Joe Howell

EXECUTIVE Q&A WITH JOE M. HOWELL

Oklahoma City veterinarian Joe M. Howell talks about his life, from his boyhood in Bhopal, India, to his current presidency of the Western Veterinary Conference.

It’s been several years since Oklahoma City veterinarian Joe Howell sold his interests in the Britton Road and Quail Creek animal hospitals, but Howell is anything but retired.

In fact, as president of the Western Veterinary Conference, he’s more involved in his profession than ever.

Based in Las Vegas, the 88-year-old conference provides year-round comprehensive, progressive and practical knowledge to about 9,000 veterinary practitioners and paraprofessionals from across the nation and around the world.

In early 2009, the conference opened the Oquendo Center, a 70,000-squarefoot training facility. As association president, Howell is overseeing a 55,000-square-foot addition, which will include a 190-seat theater, flexible meeting spaces and cutting-edge clinical and diagnostic laboratories.

From his conference duties to his contributions to the American Veterinary Medical Association and American Humane Society, Howell is on the road 50 percent of the time.

He recently sat down at his Nichols Hills home to talk about his life and career. This is an edited transcript:

Q: From ages 7 to 9, you lived in Bhopal, India. What brought your family there, and what do you remember of the experience?

A:

My father was an agricultural education teacher and recruited to Bhopal to train East Indians in modern agriculture. A graduate of Oklahoma A&M, he met my mother — an OU grad and a home economics and English teacher — on a teaching job in Oklahoma. I’m the second eldest of their five children; our youngest sister was born after we moved home to Waynoka. In India, I went to a British school. We lived in a huge home, had a staff of 17 servants and a red-faced monkey. My mother had what’s now my dining room table made from teakwood there, and entertained many visiting dignitaries, including the female Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi. My father was offered a fouryear extension, but my mother wanted to return to Oklahoma. She didn’t want to send us away to boarding school, which was the British way.

Q: What were the highlights of your school days in Waynoka?

A:

I graduated in a class of 48, and was president of the student council. I played football from sixth through 11th grades, but gave it up to focus on FFA and 4-H. My paternal great-grandparents immigrated from Germany and bought a 120-acre Land Run claim (which is still in the family) in Payne County near Perkins and Ripley and another 580 acres of Indian land. We raised wheat, alfalfa, peanuts — and cattle, which I showed in school and helped raise throughout my years at OSU. My mother died in an accident when I was in the 11th grade, and her parents stepped in to help raise us kids. My maternal grandfather loaned me the money to attend OSU and by the time I graduated, I — through the income I generated raising a herd of longhorn-Hereford cattle — came within $100 of paying him off.

Q: You once owned Minolta dealerships and later had interests in MotoPhoto stores. What was the inspiration for those ventures, and what did you learn?

A:

I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. After I’d sold the Quail Creek animal hospital, a broker approached me about the Minolta opportunity. I owned dealerships in seven counties for 4 ½ years, before I sold to a buyer who came knocking. I owned and co-owned three MotoPhoto stores for a similar period, before being bought out in 2000. Thanks to my construction experience with Minolta and building the Quail Creek hospital from scratch, I bring a lot of building knowledge to my current WVC position. Minolta also was my introduction to Las Vegas, where I’m a current partner in Montecito Animal Hospital. I still have farming interests in Payne County and business interests elsewhere. The common denominator across all those varied businesses is: if you take care of people — that is do a good job, with a high quality of service — they’ll take care of you. The MotoPhoto sale was good timing because it relieved me to run for president of the American Veterinary Medical Association. During my service, the association helped veterinarians double their incomes by, among other things, offering the latest technology to the public and utilizing vet techs.

Q: What’s most important in being a good vet?

A:

Strong communication skills. You have to be able to communicate to pet owners that you care about them and their animals, and that you’re going to take good care of them. It doesn’t matter how smart you are or whether you have digital radiology, endoscopes or any of the other latest technologies. If you can’t communicate caring, people will go elsewhere. What’s more, veterinarians shouldn’t assume people can’t afford more costly procedures for their pets. They should let people make their own decisions about their pets’ care. Pet owners may not travel or go out much, and their dog or cat may mean everything to them.

Q: What are your plans when your WVC term is up in March?

A:

I’ll still serve on the board as immediate past president. But I plan, through the WVC, to resume testing graduates of foreign veterinary schools in anesthesia and small animal care. Graduates must pass the intense testing before they can sit for their boards in America. I’ve taught students who hail from the Asian Pacific, India, Arab countries, Africa, France and Belgium. Some are the best people in the world. Others shouldn’t practice veterinary medicine.