TEAM
BIOGRAPHIES
President
Teresa Miller
Treats Unleashed
Teresa began her career in the banking industry and then moved to a tech startup in New York City. In 2002, she started her current company, Treats Unleashed. Since then, it has grown organically to 19 stores between St. Louis and Kansas City with more on the way. In addition to building a business, Teresa has served her local community as a volunteer with the Bi-State Pet Food Pantry, helping to champion their mission of providing pet food to pet owners in need.
In addition to her pet-related volunteer work, Teresa has been active in promoting women-led companies and Mastermind programming for early-stage women entrepreneurs.
On the national level, Teresa works with the National Retail Federation as an advocate for retail business, specifically small businesses. Most recently, she worked with NRF to champion the Credit Card Competition Act that was introduced by Senator Roger Marshall and Senator Dick Durban on July 27, 2022, to increase competition in the market with the goal of reducing swipe fees.
Vice President
Heather Blum
Petagogy
Heather Blum is co-owner and co-founder of Petagogy, a premier independent natural pet supply store with three locations in and around Pittsburgh, PA. In addition to overseeing day-to-day functions of the stores, Heather is responsible for all marketing, design and content related to the Petagogy brand. Prior to opening Petagogy, Heather worked in both nonprofit and corporate marketing and communication roles, as well as served as a legislative aide for health care policy for Senator Arlen Specter. Heather holds a BA from the University of Maryland, College Park and an MA from Duquesne University. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband, two children and two senior rescue dogs.
Since opening in 2011, Petagogy has amassed numerous community and pet industry awards, including Best Local Pet Store (Pittsburgh City Paper’s Best of Pgh Readers’ Poll, 2015-2022), Best Pet Store (Pittsburgh Magazine’s Best of the ‘Burgh Readers’ Poll, 2012-2014), Outstanding Consumer Education Award (Pet Product News, 2012), Independent Spirit Award (Pet Product News, 2020-2021) and was named one of America’s Coolest Pet Stores by Pets+ Magazine in 2020.
Secretary / Treasurer
Bill Greene
Reber Ranch
Bill Greene is the General Manager for Reber Ranch Inc. a large pet supply and pet services operation with 90-employees, featuring retail stores, their own 6-DVM Veterinary Practice, Grooming Salons and DIY Dog Washes with two locations in Kent, WA. Reber Ranch also competes in the Farm & Feed segment which is supplied by their own hay farms; Round Lake Farms in Eastern Washington.
Reber Ranch has been recognized twice by Pet Products News; in 2013 as the “One to Watch” and most recently as their Omni-channel Retailer of the Year, in addition to years of local recognition for outstanding customer service and client care.
Bill has a 25-year history in the pet industry. Before joining Reber Ranch in 2012 he led the Western US as the Regional Manager with Nutro Products/Mars, where he and his team helped the independent retailers grow and compete against the large pet supply retailers in the space. Prior to this he spent several years as an independent grocer followed by a 13-year career with a leading human food manufacturer, leading their sales effort across the western US.
Bill and his wife Cynthia, have four children, six grandchildren and two Biewer Yorkies - Cody & Callie.
Secretary / Treasurer
Al Puntillo
Mud Bay
Al Puntillo is Co-CEO and Chief Merchandising Officer for Mud Bay based in Olympia, Washington. Al has a long history in the pet industry. Before joining Mud Bay in 2013, he partnered with them on the manufacturing and distribution sides of its business. Al is a proud graduate of WSU’s Animal Sciences Department, and began his career in the pet industry as one of the first outside sales reps for Animal Supply Company (ASC), a NW pet food and supplies distributor. He enjoyed helping independent retailers grow their businesses by educating them on the product innovations that were helping to grow the pet industry. After 5 years in outside sales with ASC he accepted a position as a Regional Manager for Nutro Products, a manufacturer of premium diets for dog and cat, where he managed a sales team of five and a demo team of 30 covering the Rocky Mountain states. In 2005, after having completed a major acquisition, ASC asked Al to return as Director of Sales. Al helped develop ASC’s approach to vendor management, overhauled their pricing platforms, and built a customer-centric sales team devoted to delivering success to independent retailers. As Mud Bay’s Chief Merchant, Al, along with his teams, have the very rewarding jobs of ensuring that the products Mud Bay sells and the information that Mud Bay publishes meet high standards and Mud Bay’s mission: to contribute to the health of dogs and cats and the happiness of those who care for them. As Co-CEO, he contributes additionally to overall company strategy. Al, his wife Carrie, and their son and daughter enjoy biking, skiing, travel and live with a lovely Portuguese water dog called Ella.
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Director
John Atkins
Smithland
John operates 13 Smithland Pet and Garden Centers in the Northeast. His nearly 40 years of diverse retail operations experience with organizations like CT Gardens, Neiman Marcus, C-A-L Ranch Stores, Home Depot, and Tractor Supply and executive-level experience as CEO and COO of Mid-States Distributing, a purchasing cooperative for 36 retailers, brings a unique perspective to the board.
Director
Luke Johnson
Luke & Co. Fine Pet Supply
Luke Johnson is a proud 4th generation Coloradoan- his grandparents were dairy farmers and Colorado home steaders in the late 1800's. He completed schooling at the University of Northern Colorado with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, emphasis in public relations and marketing media. He has experience working in public relations for a regional hospital campus and served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the National Business Office of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America. He became a Jimmy Johns Franchisee in 2012 growing his store to record breaking unit sales in Colorado. He sold his ownership in 2015 and opened Luke & Co. in early 2016. Luke & Co. Fine Pet Supply is Downtown Denver's largest independent retailer. Luke is also President of the Broadway Merchants Association which represents more than 100 small businesses in Downtown Denver. In the past Luke has served on other non-profit boards including the Colorado Chapter of MEDA, a Christian Mennonite investment group that endeavors to create short and long term micro lending in developing nations.
Director
Martin Tuttle
Pet People of Los Gatos
Prior to launching what would become his second career in the pet industry, Martin spent 20 years building business-to-business sales and production operations in the commercial printing industry serving Silicon Valley Fortune 500 companies.
The financial crisis triggered by the dot-com crash would steer Martin onto an alternate path beginning with managing a family-run pet sitting agency, and then into a neighborhood retail pet store which he now says is “the most fulfilling work I’ve ever done.”
Fifteen years into that move he is now General Manager of Pet People of Los Gatos, a 40-year-old, single-store retail pet supply business serving the same Silicon Valley he started his first career in. Martin has guided this small independent business through all the rocky transitions that affected the entire independent channel for the past half-dozen years, including the exodus of customers to Amazon and Chewy, the need to evolve into an omni-channel solution for new and existing customers, and the re-tooling of all business operations in response to the Covid crisis.
True to his Silicon Valley business upbringing Martin saw these challenges, not as obstacles, but as opportunities.
While leading his small business team through all of these transitions, Martin developed a passion and determination to see that the independent channel not only survives them, but thrives because of them.
Martin and his husband Rod share their San Jose home with two standard poodles, Bowie and Deuce, and he schedules time off every year to serve his second passion to backpack California’s Eastern Sierra and hike the deserts of southern Utah.
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Director
Michael Levy
Pet Food Express
Growing up in New York City, Michael wasn’t allowed to have a pet, so at a very young age, he started rescuing stray cats. At 15, he finally got his first dog, a German Shepherd, and trained him to respond to many commands on and off leash.
In 1976, while attending college in San Francisco, Michael started a mobile dog training business to supplement his student loans. By the 1980s, Michael's little business had become the largest professional dog training company in Northern California. He then opened a brick and mortar location in San Francisco where he sold and delivered pet food and supplies, which became known as Pet Food Express. With 64 company owned stores in California and growing, PFE has long made an impact in the pet industry with its emphasis on pet nutrition, very high standards and giving back to 100s of rescues and shelters each year.
Michael’s influence in the pet industry reaches beyond his stores. He has collaborated over the years with retailers (including competitors), distributors and manufacturers in the pet industry to launch and grow many quality pet food brands, as well as advocate for independent pet retailers throughout North America.
A brief history of his accomplishments within the Pet Industry & US Retail:
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1997 Retailer of the Year – Pet Product News
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1999 Best Independent Chain – Pet Product News
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2010 Retailer of the Year – Pet Business
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2014 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs – Goldman Sachs
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2015 The NRF List of People Shaping Retail’s Future – National Retail Federation Giver Award
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2017 Retailer of the Year – Pet Business
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2020 Co-founded The Independent and Neighborhood Pet Retail Association (the Pet Industries’ first independent retailers organization), served as the first VP and is currently serving as a Director.
Director
Mike Griffeth
WoofMeow
Mike owns and operates two woofmeow locations in New Hampshire and strongly believes that the industry needs to keep itself relevant requiring operators to challenge themselves to become better every year. While Mike learned much in pet retail through trial and error, he also had strong mentorship from industry professionals.
Mike brings this mentorship approach and his passion for sharing his knowledge to IndiePet. He believes a unified voice can help develop the strongest forward-facing movement in the indie pet channel with the strength of all the variety of retailers behind it.
In addition to running his stores, Mike currently serves on IndiePet’s E-Commerce committee, where he contributes great insights and best practices.
Director
Toni Shelaski
Toni Unleashed
Toni began her career in pet retail fourteen years ago with a 1,000 square foot store dedicated to improving the lives of pets through natural and holistic approaches to their nutrition. From that humble beginning, she’s grown from one small store to four stores in two states.
Toni’s passion for the well-being of pets and her hands-on approach finds her frequently joining staff on the floor to help customers and their pets.
Providing high quality pet nutrition for her customers is a priority for Toni and her staff. To further her reach, Toni recently began two new ventures: creating her own podcast to share her knowledge of pet nutrition, and producing her own brand of ethically sourced treats and Pittsburgh themed toys. She hopes to one day make her podcast available for other retailers to use as a training tool for staff and customers.
In addition to running her businesses, Toni is active with the Pittsburgh Pet Expo, the largest Pet Expo on the East coast of the country and has been a title sponsor for the past seven years. She enjoys being “submerged in all things pet” as well the community engagement the Expo provides.
Toni’s personal mission to help people improve the quality of their pets’ lives led her into the pet business and her ongoing passion leads her to IndiePet where she hopes to use her experience to help other pet retailers grow their businesses.
Executive Director
Todd Dittman
Todd Dittman has spent his career leading retail businesses and inspiring innovation to enhance the customer experience. As Executive Director and board member of Shop Environments Association, he led the strategic planning and implementation process that positioned the largest global non-profit in the retail environments space as the go-to resource for retailers to stay ahead of brick and mortar design and technology changes.
Prior to leading Shop Environments Association, Todd held the position of Vice President of Marketing with Dairy Management Inc. where he played a key role in the organization’s transformation from generic advertising (GOT MILK?) to product development through industry partnerships with retailers such as Kroger and McDonald’s, resulting in increased dairy product demand for the U.S. dairy farmers.
Todd started his career with industry leading brands such as Borden, Wendy’s International, and Arby’s Restaurant Group. While working at Wendy’s and Arby’s Todd led the marketing for over 400 retail locations and sat on boards of franchise cooperatives as well as Big Brothers Big Sisters. He has a Masters of Business Administration from Loyola University, Chicago and a Bachelors of Business Finance from the University of Cincinnati.
Todd, his wife Wendy and their daughters Maddy, Anna, and Thalia have raised two loving boxers and look forward to bringing a new dog into the family soon