Review of the 2012 Animal Health Investment Forum. Homecoming celebrates strengthening influence of Kansas City Animal Health Corridor.

1. Homecoming celebrates strengthening influence of Kansas City Animal
Health Corridor
September 11, 2012
Joseph Harvey
Around 800 members of the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor (KCAHC) were in attendance at the 7th
Annual Homecoming Hoedown, not only to welcome a new company to the fold but also to honor an
industry veteran who was a key supporter of the growth of the regional animal health sector.
The event was staged at the cavernous Hale Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, and saw the great and the
good of the local animal health industry don cowboy hats and boots to pay tribute to the city’s ‘cow
town’ past.
Craig Wallace, chief executive of Ceva Animal Health and advisory board chair of KCAHC, hosted the
event and outlined the historical importance of the region in cultivating a thriving animal health industry.
Just south of downtown Kansas City, the Hale Arena is situated amongst the former grounds of the
settlement’s stockyards. The prosperity of these stockyards in turn prompted the need for of the increased
availability of animal health products such as vaccines as a way of protecting a major source of the
national food supply. It is this history that supplies the KCAHC with the focus of its ‘Homecoming’
celebrations.
Mr Wallace handed over to Bob Marcusse, president and chief executive of the Kansas City Area
Development Council, who announced the continuing growth of the Corridor’s member roster. Mr
Marcusse told the audience that the new professional development firm Animal Health Training Solutions
(ATS) is to locate its US corporate training center in Kansas City, within the Animal Health Corridor.
The firm, which specializes exclusively in training and development for animal health industry
professionals, will be based at the Ambassador Building at Kansas City International Airport. ATS offers
training in field sales, sales management, inside sales, leadership development and strategic marketing.
The company will begin operating from the new offices in October but begins working with animal health
companies this month. It has established a team of five executives who have experience in the animal
health sector. Led by veterinarian and former Merck Animal Health executive Eric Alsup as president and
head coach, the company hopes to cut a niche in the market when US animal health firms have been
cutting back on their training budgets. The other four members of the ATS team are David Solberg, Terry
Sheehan, Todd Brodersen and Travis Meredith.
“The broad-based training curriculum offered by ATS is designed to assist entry-level and advanced sales
representatives, sales managers, marketing professionals and senior executives in meeting their
performance objectives as well as to identify and address opportunities and challenges specific to the
animal health industry. By combining this industry-specific expertise with the best practices for sales,
telesales, marketing and general managerial executives, ATS offers the most comprehensive and relevant
training experience available for animal health professionals,” the company stated.
“ATS chose to locate in Kansas City near the airport due to the location’s ease of access for travelers and
low operating costs,” explained Mr Alsup. “The culture of Kansas City and concentration of animal health
companies here made the selection fairly easy. There is no place like the KC Animal Health Corridor for a
company looking to serve the animal health industry.”
Mr Marcusse added: “Due to the KC Animal Health Corridor's globally unique animal health industry
concentration offering a mix of companies, higher education, research and service providers, the Kansas
City area is an ideal location for ATS to grow and succeed.”

2. Iron Paw Award
Proceedings then focused on the hard work put into establishing the KCAHC as Pat McCown, chief
executive of McCownGordon Construction, introduced the winner of the 2012 Iron Paw award – George
Heidgerken.
This accolade recognizes an individual’s contribution to supporting and assist the development of the
KCAHC. Mr Heidgerken is currently corporate senior vice president of Boehringer Ingelheim and global
head of Boehringer Ingelheim Animal Health. He has been a fervent backer of the Corridor since its
inception and was instrumental in the establishment of the Workforce Development Taskforce, an
initiative that has sought to develop curricular solutions to the needs of animal health companies.
Mr Heidgerken has served as advisory board chair of the KCAHC, chair of the Canadian Animal Health
Institute and the Board of the Animal Health Institute in the US.
Previously, he was president and chief executive of Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica and was responsible
for sales and marketing, research and development and manufacturing in the US. He began his
Boehringer career in 1997 at the firm’s Vetmedica division of Boehringer Ingelheim (Canada). Prior to
joining Boehringer, Mr Heidgerken worked in Canada in a number of sales and marketing roles for
Mallinckrodt Animal Health, Syntex Animal Health and Pfizer Animal Health.
Investment Forum
The Homecoming dinner was scheduled the day before the KCAHC’s annual Animal Health Investment
Forum – a unique event that also highlights the increasing geographical importance of the Kansas City
region to the animal health market.
The Investment Forum provides an opportunity for businesses with a technology, product or service in
animal health and nutrition to pitch their innovation before an international audience of venture capitalists
and animal health industry executives. The event is open to companies aiming to raise between $500,000
and $20m with revenue projections of $20m within five to seven years.
Advanced Animal Diagnostics (AAD) won the inaugural Innovation Award at the Investment Forum. The
firm was selected from a group of 13 companies that were presenting at the Forum by a panel of industry
experts. AAD’s president and chief executive Joy Parr Drach accepted a cheque for $2,500 from Jeff
Boily, the president and chief executive of the Center for Animal Health Innovation. Morrisville, North
Carolina-based AAD is currently developing on-farm diagnostic tests. The most advanced of its
technology platforms uses differential cell counts to identify white cell blood cell types that have a role in
fighting animal infection.
The 2012 Innovation Award
included a $2,500 check
presented by Jeff Boily, CEO
for the Center for Animal
Health Innovation.
The award was focused on the best presentation carried out by the 13 firms, who were attending the
Forum to raise their profiles in the animal health investment community and reach out to potential
partners.

3. Ms Parr Drach’s speech to the delegates began with: “By the time I finish this presentation, the dairy
industry will have lost $1 million.”
This presentation caught the eye of the Forum’s judging panel which included: Mr Boily; Jake Halliday,
president and chief executive of the University of Missouri Life Science Business Incubator; Kostas
Kontopanos, president at Hill’s Pet Nutrition US; Mike Peck, managing partner at Open Prairie Ventures;
Steven St Peter, chairman of Kansas City-based animal health drug development firm Aratana
Therapeutics; Rick Vaughn, vice president at the Business Development Enterprise Center of Johnson
County and Craig Wallace, chief executive of Ceva – the US operations of French company Ceva Santé
Animale.
In the coming months, Animal Pharm will bring you full coverage of the Animal Health Investment
Forum, as well as an exclusive interview with Ceva chief executive, Homecoming host and Investment
Forum judge Craig Wallace.
What is the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor?
The KCAHC represents around one-third of the global animal health industry within a 300-mile region
that straddles both Kansas and Missouri. The Corridor travels from the Kansas State University College
of Veterinary Medicine in Manhattan, Kansas, to the University of Missouri College of Veterinary
Medicine in Columbia, Missouri.
Within the Corridor there are around 220 animal health and related companies, with 20,000 employees of
those companies as members. As well as a host of animal health-focused start-ups, the region also boasts
a range of industry leaders. Boehringer Ingleheim Vetmedica has begun work on a $79 million expansion
of its St Joseph, Missouri headquarters operations, while Bayer, Ceva, Elanco, Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Merck
and Pfizer also have a presence in the Corridor.