INTERVIEW
Al Puntillo, Chief Merchandising Officer, Mud Bay
Professional History Tell us how your career path led you to the pet industry. How did you decide to join Mud Bay?
Animals and pets have always been a big part of my life. Growing up I was a 4-H kid who spent my summers showing horses and beef cattle, and the rest of the year caring for them and all the other pets on my parent’s small hobby farm just outside of Portland, OR. I chose to pursue a degree in Animal Science from Washington State University, which really helped me develop a strong understanding of animal nutrition and livestock production. After college, I worked for about a year as a veterinary technician where I gained an entirely new appreciation for the work that vets and vet techs do each day. I knew that I wanted to keep growing my career in the pet industry, but I wasn’t sure how to best use my degree and experience. At the urging of my father-in-law, I took a job in outside sales for a giftware company. He convinced me that the sales and marketing experience that I would gain as an outside sales rep would be invaluable. He couldn’t have been more right. I loved calling on independent business owners and helping them grow their businesses and was quickly promoted into a sales management role. While I was enjoying all that I was learning in outside sales, I knew that long term I wanted to be working back in the pet industry. After a few months of looking, I was lucky enough to land PG 40 / PET I N S I G H T
a job as an outside sales rep at Animal Supply Company where my pet industry education really kicked into high gear. As a distributor rep I helped grow hundreds of brands and learn exactly what retailers needed from their manufacturing and distribution partners. Working closely with so many pet food manufacturers made me curious about the focused role of being a manufacturer’s sales rep and after four years at Animal Supply Company, I took a position with Nutro Pet Foods. After selling hundreds of product lines as a distributor rep, I really enjoyed the focus of being an expert on just one brand, and at the time Nutro was highly focused on building strong relationships with retailers and growing sales through great community outreach with shelters, breeders and veterinarians. In 2005, Animal Supply Company doubled in size overnight with the acquisition of Western Farm Center in Northern California, and I was offered a job to return to Animal Supply Company as Director of Sales. Returning to Animal Supply Company to lead the company’s sales team was a huge honor for me and yet another tremendous learning opportunity. From 2005 to 2013 the Animal Supply Company sales team and I focused on supporting independent retailers as business consultants and partners in their success. Through my roles with both Animal Supply Company and Nutro, I had the opportunity to build relationships and partnerships with many retailers
on the West Coast , including Mud Bay. Mud Bay always set itself apart from other retailers in its truly vested and sustainable approach to long term partnerships. When they asked me to join them as VP of Merchandising, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to be a part of such an amazing family and employee-owned company.
What do you enjoy the most about working in the pet industry?
Without a doubt it is the people. The pet industry attracts great people while also bringing out the best in people. Every day I get to be a part of an industry supported by pet parents who care deeply about their pets, business owners whose missions are all about making lives of pets and people better and passionate Muddies (our nick name for Mud Bay staff members) who really care about the work they do and the company we are building.
What valuable lessons and experiences have you learned during your career working in pet?
Some of these may be cliches, but it has taken me a long time to truly internalize them and understand just how important they are: 1) Culture trumps everything 2) People may forget what you said, but they will never forget the way you made them feel r Cont'd on Pg. 42
