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Healthy Pet Welcomes New Hires & Roles for 2024 Growth

FERNDALE, WASH. (April 12, 2024) - With an eagerness to continue sustainable growth and a commitment to continuous improvement, Healthy Pet is pleased to announce the appointment of two key professionals to our team in Jesup, Georgia; as well as a new role for Pete Gietl in Ferndale, Washington.  Angela Runyon has been appointed as the HR Generalist, and Jessica Carter joins as a new position, Plant Controller. Both individuals bring a wealth of experience and expertise to their respective roles, and their addition further strengthens excellence in human resources management and financial stewardship.  As the HR Generalist, Angela (Angi) Runyon will oversee various human resource functions, including recruitment, employee relations, training and development, and compliance. With her extensive background in HR management and her proven track record of implementing strategic initiatives to enhance employee engagement and organizational culture, Angi is well-positioned to contribute to the continued success of Healthy Pet. Angi holds a degree from the Metropolitan State University of Denver, along with additional HR certifications. She and her husband are from California and have four daughters and two dogs: Hershey, a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and Cocoa, a Cane Corso. She is proud to be Navy Veteran’s wife, and has loved living all over the world. She loves spending time with her family going on walks, bike riding, and hiking together. She also loves cooking and baking. Angi will be based in Jesup, Georgia and report directly to Natalie Pacheco.  Joining as the new Plant Controller, Jessica Carter will be responsible for managing financial operations at the plant level, ensuring accuracy in costing, reporting, supporting budget, and integrating financial literacy into all aspects of our operations. With her strong background in financial management, data- driven analytics, and love for working with people, Jessica is poised to play a vital role in optimizing organizational performance and supporting Healthy Pet’s strategic objectives.  Jessica holds a BS in Accounting from Troy University in Alabama and brings with her 20+ years of experience in Finance, 9 of them as a plant controller. She loves working with people and helping to solve problems. Jessica is married with 4 children, cats, a dog, chickens, turkeys, ducks and quail. She enjoys arts and crafts, reading, woodworking and animals. Jessica will be based in Jesup, Georgia and report directly to Mike Watson. We are also pleased to announce that Pete Gietl has stepped into the role of Operations Improvement Specialist in Ferndale. This move is a testament to Pete’s dedication, hard work, and the expertise he has demonstrated in his time with Healthy Pet. In this new role, Pete will focus on several key areas critical to our operational excellence and efficiency.  Key responsibilities include: Documenting Processes, Ensuring Data Consistency, Implementing Controls and Standardizing Reports.  Pete will also continue to be our facility coordinator, ensuring safety and compliance related to the Ferndale facility.  This role also reports to Mike Watson.  We are confident that Pete will excel in this new capacity, bringing about significant improvements in our operations. His role is pivotal to our strategic goals of enhancing efficiency, ensuring quality, and fostering a culture of continuous improvement.  "We are thrilled to welcome Angi and Jessica and excited for Pete's new role", said Ted Mischaikov, CEO.  "Their skillsets and expertise will be instrumental in advancing our HR, financial and operations management functions, ensure long-term sustainability and ultimately contributing to our success as a leader in the pet products industry."
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Healthy Pet Announces Ted Mischaikov as Chief Executive Officer

FERNDALE, Wash. , June 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthy Pet, the pet industry leader in sustainably sourced absorption substrates, has announced the appointment of Ted Mischaikov as chief executive officer (CEO) effective May 28, 2023.  The appointment of Mischaikov marks his return to the company as CEO, a position he held from 2011 to 2020. Upon Mischaikov's departure from Healthy Pet in 2020, he served as the executive chairman & CEO of the Primal Pet Group during a period of rapid growth and acquisition. "We welcome Ted back to the Healthy Pet team. Based on his extensive experience with our brands, production and his commitment to sustainability, we are confident he will drive growth and expand our industry-leading products, which enrich the lives of pets, their people and our planet," said Healthy Pet Director of Sales Kelly Rogers. A decisive leader with proven management success across multiple industries, Mischaikov will be responsible for the global growth of Healthy Pet. Throughout his career in the pet industry, Mischaikov has demonstrated decisive leadership driving excellence in manufacturing, adoption of new technologies and the promotion of sustainability initiatives, making him a natural fit to lead Healthy Pet as it expands into new substrates, expands facilities and acquires strategic assets. "Healthy Pet is a future-focused company developing performance-based sustainable products, which consumers are demanding. The world wants 'healthier clean' products, and we have the technology and resources to deliver them. My objective is to work with our team and ownership to deepen and diversify our leadership in sustainable solutions for the global pet industry," said Mischaikov. Healthy Pet excels in manufacturing next generation, sustainably sourced products, including ökocat natural cat litter and carefresh responsibly rescued small animal bedding. ökocat creates plant-based, biodegradable litter that is cleaner and healthier for cats, families and their homes, while carefresh is the No. 1 brand of small pet bedding, made from scratch using 100% reclaimed natural fiber.
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Poised for Continued Growth, Healthy Pet Welcomes New Hires

FERNDALE, WASH. (June 9, 2022)  - Healthy Pet is proud to welcome several new employees to support rapid growth driven by overall unprecedented demand in the pet category and an increase in pet parents seeking sustainable product solutions.   Nicole Martin recently joined Healthy Pet in the newly created position of Sales Strategy Analyst. She brings with her over a decade of CPG experience and a well-rounded background in sales planning, forecasting and strategy implementation. She will be working remotely from her home in Connecticut. “Nicole is passionate about process improvement and leveraging data to identify business opportunities and drive revenue growth,” said Kelly Rogers, Director of Sales for Healthy Pet. “Nicole’s skills will help strengthen our team as we head into another phase of growth.”   Another recent addition is Michael Van Duisen to the Healthy Pet Supply Chain team in the Ferndale home office as the new Procurement Manager responsible for sourcing, purchasing and managing material and packaging for all Healthy Pet products. Michael brings with him several years of manufacturing and purchasing experience which will lead to improved efficiencies and sourcing needs as Healthy Pet continues to grow.  Cori Mager joined us this month in another newly created role of Purchasing Clerk, responsible for supporting the Procurement Manager and entire Supply Chain Team. Cori’s Business and Accounting education, along with experience in service related fields will be a great benefit to Healthy Pet  Katie Guiler was hired in April as an addition to the growing Customer Experience team. Katie is a recent graduate of Western Washington University and in her new role as a CX Associate will be processing sales orders, supporting the sales team and communicating with consumers about Healthy Pet products. Katie is already an asset to the CX team.  To help meet the demand of our products Healthy Pet has added an additional production shift at the Ferndale, WA facility. For the first time ever, we are now operating 7 days a week, 24 hours a day, leading to the need for Jeff Kelton, a recent addition as Production Shift Supervisor. Jeff comes to Healthy Pet from the seafood industry and has more than 30 years of experience in production facilities. We look forward to reaping the benefits of Jeff’s experience.   “As with many businesses, the past two years have been extremely challenging to recruit and retain employees," said Natalie Pacheco, Human Resource Manager at Healthy Pet. "We are honored to have these individuals join our Healthy Pet family. It is our ability to grow and continue to work well together, despite the many challenges that makes Healthy Pet so successful."  These valued new employees are an essential part of Healthy Pet's rapid company growth as we strive to meet the growing demand for sustainable pet products that meet today's discerning pet parent needs.
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Healthy Pet Earns Graduation Certificate in the Prestigious START Program

Healthy Pet®, a longtime leader in the natural pet product industry, is being awarded the prestigious START (Safety Through Achieving Recognition Together) graduation final certification from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.
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ökocat® Natural Litter Introduces New 100% Recyclable Packaging

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Bringing home your new small pet: best care tips for hamsters, guinea pigs, rabbits & more

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