Zoetis

In today's conversation, we'll discuss leadership in challenging times, where we feature the outstanding CEOs who are recipients of CED's Distinguished Leadership Awards.

Today, I have the privilege of speaking with one of our 2026 honorees, Kristen Peck, the CEO of Zoetis, the world's leading animal health company.

Under Kristen's leadership, Zoetis is committed to nurturing the world and humankind by advancing care for animals, and just how they do all of that is what we'll be discussing today.

Kristen, welcome.

So very pleased to have you joining us today.

So Kristen, let's start by talking about you, your leadership, and the elements you see as important to steering a Fortune 500 company.

With more than 20 years of experience in life sciences and animal health, you are described as a purpose-driven leader, passionate about driving growth through innovation, superior customer experience, and colleague empowerment.

You became CEO of Zoetis in 2020 and have guided the company through a volatile macro environment to deliver superior financial performance.

That's not a lot.

But where Zoetis makes its money is those insanely fucking expensive flea treatment tablets you give to your pets.

Mm-hmm.

They are making a fortune from that.

That's pretty cheap.

But then there's the veterinary tranquilizers, much in demand among our youth in the dance party set, Joel.

Well, to be fair, when I was listening to the YouTube clip on the Zoetis stock price on the day of the announcement that the bird flu vaccine was being authorised, They were saying basically that the bird flu wasn't going to bring a lot of money to the bottom line, but they did have a pipeline drug for chronic kitty disease in cats and dogs, which was going to make them a fortune because that's something that they haven't got in the market yet.

That's quite a common one, particularly for aging dogs, isn't it?

Their intention is to create for-profit companies that then get sold to big meat companies.

So they've named in trade press releases things like Merck Animal Health, Zoetis.

So this is not something that requires any belief in a, like a grand conspiracy.

It's much simpler than that.

So this has already been named publicly.

This is not me, um, you know, talking shit about anyone.

Uh, this is, you know, on sp- for example, Spring Innovation Funds, uh, trade press articles, they explicitly mention that they want to sell those companies, uh, to, like, Merck Animal Health, Zoetis, and you know, these big sort of, uh, animal pharma companies.

So that is the intended exit.

So knowing that, knowing that I did more, Labrella, do you know what Labrella did for their research? Pet parent surveys.

I did more than Zoetis, who's owned by Pfizer, who made $300.7 billion in 2023.

Like, that doesn't make sense.

That's just

We were just talking before we got on about how awful Labrella is.

And that literally a salesperson from Zoetis who's owned by Pfizer comes into the practice and tells them about this awesome new drug for old dogs.

And the vet literally will say, are there any side effects? And they will say no.

And there's like 20,000 reported adverse events.

He is 183 CFP, so he does still put a lot of density and solids into the milk that his daughters produce.

And another tremendous mastitis-resistant pro bull at plus 3.4 on CDBC and plus 104 on Zoetis.

But a beautiful pedigreed bull.

Again, this is that trooper, crusher.