OUR STAFF

Stephanie Baker-Oteri

Stephanie L. Baker-Oteri is one of the new owners of Crossroads Animal Clinic and is serving as Hospital Manager. She is very excited to bring her extensive retail and business management experience to the veterinary field. Stephanie is originally from a small country town in Southeastern Tennessee, and grew up surrounded by animals, including the hound dogs that her father raised. She is looking forward to meeting the Crossroads clients and getting to know their four-legged family members. Since moving to Atlanta in 2000, her own four-legged family has increased from six members to ten (four dogs, six cats). Her 7 year old tan Chihuahua, Phoebe, enjoys accompanying her “mother” to work and keeping her in line!

In her spare time, Stephanie enjoys collecting Beatles memorabilia, listening to music and watching movies. When she can, she enjoys returning home to Tennessee to visit with her father, her sister and especially her four beautiful grand nieces, ages 4 to 10.

She is also a huge University of Georgia Bulldogs football fan.
GO DAWGS! SIC ‘EM! WOOF WOOF WOOF!!

Linda Bendelius

Linda Bendelius is the Office Manager for Crossroads and is the most familiar face to those who frequent our clinic. Her established relationship with the clients and their “children” made the recent owner change go very smoothly. Linda has worked in the veterinary field for over 9 years, and has been a member of the Crossroads Animal Clinic family since 2004. She is the “mother” of two four-legged children, Trouble and Madison, as well as three of the two legged variety.

Tracy Smith, DVM

Although her face isn’t one that you’ll see very often, we’d also like to introduce you to Dr. Tracy Smith, because we consider her a member of the family. Dr. Smith previously worked with Dr. Oteri for nearly two years at another veterinary clinic in Suwanee, and will be working at Crossroads on a part time basis. She is a graduate of the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine and has lived in the Atlanta area for several years. Dr. Smith is originally from southern Illinois and went to high school with the man who is now her husband. The two have a beautiful 1 ½ year old daughter named Mallory, and 2 cats, Maya and Sammy. Their home is lacking a dog at the present time, but as Dr. Smith says, “as soon as Mallory starts requesting a puppy, we’ll probably get one.”

Her hobbies are reading (another Harry Potter fan) and exercising.

Susan Sheppard

Susan Sheppard is the Head Technician for Crossroads, and joined our family at the special invitation of Dr. Oteri, as the pair had previously worked together at another clinic in Roswell. Susan is a Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) and received her degree from the Bel-Rea Institute of Veterinary Technology in Denver, Colorado in 2001.

She is originally from Miami, but has lived in the Atlanta area for the last 5 years. Her professionalism, experience and interpersonal skills made Susan an obvious choice to lead the technician staff for Crossroads. Her four-legged family consists of two dogs, Sandy and Darby, and two cats, Sam and White Kitty. In her spare time (of which she has little) Susan enjoys hiking along the Chattahoochee River, visiting family in the North Carolina mountains and attending Georgia Tech football games with her boyfriend Mike.

Heather Downs

Heather Downs is a certified surgical technician who decided to switch to animal medicine in 2000. She worked for several years in Roswell with Dr. Oteri and Susan and then in Alpharetta with Susan. She was lured by Dr. Oteri to join the Crossroads Animal Clinic family because of her tremendous dedication, enthusiastic attitude and great love for all of the animals in her charge.

Heather has a 7 year old Chihuahua named Salsa and a 1 ½ year old hamster named Remy. In her spare time, Heather likes to exercise and run half marathons, and also enjoys going to movies. She finds that working at Crossroads with Dr. Oteri and Susan once again to be very rewarding.

By the way, she is a HUGE Green Bay Packers fan!

Zachary Weiler

Zachary Weiler is a member of our kennel staff and one of the newest members of the Crossroads family, recently returning to the Atlanta area after a year in California. He is a graduate of Peachtree Ridge High School, and he'll be starting classes this fall towards a degree in Veterinary Technology. Although working with so many animals is new to Zachary, he has shown that he has a natural aptitude for it. At home, he has “a feisty, friendly and very loving year old cat named Tiger.” In his spare time, Zachary likes to go out for dinner, go to movies, and hang out with friends.

Laura Nesbit

Laura Nesbit works in our kennel and has been a member of the Crossroads family for many years, beginning as a teenager in high school. She is now a college student who continues to work for us every other weekend. She has been invaluable in training kennel staff as they have come and gone over the years, but Laura has remained because of her love of the animals. She has a special way that she communicates and bonds with the four-legged members of the Crossroads family, and is our resident “whisperer”. By the way, Laura is Willie’s favorite human.

Willie

Willie, aka “One Eyed Willie” is the resident clinic cat and has been a member of the Crossroads family longer than anyone else, having arrived at the hospital shortly after it was opened in 1998. Requiring little more than a place to sleep, a litter box and food, Willie has given back far more to those who work at Crossroads. A purring friend, a soft head to scratch and an ever changing personality is more than any of us could ever ask for.