In Memory of Claire Holley

Claire H. Holley, long-time and recently retired Executive Director of the North Carolina Veterinary Medical Association, has passed away after a courageous fight against cancer. Claire became the Executive Director in 2008, succeeding Molly Rasor, and passionately served North Carolina veterinarians for 16 years. She was a vibrant advocate for veterinary medicine in North Carolina, starting marketing campaigns to encourage the public to seek veterinary care for their pets, like “Love your Pet, See a Vet” and the College PR Sports Marketing campaign, which placed animal-themed videos in college sports venues during games across the state. These helped NCVMA gain national recognition, both with the American Veterinary Medical Association and with the Veterinary Medical Association Executives.

Claire believed that relationships were best developed in person, and you could find her at nearly every NCVMA event during her tenure. She strengthened NCVMA’s relationship with NC State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, working with four different deans of the College. She helped initiate multiple sponsorships for the students, including buying coats for the White Coat Ceremony for veterinary students, sponsoring Oath & Hooding for graduating students, lunch meetings to help students learn about organized veterinary medicine, the Cowabunga trip to help the next generation of food animal veterinarians gain valuable exposure to cattle facilities, and even food during exam weeks to keep the students fueled. She worked with multiple Executive Boards to start scholarships for veterinary technology students at each college offering degrees in North Carolina. Claire started NCVMA’s Industry Council, bringing in companies as valued partners with NCVMA, and starting District Meetings throughout the state for veterinarians to build relationships and earn continuing education. Under her guidance, NCVMA volunteer veterinarians expanded the association’s continuing education offerings to add Practice Management Seminars, the Large Animal Symposium, and Destination Education offerings in addition to rotating the Summer Conference to various locations. She also negotiated the North Carolina Veterinary Conference’s move to the then-new Raleigh Convention Center, allowing unprecedented growth of this conference.

One of Claire’s passions was legislative affairs – she graduated from the College of Charleston with degrees in Business and Political science. She was more passionate about veterinary medicine than most veterinarians and fiercely protected our profession. She was a tireless advocate of protecting and advancing veterinary medicine through strong relationships with legislators and allied professional groups. She developed Veterinarian’s Day at the Capitol, allowing veterinarians to see our state legislative process in action and to meet with legislators. Through her previous work experience, she knew that legislated professions such as veterinary medicine must have a strong presence in the legislature to protect our small businesses and veterinary practice act from outside interests. No one understands veterinary medicine like other veterinarians, and Claire tirelessly advocated for our voice to be heard by legislators. As part of those efforts, she hired an excellent lobbyist for non-profit organizations, and collaborated with him to identify and address bills that would impact our profession. She put a spotlight on NCVMA’s PAC, growing contributions both in dollars raised and members contributing through yearly campaigns highlighting issues that NCVMA worked to address and resolve. One of NCVMA’s most significant wins in the legislature was avoiding taxation on veterinary services in North Carolina – there were significant hurdles in getting veterinarians excluded from this bill that primarily targeted service providers. But she led efforts to help legislators understand that we truly are a healthcare profession and protect public health for people as well as animals.

The cause closest to her heart was helping animals in need. Under her guidance, NCVMA’s Board of Directors expanded giving to animal welfare organizations throughout the state. These include District grants, sponsored by Friends of the NCVMA, that each district representative awards to a deserving organization in their district each year. These awards have grown from $500, now up to $1000. Claire started the Helping Hands grants, which every member has access to, giving needy clients up to $500 for the care of their pets.  Also included are grants from NCVMA’s Animal Welfare committee, to help organizations bring their facilities into compliance with rules by the NCDA&CS Animal Welfare Section for housing animals. She also spearheaded the High Five grants, where organizations throughout the state could apply for $5K grants to develop educational programs for animal care and welfare. These grants are awarded to organizations that have direct involvement from NCVMA member veterinarians and represent the wide diversity of veterinary medicine. In recent years, NCVMA added Disaster Grants, so that practices of member veterinarians affected by natural disaster could get back on their feet faster, to get back to doing what we all love – helping the animals of North Carolina. Claire adopted multiple dogs from rescue organizations in North Carolina – often boxer mixes – and loved supporting rescue efforts.

But all these accolades and accomplishments pale in comparison to meeting Claire – she loved meeting veterinarians and others in our industry. She had a unique skill set to be able to meet someone, get their life story, and connect with them in a brief period of time. She believed that our relationships were the strength of the organization. At any conference or meeting, you could find her at the check-in desk or Exhibit Hall, talking and getting to know members. She could identify unique skills sets in members – whether it be in speaking, arranging CE meetings, developing membership, legislative affairs, and others – and encouraging members to get involved. During trips for AVMA conferences, she introduced many of us to the wonders of Nordstrom in Chicago and enjoyed setting up dinners for all the NC attendees to get together even when we were far from home. We all learned how to make personal pitches for PAC donations at District meetings – and the proof was in the results, where the personal stories and message resulted in four-figure PAC donation totals. Members were often stunned to see Claire remember their name and personal details at subsequent meetings – but she genuinely believed that these relationships made NCVMA stronger. The focus on relationships has enriched the lives of all those of us that she interacted with, especially with so many veterinarians being introverts by nature.

Claire impacted many of our lives personally in ways we could never repay. She was fierce. She had grace. A stickler for accuracy, nothing was sent from the NCVMA office that wasn’t proofread by her. She had a way of complimenting others – whether it was hair, makeup, clothes, or just your positive attitude that day that made you feel like you were doing something right and could accomplish anything. She loved shopping at Nordstrom, drinking good wine at great restaurants, spending time with her dogs (most recently Chip, her rescue hound), and bouncing ideas back and forth for innovative programs for NCVMA. She was a passionate Clemson Tiger and NC State fan.

We will miss her laugh and her smile, and her celebrations in our accomplishments.

Details regarding her memorial service will be announced later. Tributes may be made by commenting on this article. Photos may be uploaded here.