Pilbara vet a WA award finalist

Veteran Pilbara vet Rick Fenny has been named as a finalist in the Western Australian of the Year Awards for his more than 40 years of work as a veterinarian and entrepreneur.

The owner of the Pets and Vets clinic network, which he began in Roebourne and Karratha, was last week announced as one of four finalists in the awards’ business category for demonstrating excellence and outstanding ethics in the field resulting in positive social or economic impact for WA.

Dr Fenny said he was humbled to have been selected, especially for an award that celebrated ethics in business which was a strong belief of his.

“You’ve got to have values if you want to succeed in business,” he said.

“To me that applies to any business at all but particularly (veterinary practice) where that expectation is always there, because people put their trust in you, and animals put their trust in you, and you have to live up to that.”

Dr Fenny’s Pets and Vets network encompasses 11 vet clinics across mostly regional WA, including many in the Pilbara, and was the State’s first remotely controlled set of clinics.

His company, the Rick Fenny Group, also owns two tourism businesses, and he was also recently the star of Channel 7 TV pilot Desert Vet.

Dr Fenny said he hoped being an award contender would give more attention to regional WA.

The other finalists in the awards’ business category are mining executive and metallurgist Peter Bradford, entrepreneur Alicia Curtis and Wesfarmers non-executive director Diane Smith-Gander.

Winners of the Western Australian of the Year Awards will be announced at a gala dinner at the Crown Towers Hotel on June 1.