association of Belize.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "Tom Cat will be dead 20 years before we really understand what he has contributed to this profession." - Dr. Clayton McKay, Hill's Canada and AAHA Past President

Interests

• Scouting activities

Connections

On December 27, 1965, Catanzaro married Ann M. Catanzaro, a registered nurse. They have two children: Deborah Ann and Michael T.

Wife:

Ann M. Catanzaro

Daughter:

Deborah Ann Catanzaro

Son:

Michael T. Catanzaro

References

• Contemporary Authors New Revision Series: A Bio-Bibliographical Guide to Current Writers in Fiction, General Non-Fiction, Poetry, Journalism, Drama, Motion Pictures, Television, and Other Fields In response to the escalating need for up-to-date information on writers, Contemporary Authors New Revision Series brings researchers the most recent data on the worlds most-popular authors.
  2010