Source: Pet Food Processing / Sosland Publishing Co.

SANTA ROSA, CALIF. — Thanks to the years spent serving the rendering industry in the early part of her career, Heather Davis gained a unique perspective on ingredient sourcing, food production and the broader supply chain that supports both human and pet nutrition. Along the way, she developed a passion for educating others about the science behind pet food, particularly the important role of rendered ingredients and sustainable production practices.

Today, as marketing manager for Blentech Corporation, she works at the intersection of technology, sustainability and industry outreach, helping connect complex manufacturing solutions with the people and businesses that rely on them.

“I tell people a lot that my job is to tell fun stories about meat byproducts and stainless steel, which is true, but the reality behind that is that I am a communicator and an educator, and storytelling is one of the ways to do that,” she said.

In this Q&A, Davis reflects on her unlikely path into the pet industry, the communication challenges that have shaped her career, and the accomplishment she values most: building trust and connecting people with the expertise they need.

PFP: How did you get your start in the pet industry, and how did that experience lead you to where you are now?

Davis: My start in the pet industry was a total surprise to everybody. I used to work in live entertainment — circuses, music, theater — and I bartended to pay the bills in between because gig work is unreliable. I also volunteered for an animal shelter. When I decided I wanted a little bit more stability, I went back to school to Iowa State to study Environmental Science. While I was there, a friend of mine, who was a meat scientist, told me there was an opening at the North American Renderers Association (NARA) for a membership coordinator and encouraged me to apply. I said, “Yeah sure, the meat byproducts people, they’re really going to want to hire the circus girl from Iowa, as opposed to all of the perfectly qualified candidates in DC.” It turns out they did want the circus girl from Iowa.

I didn’t know at the time — which I think is pretty common for people who didn’t grow up around rendering — how many products rendered ingredients get used in. It’s really fascinating. I will be a lifelong rendering advocate. One of the things that really surprised me is how involved they are in the pet food industry, because meat byproducts are readily used in pet food. There’s a bias against them for some consumers, but both the proteins and the fats are pretty critical in pet food.

While I was at NARA, I got involved with the Pet Food Alliance, since it was developed and funded by NARA and the Fats and Proteins Research Foundation. I also participated in pet food events at the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), and learned a lot about how pet food markets affect renderers from a business perspective.

From there I moved over to the Food Production Solutions Association (FPSA), and focused less on research and lobbying, and more on business on the human food side. It was there that I met my current employer, Blentech, an equipment manufacturer that supplies both the human food and pet food industries. For Blentech, I focus on marketing and industry outreach. It was an interesting path to get into pet food, but I’m delighted that I’ve been able to stay peripheral to it throughout my career because I’ve always been a big pet person.

PFP: What has been your biggest challenge — personal or professional — related to your work in the pet industry?

Davis: I tell people a lot that my job is to tell fun stories about meat byproducts and stainless steel, which is true, but the reality behind that is that I am a communicator and an educator, and storytelling is one of the ways to do that. The hardest part is figuring out why people want the information they’re asking for. Tailoring the information appropriately is crucial.

We all want to answer questions like, “How do I make sure my pet food is safe?” But it’s important to know what the driving force is behind that question. The answer to “How do I make my pet food safe?” is wildly different if you’re talking to a consumer, or if you’re talking to somebody in food safety, quality assurance (FSQA). Or if you’re talking to somebody in engineering versus somebody who’s working on marketing, product development or R&D. There will be very different answers to the same question. So, if you only listen to the question, you’re not going to be able to help people. It took me a while to figure out how to get to the motivation behind the questions. That was a challenge. Many times, I found myself answering the wrong question, and that is not an effective way to communicate.

PFP: Tell me about a professional accomplishment in the pet industry that you are proud of.

Davis: I like to say I’m an excellent supporting character. I know a lot of absolute geniuses. It’s not unusual for me to be the only person in the room who is not an engineer or who doesn’t have two to five PhDs to my name. Those people are really doing amazing, interesting, creative work. What I’m best at is being a good bridge between those experts and consumers.

I’ve done a lot of organizing events, volunteering on committees, and adopting people’s interns at big meetings to walk them around to introduce them to people they need to know. This is not the kind of accomplishment that you typically get a “crystal chicken” for at the end of your career, but I really appreciate that people trust me. They come to me because they know that if I don’t have the right answer, I will help them find the person who does. Having built that level of trust throughout my career has been an important accomplishment for me.

PFP: What is top of mind for you and/or your business in the industry right now?

Davis: Sustainable sourcing is always a big deal in pet food. You hear a lot about packaging because people get worried about trash, and that is an important concern. But we build machines at Blentech, so we worry more about: Are we wasting food? Are we wasting energy? Can we help save or reuse water? What’s the pathway for the manufacturer to get the most out of the ingredients they’re putting in their products? Sustainable sourcing impacts the whole food chain. It impacts how much people have to spend on their pets, how much they can afford to spend on them. If we can cut down those costs early in the process, we can help manufacturers, which helps pet food consumers in the long run.

And, as a California business, we’re fully solar powered. We’re big on environmental care in our company. That’s always going to be really critical to us, both as a company ethos and as something we can pass along to our customers.

Food safety is also always top of mind. We make stainless steel equipment, but not all stainless steel is the same. We try to help processors understand how their equipment can help or hurt their food safety processes. Helping customers understand the equipment they’re buying and how it can impact their production processes is really important to us.

“When we talk about sustainable ingredient sourcing, byproducts are so good for pets,” said Heather Davis, Blentech Corporation.

PFP: If you could pick three trends influencing the industry today, which are the most important and why?

Davis: We have been making machinery for pet food for a very long time, typically in the wet, canned pet food space, but human-grade premium is a significant market for us. The trend toward freeze-dried or raw has been really interesting to watch. That trend impacts us quite a bit, because we have capabilities in those markets, but the mixing and automation we offer may not be the priority for the companies currently making that food.

On the ingredient side, the war against byproducts makes me so sad. When we talk about sustainable ingredient sourcing, byproducts are so good for pets. They have a lot of trace minerals that can’t be found in muscle cuts of meat, and those ingredients are crucial in pet food. Many pay extra money to get those ingredients from another source. Byproducts exist because we eat meat, so using these byproducts is environmentally and economically friendly — they tend to be less expensive. Byproducts have other uses besides going into pet food, so it’s not the end of the world if they don’t end up in pet food, but the bias against byproducts is not founded in science or in a real understanding of ingredient manufacturing and that can affect sustainable sourcing.

The other trend is the shift away from dog households to cat households. That shift is really going to affect how the pet food industry works — what the priorities are, what the ingredients are, how people buy their pet food and how much people buy. Cats are very different pets than dogs with really different needs. So, making sure the market can meet the needs of cats the same way that’s always been done for dogs is going to become increasingly important. That’s really going to shift the conversations around what people need to make and how they need to make it.

PFP: What is something about the pet industry that people outside of the industry may not realize?

Davis: There’s an overwhelming amount of information about pet nutrition, and it’s hard to figure out who to trust. I think one of the things that people don’t necessarily realize is that pet food is made by scientists and nutritionists who really care about the pets that they’re eventually feeding. So, the distrust of pet food companies is really challenging to deal with. I wish people really understood pet food isn’t made by some random guy simply grinding up meat and drying it into kibble. It’s made by really well-educated people who really care about the product they’re putting on the market for pets. So, when manufacturers ask consumers, the pet parents, to trust them, it shouldn’t be as big of a leap of faith as some people think it is.

PFP: What advice would you give to other women in this industry?

Davis: Be curious — that always helps me. Learning new things is always great, but also be curious about people’s motivations and why they’re doing what they do. As a woman in the industry and as a woman who’s worked in a lot of very male-dominated industries, being curious about why people interact the way they do, or why they do or don’t offer me certain opportunities, has helped me understand better ways to communicate and, in the end, better ways to get the opportunities that I want. It’s important to be curious about what people want you to do and what you can do. And, when those things don’t align, finding out why they didn’t align. Figuring out those answers will get you a lot farther than waiting for opportunities to fall into your lap — or being angry when they don’t. The anger is often justified, but if you stay curious, you might find ways around the obstacles.

Heather Davis' dog Chupacabra (Churro).

PFP: Just for fun, do you consider yourself a dog person or a cat person? Or, if you have pets of your own, tell us a little bit about them. 

Davis: I’m an animal person, honestly, I grew up in rural Iowa. I’ve always had dogs, but we also had farm cats. I used to breed betta fish; I really love lizards; and I think snakes are cute. There are very few animals that I don’t like, but I’ve always owned dogs.

I have Chupacabra (A.K.A. Churro) right now — he’s part Chihuahua, part Shiba Inu, and 100% attitude, which is to be expected from those breeds. He’s a street dog that we adopted in DC, but he’s adjusted to a life of luxury and now demands nothing less.

Heather Davis is the marketing manager for Blentech Corporation. She started her pet industry career as the director of Operations and Member Relations for the North American Renderers Association and then worked as director of Business Development for the Food Production Solutions Association. She received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from Iowa State University.

Continue reading about other female leaders featured in our Women in the Pet Industry series.