Herman Haenert at church breakfast

Herm Haenert speaks to men’s breakfast group.

Herm Haenert speaks to men’s breakfast group.

David Stanard

Inventor, entrepreneur, businessman and SaddleBrooke resident Herman “Herm” Haenert was the featured speaker at the March 4 Resurrection Church Men’s Breakfast. A brilliant and engaging fellow with a mind that’s always working, Herman was born and raised in East Germany. He, his brother and their heroic parents, in a story worthy of Hollywood, managed to escape, migrating to this country in 1953 when Herman was fourteen. The family settled in Scales Mound, Illinois where Herman graduated from high school in 1957. It was during those years that he and Judy Breed, another student one year his junior, noticed some mutual chemistry. They married in 1959, one year before Herman graduated from the Rockford Business College.

For nearly 50 years Herman has been a significant player in the animal health industry. He started his first business, Wholesale Veterinary Supply in Rockford, Illinois in 1971. The next 12 years a number of associated companies were started and all were sold to ConAgra in 1984. Herman then did a stint at ConAgra but in 1992, the same year he and Judy moved to SaddleBrooke, he became affiliated with Agri Laboratories in St. Joseph, Missouri, an animal health marketing and sales company, where he served as Vice-President for Business Development. In recent years Herman has devoted his energy to his own animal health consulting firm, Netvetsupply, and is currently involved in eight projects. He’s still at the top of his game and as perhaps the key international “Go To Guy” in his field, be it help with research and development/licensing of new animal health technologies, marketing advice or putting entrepreneurs in contact with capital, let there be no doubt, Herman is the man to see.

His Men’s Breakfast talk, The Strip—A Significant Breakthrough in Drug Delivery for Humans and Animals, addressed one of Herman’s current projects which apply thin strip technology to the dental and oral health of animals. The strip, similar to the breath strips we all know, is inserted inside the mouth or on the gum of the animal. There it dissolves in 10 to 15 seconds, going directly into the blood stream. Herman’s specific application, a product he calls “Plaque Re-Lease,” addresses the problems of plaque and tartar in cats and dogs and should be available through veterinarians and commercially sometime this summer.

The Men’s Breakfasts are held at the Resurrection Church main campus in Oro Valley on the first Saturday of the month, October through May. They begin at 7:30 a.m. and provide fellowship as well as the opportunity to hear a presentation on a topic of interest.

Resurrection Church holds its all-denominational Sunday worship service(s) in the Vermilion Room at the HOA 1 Clubhouse. April 16, Easter Sunday, there will be no SaddleBrooke services. A bus will transport residents to the 9:15 a.m. service at the main campus in Oro Valley. Starting Sunday, April 23, Resurrection Church will begin its summer schedule with one service at 10:00 a.m. All are welcome.