Making our inner
child proud.

PETER BROWN, DVM

SENIOR ADVISOR & CO-FOUNDER

After joining Chuckanut Valley Veterinary Clinic in 1991, I, along with my amazing partners Greg Ingman and Jake Searle, focused on creating a family environment that provided great medicine. Every decision was made with the question “is it best for the pet?”. By leading with medicine, our financial success was amazing.

It was also critical that we had a family culture, which we worked tirelessly to create. This culture led to long-term retention of our doctors and staff. Retention of clients depends on staff consistency. Chuckanut had the most amazing team, as well as clients. The consistent double-digit revenue growth over two decades happened because of our great people and our focus on always providing the best medicine.

With the success of Chuckanut (leading the industry in % diagnostics, ATC, and client compliance) in a rural part of Washington state, I was presented with many great opportunities to teach veterinarians throughout the world (North America, Europe, Asia, Australia). The focus of my presentations has been on how to use the “wow factor” of customer experience to enable hospitals to practice best medicine and drive financial success.

Cara is a dream come true for me. I have been searching for an opportunity to build a company that represents what I have learned through my Chuckanut journey. I love this profession; it is the greatest career in the world, but I worry about the future. Consolidation often damages the family culture that made a hospital successful. Job satisfaction is dropping, and suicide rates are climbing. Cara will address these issues with its family approach.

JENIFER DAYAL

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Jenifer Dayal is an operations leader with 19 years of experience in veterinary medicine and a proven record of elevating hospital performance through system development, financial stewardship, and collaborative leadership. She began her career in entry-level clinical support roles and progressed through increasingly senior positions in hospital administration and multi-site management. This path from the front lines to enterprise leadership gives her a unique, ground-level perspective on hospital operations, team dynamics, and the realities of delivering high-quality veterinary care.

In her current role as Senior Director of Operations for Cara Veterinary Services, Jenifer oversees multi-hospital performance and leads strategic initiatives that support operational excellence across the organization. Her areas of responsibility include PIMS transitions and optimization, financial and labor oversight, controlled substance compliance, standardized nomenclature and pricing, inventory and supply chain systems, and leader development. She partners closely with medical directors, hospital directors, finance, people operations, and vendor partners to align clinical quality, culture, and sustainable business outcomes.

Jenifer’s leadership style is characterized by transparency, accountability, and a commitment to supporting veterinary teams. She believes that operational rigor and authentic human leadership are equally critical to building thriving hospitals where pets receive exceptional care and professionals are equipped to do their best work.

LAURA ALARCON

VP OF PEOPLE

Our VP of People, Laura Alarcon, has been a pet lover since birth. She fondly remembers all of the adventures (and trouble) she and her childhood German Shorthair Pointer, Chewy, got into together. Her bond with Chewy led to her being an avid dog lover and snuggler. Her love for dogs is abundantly clear when she gravitates towards any dog in the room or on the street. She promises she is working on being better at acknowledging the human with the dog prior to getting down on the ground with her new doggie friend. Her love for dogs continued throughout her pursuit of a bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts in Photography, where she photographed and exhibited images of local shelter pets to bring awareness to all the amazing pets that could be adopted. While in college, she adopted a toy poodle named Roxanna (Roxy for short). Little did Laura know in 2007, after Roxy had a Femoral Head Ostectomy (FHO), a bad car accident that luckily both Roxy and Laura survived, and a boss that caused Laura to swear to herself that she would never treat any person the way they did to her, Laura left retail management and got a job at Roxy’s veterinarian’s office as a veterinary assistant all in the same day. It’s a long, whirlwind of a story, and Laura truly believes all these events happened to help her find her way to an industry that she is truly passionate about and strives to make a difference in for all pets and humans involved.

Laura Alarcon comes to us with over fifteen years of veterinary and HR leadership experience. During her time as a Practice Manager in corporate medicine, she discovered her true passion for developing individuals, which ultimately led her to specializing in Human Resources. In 2015, Laura stepped out of the veterinary hospitals she managed in South Florida and started working with a startup veterinary management services company based out of Portland, Oregon. During her time there, she helped build and lead the HR & Training department, created training content for their Learning Management System that she also helped build, and worked alongside private practice leaders across the nation on how to solve their various HR implementation gaps. Laura is passionate about finding resources and solutions for burnout, compassion fatigue, and employee retention within our industry, which is why she most recently expanded upon her Human Resource Management certification and became a certified Workplace Mental Health Ally.

Currently, Laura resides in the Bothell, WA area with her husband, Eddie, and their two daughters. When her toddler fraternal twin daughters finally go to bed, Laura enjoys a good Netflix binge but can also be found in her kitchen baking a dessert of some sort to satisfy her never-ending sweet tooth. Laura brings to our growing family of four-legged team members two toy Poodles, Gin & Tonic, as well as her hairless cat, Peach.

Nick Coorey

PRESIDENT AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER

Nick brings a wealth of experience and passion to Cara Veterinary, where his work is fueled by a deep love for animals and an unwavering commitment to the people who care for them. With over a decade of senior leadership in healthcare operations, Nick seeks to be a compassionate, forward-thinking leader who focuses on efficiency, fostering collaboration, and enhancing service quality across multi-site organizations.

Nick’s journey reflects his dedication to creating systems that not only work but also resonate with the people they serve. His career has spanned diverse roles—from overseeing neonatal and pediatric healthcare programs to optimizing surgical center operations—each marked by desire to implement innovative strategies, and build strong, motivated teams. Nick is also a proud graduate of the University of Cincinnati (BA) and Northern Kentucky University (MPA). Go Bearcats and Norse!

When not immersed in work at Cara Veterinary, Nick enjoys traveling, running, delving into sci-fi and horror books, and spending time with his partner, Kevin. Nick’s life and career reflect the belief that operational excellence and heartfelt care go hand in hand, ensuring a brighter, healthier future for pets, their families, and the veterinary teams who support them.

Sofia Pashalidis

DIRECTOR OF MARKETING

Sofia is a marketing leader focused on accelerating growth for brands across digital channels and physical locations. She builds data‑driven strategies that elevate brand equity, drive acquisition, and deepen retention, while leading teams to consistently outperform expectations.

Sofia’s experience spans CRM, lifecycle marketing, loyalty programs, performance marketing, digital storytelling, and full‑funnel strategy across paid, earned, and owned channels. She is known for bringing clarity to complex challenges, aligning cross‑functional partners, and turning customer insights into initiatives that move KPIs and revenue.

At her core, she is driven by building customer‑centric marketing programs that scale, strengthen loyalty, and unlock long‑term business value.

Sofia was born in Athens, Greece, and attended California State University, Northridge. She calls the Pacific Northwest home, where she resides with her husband and son.