Forty Under 40: Patrick Pilkington

by Talk Business & Politics ([email protected]) 216 views 

Patrick Pilkington, 36, said his greatest achievement is being anything but a traditional veterinarian.

The Durham, N.C., native earned his veterinary medicine doctorate from North Carolina State University in 1994, and earned a 1995 avian medicine master’s degree from the University of Georgia. Pilkington earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1990.

Before joining Tyson in 1996, Pilkington was employed as a technical services veterinarian for Hubbard Farms Inc. in North Carolina. He holds a veterinary license in three states.

In 2002, Pilkington was promoted from field veterinarian to his current position.

He said he learned a lot from his late father, a Duke University engineering professor.

“It was his commitment to excellence in all phases of his life,” Pilkington said.

Pilkington is a board certified American College of Poultry veterinarian. He is chairman of the Growout Committee for the National Chicken Council and a member of the Poultry Health Advisory Committee of the Arkansas Poultry Federation.

Pilkington was chairman of the 2005 American Heart Association Heart Walk.