Tara B.G. Houser

Tara Houser is the woman “behind the curtain” at Macungie Animal Hospital, serving as the Practice and Business Manager. Tara’s expertise behind the scenes in operations, communication, customer service, negotiation, leadership and management allows the entire Macungie Animal Hospital team to provide outstanding care for pets and their owners.

Tara is a native of the Lehigh Valley. She is a 1992 graduate of Parkland High School—where she not only obtained a diploma, but also met the man who would become her husband, Jason.  Staying close to home in Pennsylvania, Tara attended St. Joseph’s University where she excelled as the captain of the SJU Women’s Rowing Team for both the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons. She went on to earn her Bachelor of Science in Accounting in 1996.

After beginning her career as a Staff Accountant with KPMG, LLP, love and marriage to an Air Force man took Tara out of Pennsylvania with tours in North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana and the Republic of South Korea. Tara continued to make good use of her accounting experience and education as a Financial Inventory Analyst for Coty, USA and a Business Analyst for Griffin, LLC.

With a dream of becoming a veterinarian, Tara began pursuing a BS in Biology from Valdosta State University while her husband was stationed at Moody AFB, in Georgia.  While studying she also sat on the board of directors of the Valdosta/Lowndes County Humane Society as the Treasurer & worked as a Veterinary Technician part-time at Veterinary Care in Valdosta, GA.  The birth of her beautiful daughter (Gwendolyn), followed by an Air Force tour overseas, and the day-to-day challenges of being a military family made continuing her education a challenge.

In 2006, fate brought Tara and her family back to the Lehigh Valley. But, although Tara was working as a very successful Accounting Manager for Clear Channel Interspace Airports, she still yearned to work with clients with fur. Thus she decided to pursue her passion for helping animals and put her skills to good use in veterinary medicine. Serving as a practice and business manager allows Tara to combine her love of animals with her business management experience.

Outside of her passion to make life easier for animals and the people who love them, Tara enjoys reading, quilting, wine tasting, travel, watching her daughter compete in swimming and gymnastics, and just spending time with her family—which includes her sixteen-year-old cat, Christi, ten-year-old Great Dane, Indigo, 7-year old wonder mutt, Madgey, and the newest addition, Polly, an 8 month old kitten adopted from Macungie Animal Hospital.