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As the evolution of group dentistry continues to reshape the dental landscape, we consider the people who work in the DSO industry to be its most invaluable resource. Every month we provide a comprehensive list of new DSO hires, promotions and awards. April’s list is particularly exciting as nearly 70% of the list is women. This has never happened before and it’s wonderful to see:
North American Dental Group Recognizes Stacy Bono as their ‘Team Member of the Year’
Bono is a dental assistant at Sterling Dental in Sterling Heights, MI. She has a great way with patients, making them feel at ease with humor. She is on top of everything in the office and she is a go-getter. An approachable educator who trains new team members, Bono loves her work family who she said has showed her love that she has never before experienced in her life. In addition to the recognition, she won a brand-new Ford Escape. Watch her heart-warming and inspiring story here.
Mortenson Dental Partners has two personnel announcements:
Dr. Britt Bostick Named Chief Dental Officer of Mortenson Dental Partners
Dr. Britt Bostick has been promoted to the position of chief dental officer of Mortenson Dental Partners (MDP). Previously serving as executive vice president, Dr. Bostick’s new responsibilities include overseeing clinical strategy and practice operations to ensure consistent delivery of quality dental care and exceptional patient experiences. Dr. Bostick spent nearly three decades at the helm of Abbeville Dentistry, leading it from a single practice to 18 locations throughout the state of Texas. During his tenure with MDP, Dr. Bostick has been instrumental in the formulation of MDP’s operational strategies and is an advocate for helping providers achieve their full potential. One of his most significant accomplishments is MDP’s Top Doc program, a one-year development program designed to advance the career of a new dentist by five years using an interactive learning experience on topics like endodontics, oral surgery, cosmetics, sleep apnea and more. As chief dental officer, Dr. Bostick will continue to serve as a member of MDP’s executive leadership team.
William Engilman, DMD, MS, Named HEALTH CARE HERO by Biz Journals
Dr. Engilman has been an orthodontist for 20 years and the president and CIO for Mortenson Dental Partners for 13 years. He credited Dr. Wayne Mortenson, who is not only the founder of MDP but is also his father-in-law, as the most influential person in his life. Engilman is a firm believer in the 5 by 5 rule: Communicate 5 times by 5 different ways. During the COVID crisis, being nimble required great communications across the DSO’s 140 dental clinics in 11 states and 1800 employees. They used every medium available and created a standard communication plan. They delivered their message to the Group Dentistry Now audience in this podcast.
Heartland Dental has three personnel announcements:
Heartland Dental Welcomes Stacy DeWalt as New Chief Marketing Officer
As CMO of the nation’s largest DSO, DeWalt is responsible for revenue growth by leveraging marketing and business strategy to optimize internal processes and help propel the DSO into its next phase of growth. DeWalt joins the senior leadership team under the direction of Patrick Bauer, President and CEO. DeWalt brings to her new role more than 20 years of leadership experience spanning public and private equity environments in financial services, gaming, education, and technology services for brands including One Main Financial, Quicken Loans, and Isle of Capris Casinos.
Nichole Guthridge Promoted to Director, Treasury, Risk Management & Investor Relations at Heartland Dental
Guthridge started with the DSO nearly four years ago as the treasury & risk management analyst. She was quickly promoted to the department’s supervisor, then manager, and now director. Prior to join Heartland Dental in 2017, she worked for PNC, American General Finance, and American General Financial Services. With more than 1,400 supported dental offices in 38 states, Heartland Dental is experiencing phenomenal growth nationwide.
Marla Smith is Promoted to Director of Affiliation at Heartland Dental
Smith began with the DSO in August, 2019 as a practice transition representative. She then became the senior practice transition representative for AZ, CO, NM, TX, and WY. Prior to Heartland Dental, Smith worked as an integrations manager for Elite Dental Partners which is based in Chicago, Illinois.
Affordable Care Appoints Marybeth Hays, Former Walmart Senior Executive, to its Board of Directors
Hays brings more than 25 years of experience in retail, healthcare, and consumer goods to the Affordable Care board. For nearly a decade, she held various roles of increasing P&L responsibility at three of the four operating divisions of Walmart, including most recently as Executive Vice President of Consumables and Health & Wellness for Walmart U.S., and as Chief Merchandising, Marketing, and Supply Chain Officer for Walmart China. Prior to that, she served as Senior Vice President/General Merchandising Manager for two Walmart U.S. divisions and at Sam’s Club, as Merchandising Vice President at Lowe’s Companies, Inc., and held brand management roles as Vice President of Marketing at HanesBrands, Inc.
Bryan J. Goodluck, MBA has been appointed Director of Operations at Akeso Oral Surgery
Goodluck has a demonstrated history of successfully working in the dental & health care industry. He spent seven years with Affordable Care in operations roles focusing on NJ, PA, MD, and VA. Prior to that he was a territory manager at Zimmer Biomet, director of business development for Capitol Concierge, Inc. and a clinical sales consultant at CMJ Medical. Headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, Akeso Oral Surgery is a privately held support organization with six locations throughout Maryland.
Elite Dental Partners has two personnel announcements:
Trish S. Keena Joins Elite Dental Partners as Director of Dental Hygiene
Keena was most recently an Executive Account Manager at OraPharma, a specialty dental pharmaceutical division of Bausch Health US, LLC. She has also served as a professional educator for Waterpik, a columnist for RDH Magazine and an adjunct faculty member at Sanford Brown College, Skokie, IL, where she created and delivered a curriculum for non-traditional adult students interested in careers as certified dental assistants. Elite Dental Partners supports 104 locally branded dental office in 12 states from its headquarters in Chicago. Source: BusinessWire
Carrie Chriss Hofmaster is promoted to Director of Recruitment at Elite Dental Partners
In her new role, Hofmaster will lead the development and execution of comprehensive recruiting strategies to guarantee attracting and hiring the top talent. Prior to this promotion, Hofmaster spent almost three years as Elite’s recruitment manager where she was responsible for recruitment of dental assistants, office managers, front desk, hygienists, EFDAs and all Chicago Support Center needs (IT,HR, Accounting, Finance). She has also worked for Aspen Dental as a regional manager.
Guardian Dentistry Partners Names Robert Papenbrock VP of Finance
Papenbrock joins GDP from Citibank in Irvine, CA, where he served as Senior Vice President/Credit Group Head of the company’s Healthcare Specialty Group. At Citibank, Papenbrock helped lead the company’s very successful growth within its dental and medical service organizations and was instrumental for some $100 million in new business during 2019. Prior to Citibank, Papenbrock held leadership roles at Opus Bank, Bank of America and National City Bank. Featured on Group Dentistry Now’s “Emerging Dental Groups to Watch in 2020” list, Guardian Dental Parnters was founded in 2018 and has expanded rapidly. It now supports dental entrepreneurs in FL, MI, NJ, NC, PA, TX, and VA.
Kristy Wolter Joins DECA Dental Group as the Director of Revenue Cycle
Prior to joining the DECA team, Wolter worked as director of revenue cycle management and insurance/AR manager at DecisionOne Dental Partners. She started her dental career as an office manager in Itasca, Illinois. Texas-based DSO, DECA Dental was founded by Dr. Sulman Ahmed. It is the largest privately held dental company in the state of Texas. The company is rapidly growing and celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2018. It currently has more than 100 affiliated dental practices and operates 5 separate dental brands. DECA Dental’s support center is located in the Dallas, Texas.
Matthew Cordingley is joining Pacific Smiles Group as Chief Financial Officer
Cordingley is an experienced leader with extensive finance and commercial experience. Most recently, Cordingley was head of M&A at Healius Limited, a leading ASX listed healthcare company, where he was responsible for the company’s strategic business development, growth and capital raising activities. Pacific Smiles Group has 100 locations across Australia, operating under the Pacific Smiles Dental and nib Dental Care Centre brands.
Elaine Lata Olejnik, RDH, BS, as been Promoted to Director of Quality Assurance/Performance Improvement (QAPI) at Great Expressions Dental Centers
Olejnik has been with GEDC for 13 years. Most of her years with the DSO have been spent as a compliance officer. She began her dental career in 1990 as an RDH. She has been a Mission of Mercy volunteer with the Michigan Dental Association since 2018. The privately held DSO which is headquartered in Southfield, MI was founded in 1982 and now has 300 practices in nine states.
Janice Dombrowski, RDH, joins DentalOne Partners as Hygiene Director
Dombrowki began her dental career as a dental instructor at Sanford-Brown College in Dallas, TX. After that, she worked as the hygiene director Texas region for Great Expressions Dental Centers. DentalOne Partners is one of the nation’s largest DSOs, supporting more than 160 dental practices and doctors in 13 states. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the DSO is privately held.
Smile Brands Included on Comparably’s Best Operations Teams 2021 List
The list is based on sentiment ratings provided by current employees in operations departments who anonymously rated their employers on Comparably.com within the past 12 months. Nearly 20 different workplace culture categories were measured, from compensation, leadership, and co-workers to work-life balance, professional development opportunities, and perks and benefits. Overall, the 237 Smile Brands employees give their leadership a grade of A+, or Top 5% of similar size companies in the US. This includes specific ratings of their executive team, CEO, and manager. The majority believe the meetings at Smile Brands are effective, and the majority look forward to interacting with their coworkers. The majority of employees at Smile Brands believe the environment at Smile Brands is positive. Most Participants believe the pace of work at Smile Brands is comfortably fast. About 51% of the employees at Smile Brands work 8 hours or less, while 2% of them have an extremely long day – longer than twelve hours.
GDN’s DSO People
– New Hires, Promotions and Awards – Monthly
Please provide any new DSO or dental group hire, recent promotions or employee awards to Group Dentistry Now for consideration. Include a succinct summary of the new hire, person promoted or employee who won the award with award details. Also, provide a headshot or other picture of the individual or group to GDN as well. Email to info@groupdentistrynow.com.
GDN may ask for more information, and from time-to-time, may feature a story which could include an interview, etc. GDN reserves the right to refuse publication of any new hire, promotion or award for any reason.
Read more:
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – March 2021
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – February 2021
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – January 2021
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – December 2020
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – November 2020
DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – October 2020
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