Hillary Van Der Zee is a Board member with Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord U.S.
Hillary van der Zee is a proven strategic marketing and brand executive with over 18 years of global expertise in consumer messaging, brand positioning, and omnichannel marketing. With a deep-rooted passion for pets and the dedicated professionals who care for them, Hillary has made it her mission to create impactful solutions that improve the lives of animals and their caregivers. Her leadership spans industries such as pet healthcare, consumer goods, and the beer beverages industry, where she has successfully launched more than 250 consumer-facing products and driven long-range planning and innovation strategies.
Hillary’s experience includes leading marketing for multi-billion-dollar organizations, such as Thrive Pet Healthcare and the KONG Company, where she combined strategic vision with purpose-driven execution. In addition to her experience within the pet industry, she has led innovation on large scale brands at MillerCoors on the Coors Light brand while planting the seeds of growth for the now #2 craft brand in the United States, Blue Moon Brewing Company. No matter the lane of marketing service, she has championed messaging that connects with pet owners and consumers on a deeply emotional level, delivering measurable results while reinforcing the vital role that key brands and pets play in our lives.
As a dedicated volunteer, Hillary has contributed her expertise to community organizations including the United States Pony Club, Bayou Gulch Horse Trials, and the Food Bank of the Rockies. Should the opportunity arise, she would look forward to being able to use her abilities to inspire collaboration, lead with empathy, and activate transformative strategies positions as a contribution to the mission-driven work of Veterinarians Without Borders.
Register now for our upcoming World Rabies Day webinar which explores how One Health approaches are driving change, shares practical insights from the frontlines of rabies prevention, and highlights how local efforts are contributing to the global goal of ending human rabies deaths by 2030.
#VETSVolunteerVoices brings you stories of our passionate volunteers from the field. Meet Dayo Olaniyan, a Gender Advisor who spent three months in Ghana (May–August 2025) with our local partner, GAPNET, strengthening gender equity in livestock production and empowering rural communities.
In this edition of Ask an Expert, we connected with Dr. Richard Rusk, a public health physician and clinician who grew up in South Africa and is now based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. With expertise in the epidemiology of infectious and vector-borne diseases, he brings both human and animal clinical experience, along with a systems-level perspective, to addressing challenges facing communities in Canada and around the world.
