For Nina Seib, leadership has always come naturally.
Long before she became an Area Director overseeing ten of our Vets Now clinics around the M25 corridor, she was taking charge in teenage jobs at coffee shops and stables. Something her family still joke about today.
Now, combining her emergency and critical care nursing background with leadership development opportunities, Nina is passionate about supporting teams, improving clinic culture and helping others progress in their careers.
We spoke to Nina about her ECC journey, leadership ambitions, balancing family life, and why supporting people remains the most rewarding part of her role.
Q: Have you always seen yourself in leadership roles?
Nina: Definitely. My mum says I’ve always been bossy, and now my daughter’s exactly the same!
Even when I worked in a coffee shop and at stables as a teenager, I naturally found myself organising things and helping manage the team. I really enjoyed having that responsibility and making things run well.
I’ve always known leadership was something I wanted to pursue.
Q: How did your veterinary nursing career begin?
Nina: I graduated from the Royal Veterinary College in 2015 and started working in a first opinion practice in Basingstoke.
I became head nurse fairly quickly, but I wanted more exposure to emergency cases and more opportunities to develop clinically, which is what brought me to Vets Now three years later.
When the opportunity came up to become a Principal Nurse Manager, it genuinely felt like my dream job because it combined ECC with leadership.
Q: What appealed to you about combining ECC and leadership?
Nina: For me, leadership is about making things better for people.
When you’re in a leadership role, you’re not just listening to concerns, you’re actually in a position to act on them and create change.
That’s what I enjoy most. I love the people side of the role and feeling like I’m helping teams succeed.
Q: Tell us about your current role as Area Director.
Nina: I oversee ten clinics across the M25 corridor, including Reading, Guildford, Milton Keynes and Sutton.
Although I work remotely from home in Hampshire, I’m regularly out visiting clinics because I think it’s really important to stay connected to the teams and to the clinical environment.
I’ll often end up taking bloods or scrubbing in to help with nursing while I’m there! I never want to lose touch with the clinical side of things.
As a director, I genuinely feel the best way to support people is by being part of the team alongside them.
Q: How important is sharing knowledge and best practice across clinics?
Nina: It’s a huge part of the role.
If one clinic is doing something really well, I want to help roll that out across the others. There’s so much value in sharing ideas and learning from each other.
Ultimately, I want all of our teams to feel supported and to be doing great things.
Q: You've completed several leadership and development programmes during your career. How valuable have those opportunities been?
Nina: Massive.
Vets Now supported me through my CertVN ECC qualification, which I later went on to tutor, and I’ve also worked as an OSCE examiner.
Most recently, I completed IVC Evidensia’s Artemis Emerging Leaders programme, which was an incredible experience.
Only a relatively small number of people across the wider network are selected each year, so I was really excited to be part of it.
We worked with leaders from across different countries and businesses, attended workshops and delivered presentations, mine focused on neurodiversity.
I learned so much from it, both professionally and personally.
Q: Do you think enough people realise the career opportunities available to veterinary nurses?
Nina: Probably not.
I think sometimes people assume there are only a few steps available within nursing careers, but there are actually so many different pathways if you want to explore them.
There are opportunities in leadership, education, mentoring, operations and so much more; not just within Vets Now, but across the wider IVC Evidensia family too.
So many doors can open if you’re willing to put yourself forward.
Q: You've also balanced career progression alongside becoming a mum. How important has flexibility been?
Nina: It’s been incredibly important.
I reduced and increased my hours as family life changed, and I felt really supported throughout both maternity leaves.
After my son was born, he needed open heart surgery at just four days old, which was obviously an extremely difficult time, especially with a 19-month-old daughter as well.
But I genuinely felt like everybody had their arms around me. I had the flexibility, understanding, and support I needed during that period.
A lot of the senior team have children too, so there’s a real understanding of how important that balance is.
Q: Have the leadership skills you've developed helped outside of work too?
Nina: Absolutely.
My partner and I recently launched a property business together, and I honestly don’t think I’d have had the confidence to do that without everything I’ve learned through my career.
From finance and organisation to communication and managing people, so many of those skills transfer into other areas of life.
The opportunities I’ve had have really helped me grow in confidence overall.
To find out more about career opportunities with us at Vets Now, visit our careers page
