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Meeting highlights
- Strategic Importance of Spain: Spain anchors Zoetis' unified approach across Southern Europe, leveraging shared expertise to advance animal health and address the evolving needs of customers.
- Priorities and Opportunities for 2025 and Beyond: Accelerating digital transformation and precision veterinary care through AI and data innovation, providing veterinarians and producers with advanced tools to support animal health.
- Continuum of Care: A holistic strategy to predict, prevent, detect, and treat disease, delivering tailored solutions for every stage of animal health.
- Addressing Global Challenges in Animal Health: Championing the One Health approach, integrating animal, human, and environmental health, and collaborating with European veterinary associations to advance the animal health agenda across the region.
- Purpose, Culture, and Talent: Fostering a diverse, purpose-driven culture where every colleague is empowered to make a difference and contribute to Zoetis' vision.
- Empowering Social Transformation: Promoting awareness of the human-animal bond and advancing inclusion in livestock through the “Ganadería en Femenino” initiative, inspiring broader impact across markets.
- Personal Leadership: Diego Garcia emphasizes the importance of effort, authenticity, and legacy, inspiring teams to embrace purpose and drive lasting, meaningful change.
EF: What strategic importance does Spain hold within Zoetis' Southern European cluster, and what are the main priorities on your agenda for 2025?
DG: Spain is a natural anchor for our Southern Europe cluster, but we don’t view ourselves as a single-market hub. Instead, we operate as one unified team across Spain, Italy, Greece, and Portugal. This collaborative approach allows us to leverage shared agricultural traditions and expertise, particularly in livestock production—a cornerstone of our business in this region. While each country has its own focus—Spain excels in swine, Greece in small ruminants, Portugal in Cattle, and Italy in dairy—the common thread is our commitment to advancing animal health and supporting local farming communities.
Looking to 2025, the veterinary sector in Southern Europe is undergoing rapid transformation, especially in digitalization and the adoption of precision medicine. We’re investing in innovative, personalized solutions for veterinary care, such as integrating artificial intelligence into our diagnostic platforms. For example, our recent launch of an AI-powered cytology product enables veterinarians to obtain faster, more accurate insights for small animal care. This technology empowers clinicians to combine digital intelligence with their own expertise, ensuring the best outcomes for animals and their owners. This blend of digital innovation and tailored care is one of the greatest opportunities for Zoetis; not just in 2025, but for the future of animal health.
In terms of challenges, I see them more as opportunities to lead. Responsible use of antibiotics in livestock remains a priority, and we’re focused on advancing alternative solutions that support the sustainable production of safe, high-quality animal protein. Our approach centers on providing veterinarians and producers with innovative tools to predict, prevent, detect, and treat disease—enabling them to respond quickly and effectively to evolving challenges. With our expertise in vaccines, biologics, genetics, and diagnostics, we help drive greater sustainability and productivity for our customers. By continually advancing our R&D efforts and staying closely attuned to the needs of those we serve, we’re well-positioned to turn these barriers into drivers of progress.
EF: The R&D and innovation opportunities are endless. How are you shaping your R&D strategy in Southern Europe?
DG: In Southern Europe, we benefit from three interconnected capabilities: commercial teams with offices in key capital cities, R&D activities, and manufacturing sites in Olot, Spain, and Catania, Italy. This close presence across the region fosters strong collaboration and enables us to more rapidly translate scientific insights into practical solutions for our customers.
Our R&D strategy is built around what we call the continuum of care, a holistic approach to animal health that guides everything we do. It starts with prediction, where we use genetics and data-driven insights to anticipate potential health challenges in animals. Prevention follows, with a robust portfolio of vaccines, parasiticides, and other solutions designed to keep animals healthy from the start. Detection is next: our advanced diagnostics help veterinarians and producers quickly identify issues, whether in the clinic or on the farm. Finally, when treatment is needed, we offer a range of options, from anti-infectives and antibiotics to new innovations like immunotherapies and targeted dermatology solutions.
In essence, our Continuum of Care approach is clear: predict, prevent, detect, and treat, so we can support veterinarians, producers, and pet owners at every stage of animal health. We’re constantly evolving this model by integrating digital technologies, fostering external partnerships, and tailoring our offerings to the specific needs of those we serve. This commitment to continuous innovation and customer focus ensures we deliver effective, sustainable solutions for the future of animal health.
EF: How is Zoetis using awareness and advocacy to promote a pet-inclusive society, and how are you helping advance the animal health agenda in ways that also benefit humans?
DG: The human-animal bond has never been stronger, especially as new generations like millennials and Gen Z are redefining what it means to live alongside animals. We saw this most clearly during the pandemic, when it became evident just how deeply pets are woven into our lives and the environments we share.
In Spain and across Southern Europe, we are highly engaged in initiatives that reflect this shift. For example, in Spain, we actively participate in the One Health platform, championing awareness of the interconnectedness of animal, human, and environmental health. We also support and sponsor programs that promote this approach both locally and across the broader cluster and the Europe and Middle East (EME) region.
Zoetis collaborates with leading associations such as the Federation of European Companion Animal Veterinary Associations (FECAVA) and the Federation of Veterinarians of Europe (FVE). Together, we launched the Human-Animal Handbook, a set of guidelines designed to inform policymakers and encourage better laws that support pet-friendly environments, responsible ownership, and improved access to veterinary care.
Whether through One Health or other human-animal bond initiatives, our commitment goes beyond our core business: we aim to raise awareness and help build a culture that recognizes animal health as a vital part of human well-being.
EF: Zoetis has been recognized as a Great Place to Work in 2025, now the third time in a row. What is your strategy when it comes to building culture, sharing its purpose, and attracting the best and brightest talent?
DG: There’s a saying, attributed to Peter Drucker, I truly believe in: “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” At Zoetis, our colleagues make the difference, and their differences make us stronger. We place a high priority on inclusion, empathy, and respect for every individual’s unique experience and perspective. Our culture is built on the belief that when we work together as One Zoetis, leveraging our diverse strengths, we can achieve our purpose of advancing animal health and supporting our customers around the world.
Building this kind of culture is a journey that takes time and commitment, but it starts with ensuring every colleague feels they belong and can thrive. We know that by valuing diverse backgrounds and ideas, we create a workplace where people are empowered, engaged, and motivated to do their best work. More than big strategies, it’s the small actions that really resonate with people. One of those is making sure every colleague in Southern Europe is purpose-driven. When someone has a purpose—personally or professionally—they’re self-motivated and don’t need constant direction. If you can connect that personal sense of purpose with your day-to-day work, then you care for Zoetis as if it were your own. We encourage everyone to “run it like you own it,” which means taking responsibility and caring deeply about every decision, as if Zoetis were your own company.
We also recognize that well-being is essential to our culture. That’s why we invest in programs that support work-life balance and holistic wellness, from colleagues’ step challenges to mental health resources and flexible working arrangements. When people feel good and supported, they perform at their best.
Our commitment to culture also extends beyond our organization. A great example is our “Ganadería en Femenino” (“Women in Livestock”) program, now entering its sixth year. This initiative was created to promote a more inclusive livestock sector by recognizing and empowering women working in agriculture, particularly in rural areas. The program is built on three pillars: raising awareness of the essential role women play in animal agriculture, sharing their stories and achievements, and supporting their personal and professional growth through tailored educational opportunities and resources.
Over the years, “Ganadería en Femenino” has been helping to drive positive change and foster greater inclusion and recognition for women across the livestock community in Spain and beyond. Its success has enabled us to expand the program into Latin America and Italy, something that makes our team in Spain especially proud.
At Zoetis, our colleagues make the difference—and their differences make us stronger.
Being named a Great Place to Work for the third consecutive year and ranking among the top ten employers in Spain and Greece is a testament to our colleagues’ dedication and the inclusive, purpose-driven culture we’ve built together. For us, it’s not just about being a great place to work—it’s about making a meaningful difference in the diverse communities we serve, from Málaga to Thessaloniki.
EF: You’ve been with the company for many years. What are the moments you're most proud of? And what do you hope to achieve in the future?
DG: If there’s one thing I’m especially proud of, it’s the culture we’ve built together at Zoetis. It’s an aligned, cohesive, and meaningful culture that brings out the best in every colleague and truly makes a difference across the organization. In the end, it’s always about the team, the people around me who make things happen.
On a personal level, I believe it all comes down to effort and attitude. My own journey—from industrial engineering to logistics, finance, and then commercial roles- has taught me that it doesn’t matter what you do or where you start; what matters is staying true to yourself and embracing every opportunity to learn and grow.
Every year brings new challenges, and as Kara Lawson from Duke University says, “You need to handle harder better every year.” It will always get tougher, so you have to prepare yourself to meet those challenges head-on, be resilient, and always improve while under pressure
Another key point is to embrace your purpose. I hope to be someone who leaves something behind—a small legacy of what we’ve built at Zoetis. Whether it’s a bit of learning, a positive impact on colleagues, or something that lasts beyond my time here, that’s what I aspire to achieve.
What makes me most proud is seeing how our culture empowers people to be their best and to make a lasting difference together.
