Our people

Group Directors
Executive Committee

Richard Fairman

Chief Executive Officer

Ben Jacklin

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Robin Alfonso

Chief Financial Officer

Richard Fairman

Chief Executive Officer

Appointment to the Board

Richard was appointed as a Director in August 2018 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in October 2018, then as Chief Executive Officer in November 2019.

Career and experience

Richard spent six and a half years at the RAC Group, including as Chief Financial Officer from 2016. Prior to this, Richard qualified as a Chartered Accountant at EY, later working at PwC, following which Richard held roles including Finance Director of Virgin Money, CFO of Central Trust and Finance Director of Virgin Money Giving.

Ben Jacklin

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Appointment to the Board

Ben was appointed as a Director and Chief Operating Officer in November 2019, then as Deputy Chief Executive Officer in July 2023.

Career and experience

Ben is responsible for the leadership and management of our business operations, across all our territories. These include all our veterinary practices and our laboratories, crematoria, marketing and communication departments. Ben joined CVS in 2015 and, prior to his appointment to the Board in 2019, led the Veterinary Practice division across the CVS territories. Ben qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon from Cambridge University, and is a European College of Veterinary Surgeons and Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons recognised specialist in equine surgery.

Robin Alfonso

Chief Financial Officer

Appointment to the Board

Robin was appointed as a Director and Chief Financial Officer in November 2019.

Career and experience

Robin spent eight years at the RAC Group, initially as Group Financial Controller and then as Divisional Finance Director of its largest commercial division and profit centre, Consumer Roadside and Marketing. Prior to this, Robin qualified as a Chartered Accountant at PwC, following which he moved to Aviva where he performed a technical accounting role.

David Wilton

Non-Executive Director

Deborah Kemp

Non-Executive Interim-Chair

Joanne Shaw

Non-Executive Director

David Wilton

Non-Executive Director

Appointment to the Board

David was appointed to the Board in September 2021.

Career and experience

David is a qualified Chartered Accountant with more than 30 years’ post-qualification experience as a Chief Financial Officer, Non-Executive Director (NED) and consultant after many years in corporate finance, primarily in mid-cap M&A with Rothschilds. David has held roles in both public and private equity backed companies including as CFO of Sumo Group plc, Group Finance Director of WYG plc and NED and Chair of the Audit Committee of Sweett Group plc. With effect from 22 September 2022, David was appointed as NED and Chair Designate at Frontier Developments plc, due to take over as Chair in December 2022.

Committee membership

David is Chair of the Audit Committee, and is a member of all three Board Committees.

Deborah Kemp

Non-Executive Interim-Chair

Appointment to the Board

Deborah was appointed to the Board in January 2018.

Career and experience

Deborah has held a variety of Chief Executive Officer roles in the consumer and hospitality sector, including as a FTSE 100 main board Director at Punch Taverns plc. Her career started at Bass plc as a Chartered Surveyor, subsequently holding key strategic roles in the evolution and growth of the Punch Taverns pub company. Following a period in private equity and a trade sale of Laurel Funerals, she is now a Director of Vennco Limited and a consultancy and interim specialist in the consumerfacing retail and hospitality sector, and assists multi-site businesses through growth, change and transformation.

Committee membership

Deborah is Chair of the Remuneration Committee. She is a member of all three Board Committees and is the Non-Executive Interim-Chair.

Joanne Shaw

Non-Executive Director

Appointment to the Board

Joanne was appointed to the Board in July 2023.

Career and experience

Joanne Shaw has significant healthcare experience from her current roles as Trustee and Audit Committee Chair at Cancer Research UK, Chair at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, and Deputy Chair at Vitality UK . She has held a number of previous non-executive roles over the past 17 years including as non-executive director and Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee at NHS England and the National Audit Office, Chair of NHS Direct, Non-executive Director at Kensington and Chelsea Primary Care Trust and Chair of the British Equestrian Association. Joanne, a chartered accountant, was a former management consultant at Boston Consulting Group and has previous executive roles at the Medicines Partnership, the Audit Commission and Coopers and Lybrand.

Committee membership

Joanne is a member of all three Board Committees.

Richard Gray

Non-Executive Director

Scott Morrison

Group General Counsel & Legal Secretary

Richard Gray

Non-Executive Director

Appointment to the Board

Richard was appointed to the Board in July 2020.

Career and experience

Richard is a career investment banker who has extensive capital markets and corporate finance experience. He is Chairman of CT Private Equity Trust PLC, a Non-Executive Director of Alpha Real Capital, Vice Chairman of Invescore Group and a Director at Zeus Capital. He has previously worked at Panmure Gordon. Lazard, Charterhouse and UBS.

Committee membership

Richard is Chair of the Nomination Committee, and is a member of all three Board Committees.

Scott Morrison

Group General Counsel & Legal Secretary

Group General Counsel

Company Secretary

Scott qualified as a solicitor in 1998, working at Eversheds for some years before moving into inhouse roles. Initially at Kwik-Fit as Legal Director, before joining Craegmoor Group Limited (a healthcare business) as General Counsel and RAC Motoring Services where he had the role of General Counsel and Company Secretary.

Richard Fairman

Chief Executive Officer

Ben Jacklin

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Robin Alfonso

Chief Financial Officer

Richard Fairman

Chief Executive Officer

Appointment to the Board

Richard was appointed as a Director in August 2018 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in October 2018, then as Chief Executive Officer in November 2019.

Career and experience

Ben Jacklin

Deputy Chief Executive Officer

Appointment to the Board

Ben was appointed as a Director and Chief Operating Officer in November 2019, then as Deputy Chief Executive Officer in July 2023.

Career and experience

Robin Alfonso

Chief Financial Officer

Appointment to the Board

Robin was appointed as a Director and Chief Financial Officer in November 2019.

Career and experience

Sara Armitage

Group Procurement Director

Paul Higgs

Chief Veterinary Officer

Helen Finney

Group HR Director

Sara Armitage

Group Procurement Director

Sara has spent her whole career in the veterinary market place. Initially a veterinary nurse, in a variety of practices covering a range of species and specialities including dermatology, she has also completed her Advanced Veterinary Nursing Diploma. She then transferred into veterinary sales, working in companies such as Mars, Intervet, Janssen and Elanco, before joining CVS in August 2012.

Paul Higgs

Chief Veterinary Officer

Paul is an RCVS recognised and EBVS® European Veterinary Specialist in Small Animal Internal Medicine; becoming a diplomate of the European College of Veterinary Internal Medicine in 2014. Paul joined CVS in 2018 and, prior to his current role, was Clinical Director at Highcroft Referrals Hospital in Bristol, where he still practices. Paul is highly focused on supporting the development of the profession and chaired the Congress Programme Committee at the British Small Animal Veterinary Association between 2020-2023.

As Chief Veterinary Officer, Paul oversees all clinical quality improvement work in farm, equine and small animal, first opinion and referral divisions to provide the best clinical care to animals as well as acting as clinical lead on responses to national and individual patient issues.

Paul’s role is also focused on supporting and building external relations with the wider veterinary profession and liaising with the RCVS. As part of the Company’s aim to further veterinary science and standards of clinical practice, Paul leads the CVS research awards, providing support to universities and internal beneficiaries undertaking clinical research.

Helen Finney

Group HR Director

Appointment to the board

Helen was appointed to the board in 2020 and will further CVS Group’s people focused strategy and ambitious vision to be the veterinary company people most want to work for.

Career and experience

Helen, has joined the CVS Executive Committee, and brings extensive experience of working in professional services, having worked as International Head of HR and Deputy HR Director at law firm Eversheds Sutherland LLP for 16 years. Her experience working with dedicated professionals is invaluable in the delivery of the CVS company vision and wider strategy.

James Cahill

MVB - Managing Director, CVS International

James Cahill

MVB - Managing Director, CVS International

James leads our overseas divisions and is responsible for their commercial performance, operational performance and expansion. Additionally, James is responsible for expansion into new markets and territories, building presence and businesses in those new territories. James started in the role of Operations Director Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. This role expanded to become Operations Director – International when James also began to look after the Netherlands. James’s role further expanded to include the Equine Division, and then James became Group Business Development Director overseeing all nascent business within CVS which included International Divisions throughout Northern Ireland, The Republic of Ireland and The Netherlands, Equine division in the United Kingdom, MiPet Cover Insurance, Technology and Innovation, Acquisitions and International Expansion. James subsequently was appointed the Director of Clinical Operations with overall Commercial and Operational Responsibility for our Clinical Divisions - Small Animal Division, Farm Division, Equine Division, International Divisions – Republic of Ireland and The Netherlands, and the Laboratory Division. James’s aim is to create an excellent enjoyable working environment – a great place to work and have a career whilst providing unrivalled excellence in clinical care. James qualified as a Veterinary Surgeon from University College Dublin

About us

Richard Fairman

Ben Jacklin

Robin Alfonso

Richard Fairman

Ben Jacklin

Robin Alfonso

David Wilton

Deborah Kemp

Joanne Shaw

David Wilton

Deborah Kemp

Joanne Shaw

Richard Gray

Scott Morrison

Richard Gray

Scott Morrison

Richard Fairman

Ben Jacklin

Robin Alfonso

Richard Fairman

Ben Jacklin

Robin Alfonso

Sara Armitage

Paul Higgs

Helen Finney

Sara Armitage

Paul Higgs

Helen Finney

James Cahill

James Cahill