Founders

Matt Tompkins, DVM, BA, BS
Co-Founder, Ethos Veterinary Health
Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Tertium, LLC

Matt spent 29 years in the veterinary profession as a doctor, manager, owner and entrepreneur. He and his wife, Kristi, founded Premier Veterinary Group, an emergency and specialty practice in the Chicagoland area which grew to four locations and 125 staff members.  In 2015, they merged Premier with several other like-minded practices to form Ethos Veterinary Health.  Ethos became a leading national provider of veterinary specialty, emergency and general medicine, with over 2,000 team members.  Matt served as the Chief Growth Officer, overseeing company-wide marketing and mergers and acquisitions.  Under his tenure Ethos nearly doubled in size, growing from thirteen to 25 locations. As part of their founding mission, Ethos launched a non-profit scientific incubator called Ethos Discovery, which continues to explore and find novel diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for many of the most challenging clinical conditions.

Since retiring from the veterinary profession, Matt co-founded and is the managing partner at Tertium, a private real estate investment and development firm.  Tertium focuses on lifestyle-driven, community-centered projects in Dubuque and across the broader Midwest.  Their goal is to create environments which foster emotional connections and serve as backdrops for meaningful life experiences.

Matt has enjoyed engaging in the Dubuque community on a deeper level in the last several years.   He is passionate about helping young people learn, grow, and find and achieve their own passion in life.  He currently serves several local charities and not-for-profits, including:

• Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque (Board member)
• Greater Dubuque Impact Investment Fund (Board member)
• The Boys and Girls Club (Board member)
• MercyOne Hospital of Dubuque (Board Member)
• University of Dubuque (Board member)
• Northeast Iowa Council of Scouts America (Board member, Past president)
• Dubuque Senior Drama Boosters (Co-founder, board member)

Matt and Kristi were recently chosen as the ‘2024 Outstanding Individual Philanthropists’ by the Tri-State Chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.  Matt has a passion for strategic planning and visioning.  He has facilitated several not-for-profit Boards through the strategic planning process.  He also enjoys fundraising and telling the story of the organizations with which he is involved.

Matt is a 2021 graduate of UD, having gone back to school after retiring from veterinary medicine.  He earned degrees in Philosophy and Theater.  Matt is an avid thespian and has performed on stage in over twenty productions, in each of the region’s five community playhouses.  He also enjoys running, biking and philosophy.

Matt is a veteran and served in the Army National Guard and Reserve as an Infantry and Armor Officer for 23 years.  He was mobilized in 2005-2006 for sixteen months in support of Operations Desert Storm/Desert Shield.  He retired as a Major in 2008.