Dr. Matt Silvius, DVM, shares a career journey that challenges the idea that veterinarians only have one path to leadership. Matt shares his journey from kennel technician to practice owner and multi-site leader, exploring entrepreneurship, mentorship, and the many ways veterinarians can build fulfilling careers. If you've ever wondered what career growth, ownership, or leadership opportunities can look like in modern veterinary medicine, this episode will leave you inspired to think bigger about what's possible.

This episode is brought to you ad-free by NVA General Practice!

Welcome everybody.

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To the corner of Shame Veterinary podcast.

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I am your host, Dr.

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Andy Roarke.

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Guys, I got a really

good one for you today.

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I am here with Dr.

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Matt Sylvia.

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Matt is the managing veterinarian and

partner at Eagle Animal Hospital, which is

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a four location practice in Kansas City.

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That.

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Part of the NVA general practices 900 plus

veterinary clinics across the country.

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This is a really fascinating,

he's a fascinating person.

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It's a really fascinating

story of entrepreneurship.

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And you guys will hear me

geek out in this episode.

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I am a huge believer in veterinarian and

supporter of veterinarians, and I want

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veterinarians to find the career path

that works for them, and that lights

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their fire and it keeps them inspired.

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And Matt is one of the.

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Neatest case studies I've ever found

of someone who started off, as a

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veterinarian, actually started off as,

as a kennel technician at this practice,

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and later on he became a, a co-owner.

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And so anyway, but he's a, he's a

veterinarian and he was a entrepreneur.

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He ran this business, he expanded

this business and then he joined

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NVA general practice and then he

added another practice after he

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had joined NVA general practice.

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I think it's fascinating.

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we talked about comparing and contrasting

his experience before, when he was

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by himself versus when he worked

with NBA general practice to do this

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expansion and just, it's just really

fascinating what he's built inside

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of this really large organization.

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And so if you are someone who,

I don't know who, who worries

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that you might get bored one day.

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In practice, if you're someone who's like,

oh man, I work, in a corporate practice

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and I just don't know that there's going

to be doors for me to open later on.

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What if this gets stale?

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You know, where are there, there, you

know, paths for me to, to explore here.

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I, I think you need to hear this episode.

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It's, it's just really cool.

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So anyway, guys, I am going to, stop

explaining the episode and just let

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you hear the episode This episode

is made possible ad free by our

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friends at NVA general practice.

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Let's get into it.

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Kelsey Beth Carpenter: This is your show.

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We're glad you're here.

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We want to help you in

your veterinary career.

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Welcome to the Cone of Shame with Dr.

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Andy Roark.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

Welcome to the podcast, Dr.

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Matt Silvius.

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How are you, my friend?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Excellent.

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Excited to be here.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

I am-- I'm, I'm really glad to have you.

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for those who don't know you, you

are, the managing veterinarian partner

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at Eagle Animal Hospital, which has,

which is a four-practice, four-location

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practice in, Kansas City and is part

of the NVA General Practice group.

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they've got over nine hundred

hospitals and, and so you've got

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sort of a four-practice group

i-inside of that larger organization.

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And so Matt, I wanna, I wanted to talk

to you today because I'm always really

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interested in veterinarians building their

careers inside of larger organizations.

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So my idea really is that

intrapreneurship is a growing

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area in our, in our profession.

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I think, you know, the old model of

vet medicine was just independent

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practice is the only way to go, and

if you wanna be a leader or a manager,

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you need to start your own thing,

you need to hang your shingle out.

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And that's just not where I'm seeing a

lot of leadership opportunities going now.

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There's still independent practices

and practice ownership is great, but

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there are more and more leaders that

I'm working with who are building their

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sort of career the way they want it

to be inside of larger organizations.

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So can you tell me, tell me, tell

me a little bit more about what

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you do with NVA General Practice.

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Sure.

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Yeah.

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I mean, and to back up even another

step, I kind of have a unique perspective

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because I've been on both sides of it.

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So my partner and I--

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

as like a kennel technician, right?

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At the

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah, so

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

moved all the way up.

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Yeah.

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

I started this practice

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right out of high school.

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this practice, ironically

or strangely enough, we're

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celebrating our 80th anniversary.

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So this practice has been

very old, started by Dr.

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Eagle.

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got ownership when I became a

veterinarian after about five years

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or so with my ex-business partner.

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He was at the point of retirement, so we

needed to be able to-- a way to transition

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into something else and looked at a

lot of different opportunities and just

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fell in love with what NVA was doing at

that time, and that was four years ago.

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And so since that four years, I've been

able to develop with them and see how

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we've been able to grow just as a overall

company throughout the entire country.

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And now the support that they're giving

veterinarians, in those organizations,

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it's really been fascinating to see.

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So I've been the single, you

know, entrepreneur outside of a

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corporate group, and now I've been

within a corporate group, and so

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I've done both of those things

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

you've kind of built this, you know, a, a

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pretty significant like mini organization

in sort of this larger organization.

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you know, one of the things I think a

lot about is, you know, I'll start to

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look at like, like where you are and

how you're positioned, and it seems

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like you've just done thing after thing

after thing really well and correctly.

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And from the outside, it looks

like a really clear, manicured,

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well-orchestrated plan.

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is it?

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You know, like did you have a

sense of where you were going?

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Did you, did you have a, a, a

plan of how you wanted to kind of

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grow your career up to this point?

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Like, like walk, walk me through

kind of what that development

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pathway looked like and, and sort

of your certainty at each step.

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

you know, as most entrepreneurs, I

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mean, what people see is just you

standing on top of a pile of mistakes,

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and that's, you know, where, where I'm

at, of just trying one thing, it not

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working, and then moving to another.

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I grew up on a farm, never thought I

would end up in an urban setting, in

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a small animal practice only, when,

when I grew up with pigs and cows,

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and so we kind of twist and turn and

find all these different directions.

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I've always loved entrepreneurship.

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I mean, I, you know, start little

companies when I'm in fourth grade and

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selling stuff to my friends, and so I

always knew, like, I loved that spirit.

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my, you know, ex-partner, he was--

did such a great job with people and

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taught me how to interact with people

and grow that, and that just kinda grew

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my love into running a business and

being able to help people and pets.

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And, you know, veterinary medicine

was just perfect for that.

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So we had our, our single practice

for, you know, 70-plus years.

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It starts to grow.

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We remodel it.

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It kind of just expands further.

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And then as that time happens, we're

able to even add other practices, that

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were surrounding us into the fold and

make them other Eagle Animal Hospitals.

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It, it wasn't 'til then, when I'm

with NVA, we add our fourth practice.

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So I added other practices, without NVA,

and then I got to do it with NVA, and

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so that-- those two different processes

were kind of fascinating to see as well.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

a, well, that's a wild model that,

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like, you, like, joined NVA general

practice and then you added an

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additional hospital after the require…

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Like, that, that kind

of bends, bends my mind.

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I but I wanna, I wanna jump back to that.

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Matt, jump back, like, five years, right?

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So it's before, it's before you,

you joined NVA and, you the vet that

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was cutting, you know, that was,

that was cutting foreign bodies?

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Were you in the exam rooms or had

you largely transitioned over to

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a leadership role at that time?

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Talk, talk to me a little bit about

kinda how-- When did you, when did

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you double down on sort of this

entrepreneurship, you know, sort of

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streak that you had and, and did you

compartmentalize the vet medicine part?

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Did you kind of set that aside?

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Like, like, what was that, pathway

like from clinical practice

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into sort of leadership for you?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah.

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You know, I mean, I think

for me personally, I just

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took the extra stuff on.

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I love being in the trenches with the

team, and so, you know, probably my

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first five years out, I'm trying to

learn how to become a veterinarian.

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I'm, you know, doing everything I can.

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I'm trying to make mistakes,

learn from my mistakes, and

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move on just as an associate.

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But I also treated my business and our

business as it was mine from a standpoint

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of I wanna do right by the business.

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So I feel like I always had, even

if it was just me, like a sense of

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ownership within the business, even

though I didn't have a title at that

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time, because I wanted to be a leader.

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so I'm working as an associate, and

then as I gain a little bit more

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traction within our own leadership,

I'm getting handed new opportunities,

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responsibilities, and just trying

to run with those and make those

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the best thing I can until I'm

offered a position to, to buy in.

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And then even today, like

I'm still in the trenches.

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I love the business aspect of things,

but I just love being with my team

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and like being a vet, you know, too.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

Well, so tell me, tell

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me a little bit more.

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I wanted you to compare and

contrast the sort of like you were

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expanding your own practice, right?

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So you're a single location, then

you're going to multiple locations.

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Talk, talk to me about what that

was like after you had joined

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like NVA General Practice.

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Like, like that had to be an

entirely different experience.

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And like what, what was most striking

to you about when you, under your own

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sort of steam, thought, "Yeah, I think

we, I think we should add a practice.

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I think we should have a,

add another location," versus

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

"Man, we're part of this 900 plus

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practice," extensive resource base.

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it, it seems like that would

be a night and day experience.

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Was it?

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And if so, like what were, what were

the differences in the experience?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

to be honest, joining NVA,

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you're a little bit nervous.

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Like how flexible is this

company gonna be with aiding you?

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And, you know, I came into this

saying I love entrepreneurship.

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I wanna be able to do stuff like

this, and I've just been pleasantly

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surprised that they just add fuel to

my fire and give me the resources to

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look at these different opportunities.

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And I can tell you right now, I mean,

before in the past when I would do these

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things, it was based off of a gut feeling.

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And now to work with them and

have the analytics and be able

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to look through systematically on

opportunities, and really break down

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the numbers, the data to make a good

decision, I never had that before.

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You know, before I'm just going off a

whim, going off a pretty good gut feeling.

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Grant gut feelings, usually we were lucky.

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We were very blessed they worked out.

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But, you know, to have now to be

able to dive deeper into analytics

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just made the process way better

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

Well, so this is a, a sort of a, a

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type of personal development that

we don't talk a lot about, right?

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So you know, you've got this experience

as a leader, and then you join NVA,

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and, and my-- it sounds like, you know,

they're, they're obviously they're

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gonna be very involved in this idea

of expansion and you're like, "Oh,

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we're, you know, we're, we're working

with a, a level of clarity and, and

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insight that we didn't have before."

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did you feel like that was an investment

in you by like NVA General Practice?

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talk to me a little bit about,

about your professional development.

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I ask that because one of the things that

I see just across the whole profession

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is once you have a, a, a veterinarian

and they climb up a certain amount of

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the latter into like the leadership

space, the development opportunities

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seem, seem to kind of cap out for, for

a lot of people at that, at that level.

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And here you are, and you're running

these multiple practice, and then it,

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it feels like you're still involved

in this sort of developmental process,

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even though, I mean, you've, you've,

you've already been really successful.

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Talk, talk, talk to me about,

about what that looks like.

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531: I

look at it through two different lenses.

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I mean, one of them is my development and

being able to even work through and sit

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on advisory councils of NVA and really be

able to help NVA General Practice shape

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decisions as far as how we're gonna help

veterinarians, how we're gonna mentor.

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But what's equally has meant the most

to me is the other opportunities for our

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associates within the practice with NVA.

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I think a lot of times we

struggle with our small practices.

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I know I did, where I'd have a

great veterinarian that wanted to

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do entrepreneurship, and we just

had limited opportunities for them.

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When I was able to go with, NVA General

Practice, now I have managing DVMs at

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all of our sites, and so we were able to

elevate people within our organization

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up into leadership roles that we

just-- that just didn't exist before.

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And so having associates that wanted

to take that on, now I had an avenue to

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give them leadership and, you know, run

their own spot while working with me.

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And that's meant the most to me because

I, I've been very blessed in my life

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and be able to pass that down to our

other veterinarians that wanted those

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leadership roles has been fantastic.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

So talk to me a little bit more about

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kind of the different leadership roles

that you sort of engage with, because you

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are on the chief medical officer's sort

of advisory council, so you're working at

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sort of a high level in the organization

to sort of set policy and stuff.

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But then NVA's got like they've

got medical directors, they've got

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medical leaders, but then they've

also got, , your NVA mentors,

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your, sort of, designated advisors.

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You've got area directors.

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Talk, talk to me a little bit

about, what that ecosystem sort of

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looks like and then, how c- sort of

connected to those people are you?

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Like, how does that, how does

that work collaboratively, Matt?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah, absolutely.

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So over the past five years, it has really

transformed within NVA general practice

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on how they support the hospitals.

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And so I think I'll take step one.

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I love hiring new grads, and so

they're my favorite people to get in.

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Tons of energy, tons of ideas.

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NVA setting up their

PetOne training center now.

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We have official mentorship programs

for these new graduates to walk into.

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And I mean, as you know, Andy,

I mean, mentorship is just…

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It's such a big buzzword.

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Everybody wants it.

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We're all looking at it.

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But they really took it a step further

with developing their own training

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center, having a specific program.

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And so being able to, you know, talk

to the head of mentorship within NVA

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and sit on councils with her, we're

able to just come up with a very

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collaborative approach, get these younger

veterinarians the training they need.

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And then I think a, a spot that gets

lost that we've really focused on is that

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graduate that's been out three to eight

years, is getting kind of in the middle of

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their career, and maybe they're starting

to get drawn towards something specific.

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Well, now we can double down and really

lean into what those veterinarians

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wanna do, send them to the proper

training so they can really excel

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in the things that they care about.

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So from top to bottom, we're able to

provide leadership opportunities for

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people that want that, but even develop

those advanced skills when an associate

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really wants to hone in on maybe echoes

or ultrasound or surgery, and now we've

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got platforms for all of those things.

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It's been fantastic.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

one of the sort of concerns that I

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hear from general practice doctors

talking about joining larger groups

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like, you know, like NVA, for example,

or things like that is there, there's

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a concern about either, either sort of

being forced into a cookbook protocol

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or, or being a widget in a machine.

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And, you know, I've worked with a number

of, groups and, like, I don't tend

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to really see that very often, Matt.

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Can you sort of talk about, like,

can you talk about the diversity

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of sort of career paths that you've

kind of seen at NVA General Practice?

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Like, what, what does that look like?

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You've, you've made this sort of path

and, and, you're overseeing these,

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these sort of four hospitals, and you're

involved in all these other things.

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Like, how do you see doctors say-- Let's

say you've got, say you've got young

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doctors that think, "I might be interested

in leadership, but I'm not sure."

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It's not one size fits all, I'm assuming,

as far as what, where that person goes or

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the opportunities that are open to them.

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What does, what does that look like?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

first and foremost, I think a big

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question that I always get and the fear

that I had was just even talking about

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the medical autonomy and being able to

practice the way that you wanna practice.

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And we pride ourselves, you know, within

NVA of really leaning into that first

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and foremost, of doctors getting to

practice the way that they want to.

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But then I think it You lean into the

things that that associate wants to do.

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And so you're gonna have avenues

to serve potentially even as a

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mentor for somebody that maybe is

a little bit later in their career.

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But then the different mentorship

opportunities that are available

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within our organization, I've

just really been impressed with.

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You know, I think as a selling DVM back

in the day, we always-- I, you know, being

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younger, I was concerned about who I was

gonna be partnering with, and-- 'cause

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I'm gonna be sticking around for a while.

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I love to do this, and it was very

important to me to find a partner

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that wanted to grow veterinarians

and take care of the profession,

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and I think we hit a home run

with joining NVA General Practice.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

when you were looking at joining

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NVA, and like you're, you're

a young guy, so people who are

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listening on the podcast don't see.

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You're, you're kind of a,

you're kind of a baby-faced guy.

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

All right,

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

so but,

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

good.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

me as the type of person who was like,

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"Hey, I was at a place in my career where

I thought, you know, I would like to sell

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the practice off and, and move towards

retirement or ride off into the sunset."

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that in your mind at all?

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Did-- Was there a time when you

thought, "Hey, I might, I might

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sell this practice and be done"?

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Or was it always your intention when

you sold the practice and partnered with

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NVA General Practice, like, like was it

always your intention to, to stay there?

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And, and how much, how much certainty

did you have about what was gonna happen

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after you went through this process?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

100% my plan was to stay.

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I mean, I love my team.

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I, I loved what NVA was doing.

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I mean, you're still-- you're

scared, you know, you're worried.

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Am I, am I getting sold a bill of

goods that it's not gonna live up to?

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And you do as much research as possible,

but you're still nervous about it.

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But to work through it and to make it a

year and see that all of these things that

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you were told are coming true was just…

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It gave me a lot of peace

in making that decision.

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but I was-- I'm a busybody, being an

entrepreneur at heart, like I, I could not

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go to the golf course every day right now.

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I love, solving problems, creating

jobs, you know, helping pets.

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I love all of it, so I

wasn't gonna give that up.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

What is the part of being in

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this much bigger organization you

have been most like excited by?

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And what I, what I mean by that

is like didn't know exactly

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what you were getting into.

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You hope for the best.

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You have a, you have a plan.

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You've, you've done your homework.

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What opportunity has it presented

itself to you inside of NVA General

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Practice that you were like,

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

You know, for

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

or, "This has been

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surprisingly rewarding"?

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Like what, what's, what's

filled your bucket?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

the longest time, I-- my world was our

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four walls here at our small practice.

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And then going into an organization

now with 900 practices And getting

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asked to, you know, speak with other

hospitals and help other hospitals.

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I have really enjoyed watching young

leaders at different hospitals outside

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of mine and being able to work with them,

like collaborate on different ideas,

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what's working for them, what's not,

and trying to offer up wisdom of just,

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once again, a pile of mistakes I've

made and hope that they don't make them.

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But being able to just expand

that footprint of help outside

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even our small hospital, that's

been very rewarding for me.

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And I know, I think a lot of our mentors

feel that way that are around the country,

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and the leaders across the country,

I think, like leading these teams.

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And we're seeing a lot of young

leadership, you know, come up, and

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that's been a lot of fun to see.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

If, if you could go back and give yourself

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advice as you came out of that school

based on what you know now and sort of

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the path and the journey that you had,

what would be, what would be your piece

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of advice to just about to graduate Matt?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Don't be scared to make mistakes

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and find mentorship and leadership

that you can trust and work with,

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

That's,

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

100%.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

fantastic.

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where can people learn more?

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Like I said, you're really involved

in NVA general practice at the

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leadership level and things like that.

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If people are interested in, in learning

more and maybe looking into NVA for

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themselves, where should they go?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah, absolutely.

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Careers.nva.com

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is where to go, and you know,

love to speak with anybody about

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opportunities across the entire country.

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So, absolutely.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

reach out?

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How can they connect with you?

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matt-silvius-dvm_1_04-28-2026_131531:

Yeah, you can find me on LinkedIn,

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Matthew Silvius, and happy to

answer any questions there as well.

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dr--andy-roark---he-him-_1_04-28-2026_141531:

We'll link up both of those

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things in the show notes.

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Matt, thanks for being here.

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Guys, thanks for tuning

in to listen, everybody.

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Take care of yourselves, gang

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Speaker: and that's what

I got for you today guys.

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I hope you enjoyed it.

399

I hope you got something out of it.

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Thanks to Matt for being here

and kind of sharing his journey.

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It kind of all kind of fired up.

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I just, I think that this is really cool.

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I love to see veterinarians getting

to do jobs that didn't exist.

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20 years ago.

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And I feel like Matt's

right there doing that.

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And also NVA general practices clearly

figured out how to use him and his

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skills in a way that is interesting

for him and beneficial for them.

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And I just, I don't know, guys.

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I, that's, that's my

optimistic hope for the future.

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I hope that's how medicine works going

forward and how it keeps working.

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But, anyway, I just, I really

enjoyed this episode guys.

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Thanks again for being here.

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Thanks to Matt.

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Thanks for NVA general practice for

making the episode available ad free.

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Take care of yourselves, everybody.

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I'll talk to you later.