Our Team

Head Office

RICHARD YOUNG

MANAGING DIRECTOR

Richard is the Managing Director of Forte Healthcare and is primarily located at its headquarters near Dublin. He also travels frequently to regional offices in the UK, Poland, and Europe.

Richard has a wealth of experience in all sectors of the animal health industry having been on the boards of multinational veterinary pharmaceutical companies, in addition to establishing multiple animal health companies.

DR. LUCY CHADWICK

DR LUCY CHADWICK MVB ACIM CMktr GPCert(B&PS) MRCVS

HEAD OF TECHNICAL SERVICES & MARKETING

Lucy leads our Technical & Marketing Team and is based in our head office near Dublin. She is a veterinary surgeon and marketer, with many years’ experience in the veterinary

pharmaceutical industry in the UK and Ireland. She lives in Dublin with her husband James (also a vet) and their beloved Border Terrier – Poirot.

DR. IAN ROUNTREE

DR IAN ROUNTREE MVB

VETERINARY & REGULATORY AFFAIRS ADVISOR

Ian joined Forte Healthcare in April 2022 and is based in our head office near Dublin. He is a veterinary surgeon with 12 years’ experience in private practice.

Ian has recently moved back to the family farm in Cavan with his wife Aisling and their dog. In his spare time, Ian can be found treading the boards in various dramatic and musical productions.

DR. JOHN HENDERSON

DR JOHN HENDERSON BVM&S MRCVS

LARGE ANIMAL PRODUCT MANAGER

John qualified as a veterinary surgeon in 1994 from Edinburgh University. He worked 2 year stints in 100% small animal practice, 100% equine practice and in the Scottish Agricultural College disease surveillance centre in Perth.

This leaves 20 years in first opinion mixed practice with a farm animal bias. John still practices weekly as an Out Of Hours vet doing night and weekend work which ensures he’s never far away from his next heifer Caesar!

KIRSTY MCCANN

KIRSTY MCCANN DIPVN

EQUINE NUTRITIONAL MANAGER

Kirsty recently joined Forte Healthcare in May 2021, having spent the last 5 years’ working in the equine nutritional industry, and previously as a lead equine nurse at one of Ireland’s largest equine referral hospitals.

Kirsty brings a unique combination of equine veterinary and nutritional understanding, as well as practical horsemanship, to the team. She also worked in racing for several years and even tried her hand at racing having held her amateur license. Kirsty’s downtime is looking after her family and their animals. Along with her husband and daughter they have two horses in training and hope they hit the winners enclosure very soon! When not working and minding their daughter, Kirsty can be found down in the yard looking after and retraining her ex racehorse, Enniskillen, with whom she hopes to be out and about competing on very soon.

MAEVE CUFFE

JUNIOR BRAND MANAGER

Maeve joined the Forte team in March 2023. Following graduation from UCD in 2021, with a BSc in Agricultural Science, Maeve worked for Ireland’s largest online agricultural news platform in both the commercial and creative departments.

She also has experience working in dairy, beef, pig, and sheep production systems across Ireland, and has completed a dairy genetics internship in the Netherlands. Maeve is halfway through an MSc in Animal Science at UCD and is looking forward to handing in her thesis in September 2023.

In her free time, Maeve enjoys travelling and heading home to Athlone each weekend to see her favourite broodmare, Samantha!

Fiona Callaghan

FIONA CALLAGHAN

ACCOUNTANT

Fiona joined the Forte Healthcare team in 2018 having previously worked over 10 years in an accountancy practice in Dublin. She is a qualified chartered accountant and works in our accounts department at our head office in City North Business Campus, Co. Meath.

Fiona lives in the wee county Louth with her GAA mad husband and three young daughters. In her free time she loves meeting up with friends, visiting new places, going for the odd jog and especially walks on the beach. She is currently trying to persuade her husband they need a family dog!

HELGA MCKEEN

HELGA MCKEEN BSc PDip

DIGITAL MARKETING MANAGER

Helga joined Forte Healthcare in July 2021. Having previously worked with some of the world’s biggest FMCG companies including Pernod Ricard, Unilever, and Anheuser-Busch across the food, drink, and personal-care industries,

she brings a wealth of new marketing and digital processes to the team and will help shape the digital ambitions of Forte Healthcare. A passionate foodie, forager, and animal enthusiast, when not working at Forte Helga enjoys cooking and eating with friends and family and looking after her cat, Titus, and horse, Slaney Earl Star, in the East Meath/ Dublin area.

HOLLY STAFFORD

MARKETING ASSISTANT

Holly has been involved in horses from a young age at her family’s competition yard and grandfather’s racing yard. She has competed regularly at the Royal Dublin Horse Show and Millstreet International with ponies and horses she has produced herself.

She also has a keen interest in bloodstock sales and has worked at Tattersalls Ireland. Holly provides marketing support to the Forte team in Ireland and the UK.

UK Sales Team

DR. ANNA LOVELL

DR. ANNA LOVELL BVSC CERTGP (SAP) MRCVS

VETERINARY ADVISOR – UK

Anna joined Forte Healthcare in April 2022 having spent 20 years in clinical practice; most recently as head vet of a small animal hospital in Cambridgeshire.

Outside of work Anna is kept busy with her children’s two ponies and a small flock of Jacob sheep.

MARCUS SCOTT

COMMERCIAL MANAGER

Marcus joined Forte Healthcare Ltd in October 2018. Since graduating from Harper Adams University, Marcus has held various senior roles in sales and business development in the agriculture and animal health sectors.

Based in Northern Ireland, Marcus is passionate about rural farming and enjoys keeping beef livestock at his home in Newry.

NIKKI CAYZER

NIKKI CAYZER

NATIONAL SALES MANAGER – UK

Nikki joined Forte in May 2023 and heads up the UK Sales Team, bringing with her a wealth of experience in both Sales and people management. Having had a successful career in the Human Medical Devices sector for many years, her passion for wanting to be part of making a difference in the lives of animals drew her back to the Veterinary Industry in 2018.

Being surrounded by horses at a very early age ignited a passion which has led to Nikki training and competing several horses to Advanced Level Dressage across the UK.

Nikki lives in an idealistic coastal village in Essex, which has proven to be a very popular TV filming site due to its amazing scenery and history. Nikki lives there with her four dogs, Darcie, Roxy, Margot and Hagrid and in 2020 added a Spanish horse called “Hechicero” to her animal family whom she hopes will be her next Dressage star, albeit he seems to have a completely different aspiration in life.

MARK STANTON

KEY ACCOUNT MANAGER – UK

Mark joined Forte in the summer of 2022. He has been involved in Sales, Business Unit Management, Commercial Operations, and key account management for a number of businesses. These have included Pig genetics, Veterinary businesses, and Pharma companies.

He joined the industry in the early 90s after gaining a degree in Agricultural Business Management from Wye College London. Mark enjoys getting involved in his customers’ businesses and trying to add value where possible. He is very much a believer in behaving as if you are going to do business with someone for the next five years, not just the next 5 months.

When not working, Mark enjoys spending time with his family and watching most sports. His wife and three daughters provide him with a long list of DIY jobs to do! When time permits he enjoys making his own cider from apples collected locally. He also produces a quality home-brewed ale from an old family recipe.

STEVE BULL

TERRITORY MANAGER – SOUTH WEST, ENGLAND

Steve joined the Forte sales team in August 2020, he lives in Taunton, Somerset with his wife Carol and their cat Mitzy. He has been selling veterinary meds in South West England for more years than he cares to remember, after moving over from selling human meds.

When not working, Steve enjoys spending time with his family walking in the beautiful countryside of Dartmoor and Exmoor.

JEN PYKE

TERRITORY MANAGER – WALES

Jen joined the team in March 2020 as the Territory Manager for Wales. Jen lives in North Wales with her fiancé and two cheeky Middle Eastern street dogs she rescued in the UAE.

Jen studied and worked with horses from a young age and has travelled around the world working in a number of different equine industries, collecting animals and a wealth of experience along the way. Jen is passionate about supporting British farming & animal health and has a love of all things outdoors.

KATIE OXBY

KATIE OXBY

TERRITORY MANAGER – EAST MIDLANDS & EAST ANGLIA

Katie joined Forte Healthcare in May 2023 and since graduating with a degree in Equine Sports Science has worked in veterinary pharmaceutical animal health for 14 years.

Based in Leicestershire, Katie is the proud owner of two lurchers, Macy and Daphne. She is a keen event rider currently competing at BE novice level and in her downtime enjoys holidaying and running the occasional half marathon for charity.

EMMA JOHN

TERRITORY MANAGER – NORTH OF ENGLAND

Emma joined Forte Healthcare in October 2022 and is looking forward to her new role within the veterinary pharmaceutical sales sector.

Emma has spent her entire working career in a variety of roles within the Animal Healthcare sector, predominantly within Animal Health Education. This has provided Emma with a range of experiences with companion animals, farm animals, and equine.

Emma lives in Northumberland with her husband, two daughters, rescue dog, and tortoise. In her spare time, she is either looking after her two horses, playing netball for her team in the Northumberland Netball League, or hiking and has completed the Yorkshire 3 peaks, National 3 peaks, and the Ring of Steall.

Ireland Sales Team

CIAN TUCKER

TERRITORY MANAGER – SOUTH IRELAND

Cian joined Forte Healthcare in February 2019. Cian lives in County Tipperary while he covers the South of Ireland as a Territory Manager.

Cian is an enthusiastic person and believes developing strong relationships is the foundation of everything, both professionally and personally. In his spare time, Cian is an avid GAA fan especially hurling and loves following his local team, Nenagh Eire Og.

LAURA HEALY

TERRITORY MANAGER – IRELAND

Laura recently joined Forte Healthcare in June 2021 as the small animal Territory Manager for Ireland, having spent the last 8 years working in the UK within the veterinary pharmaceutical and animal health industry.

Laura finally decided ‘home is where the heart is’ and relocated back to Cork where she grew up! Laura’s passion outside of work is her horses, which has seen her breeding, training, and competing horses since a young age. When not in the saddle, Laura will turn her hand to anything outdoors, adrenaline fueled and action packed.

HUGH GIBSON

TERRITORY MANAGER – NORTHERN IRELAND

Hugh has been involved in sales and regional management in the veterinary pharmaceutical industry since the mid 1980s after gaining an MSc in Applied Biology from London University. He has worked for a number of UK, French

and Spanish pharmaceutical companies and has seen massive changes within the industry in the last quarter of a century and beyond. As well working for Forte, he recently got into free range chicken production for Waitrose through Moy Park on his farm near Omagh and feeds a number of beef cattle and lambs for the local butchery trade. In his spare time he reads mostly spy and detective novels by modern authors like John le Carre and Peter James.

Head Office

UK Sales Team

Ireland Sales Team

HEAD OFFICE (IRELAND)

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