I’m excited to announce three leadership updates at Pet Resort Hospitality Group to support our continued growth as the top pet services provider in the country. Since our inception, we’ve talked about how we want to help build careers for pet care professionals. The promotion of these key internal team members demonstrates our commitment to growing leaders inside of PRHG and building an organization dedicated to servant leadership in pursuit of unreasonable hospitality.
Laura Koch is stepping into the role of Vice President of Operations – West, supporting operations for Western resorts.
Michael Mayleben is stepping into the role of Vice President of Operations – East, supporting operations for Eastern resorts.
Taylor Wallace is stepping into the role of Chief Operating Officer, supporting resort and business operations across PRHG while continuing to lead marketing.
Pet Resort Hospitality Group formed out of a unique set of circumstances, where several resorts joined a new platform in the fall of 2023. I joined shortly thereafter and was incredibly impressed with the leadership team we had across our existing businesses. Laura and Mike each have decades of pet service experience, and Taylor has been supporting the operational growth and development of various businesses since he was a teenager. As Trivest and I looked to fill out our management team, Laura, Mike, and Taylor all expressed interest in serving broader roles across the platform. Over the last several months, they’ve stepped up to help many of the other resorts across operations and marketing, and we’re thrilled to have their continued support in these larger roles.
Laura joined PRHG as part of the partnership with Meadowlake Pet Resort where she has been the Executive Manager since the resort opened in 2009. She oversaw the growth of Meadowlake from one new resort to two locations and $5M of revenue in one of the most competitive markets for pet resorts, all while building a staff of over 120. She has also helped navigate a successful partnership at PRHG, where she’s been an operational leader from day one.
Laura has had a passion for animals since she was a child. She has decades of animal and pet care experience, having worked in animal shelters, pet stores, and as a zookeeper. She’s cared for everything from dogs and cats to monkeys, sea lions and elephants, and one of Laura’s biggest passions is helping others to develop a respect for all creatures and their place in our ecosystem. She’s an incredible example of how you can turn your passion into a rewarding career and work your way up to a leadership role at PRHG.
Mike joined PRHG as one of the founders of Paws ‘n’ Rec. From his first conversations with PRHG and Trivest, Mike made it clear that the most important things to him were maintaining a fun culture of service and providing an incredible customer experience for humans and their pets. He partnered Paws ‘n’ Rec with PRHG because he felt the support provided from PRHG could help scale Paws ‘n’ Rec, and he could take his operational expertise and share it with other owners and operators across the country.
Prior to founding Paws ‘n’ Rec, Mike spent nearly a decade working at Camp Bow Wow. He started scooping poop as an hourly employee, and quickly advanced to running one of the most profitable Camp Bow Wows in the country. He has a wealth of experience within a larger corporation like Camp Bow Wow that will be invaluable as we build out our operational processes and procedures. At Paws ‘n’ Rec, he’s integrated and grow independent resorts, taking a single location with $750k in revenue into a four-unit business with $5M+ in revenue in just four years. Mike personifies what is possible for our teams: with hard work and dedication, you can move from the play yards to the boardroom.
Taylor also joined PRHG as one of the founders of Paws ‘n’ Rec. In partnership with Mike, he led the acquisition and integration of three independent pet resorts and built one of the leading pet service providers in the southeast. He partnered with PRHG because he wanted the opportunity to support a large, well-capitalized business that sought to change the pet services business long term.
Prior to his work in pet services, Taylor spent 10+ years as an entrepreneur building, managing, and fundraising for technology startups. He’s personally led acquisitions and sales of several businesses and worked with over 100 startup companies, similar in size and scale to PRHG, to build out marketing and operations teams. Paws ‘n’ Rec was his first foray into pet services, but he quickly applied his marketing and operational expertise to rapidly 7X the initial investment into Paws ‘n’ Rec in three years. We’re thrilled to have that expertise now supporting us at PRHG in a bigger way.
This newly formed operations team will be focused on supporting all our resorts, owners, operators, and staff as we continue to grow. We have big plans for the next few years, including adding more partners and expanding our footprint with new locations in various markets. Laura, Mike, and Taylor have my trust and respect, and I’m thrilled to see how you all collaborate with them to make PRHG the best pet operating company in the world.
Sincerely,
Jason Duffy
CEO, Pet Resort Hospitality Group
