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Welcome to our newest feature – DSO People! DSO People will share updates on DSO and dental group new hires, promotions and awards. If your DSO or dental group has new hires, promotions and/or awards you would like us to include in this monthly column, please see notes at the end of this article for submission details.
B.A. Deirmenjian DDS, Founder & CEO of Smiles West Dental Management, is Being Recognized by Continental Who’s Who
B.A. Deirmenjian DDS, is being recognized as a Top Dental Expert for his remarkable contributions in the field of medicine and acknowledgment for his professional excellence as a multi-specialty dentist in private practice.
As a distinguished board-certified general dentist, Dr. Deirmenjian has led a prolific career, having garnered 26 years of professional leadership experience. Before entering private practice, he served as dental director at Guards Dental, where he demonstrated strong leadership skills in operating over 40 locations. Subsequently, he established his own family dental private practices, Smile West, Desert Dental Group, and Ponderosa Dental Group.
Revered for his extensive leadership background, Dr. Deirmenjian is an expert at dental practice management with excellent DSO growth leadership skills. He is fluent in English, Armenian, Spanish, and French. He has extensive knowledge of dental procedures, diagnosis, and treatment. As a multi-specialist dentist, he is devoted to providing quality, rewarding, and compassionate care to every patient that visits his offices.
Dr. Deirmenjian has been voted #100 on the Inc.5000 series list of the Fastest-Growing Companies in California. He was also named one LA Business of the Year, best office by Insurance Companies, and one of the Emerging Dental Groups to Watch in 2020 by Group Dentistry Now.
Source: PRNewswire
Dental Whale Appoints New Leader Joe Cavaretta
With more than two decades of dental industry experience, Cavaretta left his position as Vice President of Sales for the U.S. dental business at Henry Schein to join the Dental Whale team as their president. While there, Cavaretta was responsible for the generation of over $2 billion in annual sales and led more than 2,000 team members. He made the leap from the industry giant to help Dental Whale reimagine the dental industry. At the end of 2019, Dental Whale supported more than 18,000 dentists. He succeeds David Lopez, founder of Dental Whale, who will now serve as vision leader and chairman of the board.
“Dental Whale was founded to reimagine the dental industry by creating breakthroughs in dental practice management through insight and innovation,” said Dental Whale Founder David Lopez. “Joe is an exceptional leader that knows how to build a team and get things done. He is also not afraid to challenge the status quo in the industry.”
Source: BusinessWire
Houmam Ali joins Guardian Dentistry Partners as their new Senior Vice President of Operations
Ali, 37, joins Guardian after spending 10 years with ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers where he served as the youngest vice president and was a member of the company’s Leadership Team overseeing network operations. He was vital in leading ClearChoice’s significant expansion nationwide over the past decade. Founded in 2018 by a group of dentists, Guardian Dentistry Partners is an emerging Dental Partnership Network supporting dental entrepreneurs in Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.
“Guardian clearly recognizes that it takes a partnership model where high-performing cultures and unwavering values are paramount to be truly successful,” said Ali. “Guardian is very well positioned in partnering with dentists across the country who understand that, too.” Ali also noted that his new role with Guardian does not include “telling our doctors how to run their businesses.”
Source: Guardian Dentistry Partners
Kevin Gehrt is Guardian Dentistry Partners’ Senior Vice President of Human Resources
Gehrt, 48, brings a diverse scope of experience to his new role. He has held executive roles in companies throughout the world, ranging from Cardinal Health and Myers Industries to Hewlett-Packard and the NCR Corporation. The many skills he has honed over the years at major corporations are now being applied in his new position at Guardian.
“We’ve got a great group of people who are building a successful business,” said Gehrt. “I have many goals in my new role, including creating a strong, caring environment for our team
members and making sure our doctor partners are continually supported over time.” “With this type of environment,” added Gehrt, “our teams will become even more productive,
and our partnership network will deliver an exceptional experience for patients.”
Source: Guardian Dentistry Partners
Smile Partners USA Announces Sindy Goodman DDS, MS, MBA as New Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Goodman joins Smile Partners USA, which offers back-office resources and services to 29 independent private dental practices and boutique group practices throughout Michigan and Georgia, after 18 years with Great Expressions Dental Centers (GEDC). During her time a GEDC, she was a practicing dentist and the president and chief clinical officer of orthodontics and Invisalign, as well as the national orthodontic director.
During her time at GEDC, she developed and implemented operational and clinical protocol for traditional orthodontics and Invisalign. Responsible for P&L analysis, with revenue growth from $5M to $60M through organic growth and acquisition with smooth integration of process systems and culture, she trained and developed orthodontists and general dentists to clinical and operational excellence in different phases of their careers from residency to retirement. She has also certified over 500 dental providers with Invisalign, as part of Invisalign’s Faculty Bureau, producing annual revenue exceeding $30M.
Source: Linkedin
North American Dental Group Welcomes New Chief Information Officer
Blake will lead all information technology and information security efforts for the company and its more than 240 supported dental practices. He will also lead the company’s Business Intelligence team which provides data analysis tools and insights to enable informed business decisions. Prior to joining NADG, Blake held CIO positions at Optum Care and MedExpress. At Optum, he led information technology operations for seven health care delivery organizations within Optum’s east region, responsible for 351 IT resources covering more than eight million patients. At MedExpress, where he also served as the HIPAA Security Officer, Blake was responsible for strategic and innovative development solutions for 250 urgent care centers and 40 work-site clinics across 28 states and serving more than four million patients. He held prior roles at Aetna, Coventry Healthcare, Highmark Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Deloitte.
“Shawn’s track record as a results-oriented information technology leader is a welcomed asset at a most opportune time for North American Dental Group,” said NADG CEO Ken Cooper. “As our industry evolves and our company grows, Shawn will play a crucial role in assuring our technology infrastructure stays ahead of the curve.”
Source: North American Dental Group
Western Dental Promotes Patricia Himpelmann to Senior Vice President, Specialty Services
Himpelmann joined Western Dental in 2015 as Vice President of Soft Tissue Management, a role in which she developed a hygiene program and recruited and deployed nearly 150 hygienists across the company. She has also developed and launched key initiatives for dental implants and a variety of other oral health care products and services. Earlier in her career, Himpelmann launched and led a number of dental product and service initiatives at SmileCare and SmileBrands. Before that, she started and led a sales team at Orapharma to serve dental service organizations. Reporting to the Executive Vice President, Clinical Care, Himpelmann is expanding her role to include responsibility for operational support of all dental specialties, including oral surgery, periodontics, endodontics and pediatric dentistry.
“Patti is a determined and capable builder and leader who accomplishes whatever she sets out to do,” said Daniel D. Crowley, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Western Dental. “She has significantly expanded the capabilities of our organization to serve patient dental needs, and we are confident that she will bring her considerable skills and knowledge to growing and supporting our capabilities in specialty dentistry as well.”
Source: BusinessWire
Southern Orthodontic Partners Announces its New Director of Operations, Deanna Demma
Prior to Southern Orthodontic Partners, Demma spent four years at D4C Dental Brands, Inc. Her last role there was as director of practice development for the Orthodontics Division where she helped create and lead a new department to coordinate and manage integration of new practices into the business unit. Before that she was operations integration lead for D4C, leading the office integration of newly acquired practices and supporting the pre-close, closing and post-close cycle. She began with D4C as operations training manager/acquisition lead after spending eight years at Benevis as an orthodontic treatment coordinator and trainer.
Demma has a history of improving operational performance and facilitating revenue growth, with strong experience in practice management, training, process engineering and client service, practice mergers, acquisitions and integrations, including process development, back and front office operations and business development.
Source: Linkedin
Tim Gurske Promoted to Director Of Operations at Western Dental & Orthodontics
Gurske has been with Western Dental & Orthodontics since 2010. He started out as a corporate field trainer and later became their training manager. In his role as training manager, Gurske managed a team of six trainers, lead a company-wide roll-out of a new electronic charting system for over 300 offices over a one-year period, assisted with the design, layout, and implementation of a new learning management system for use across all areas of the company, partnered and collaborated across corporate departments with the on-boarding and hiring of over 1000 employees brought into the organization through multiple acquisitions across several states, developed training plans company-wide to increase revenue throughout the organization, and developed training materials.
Source: Western Dental & Orthodontics
Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners Hires Wendy Flanagan as Vice President of Operations: Orthodontics
Flanagan brings more than 24 years of dental operations experience to her role at Mid-Atlantic Dental. Prior to joining Mid-Atlantic Dental, she held multiple roles at Great Expressions Dental Centers, eventually becoming National Vice President of Team Operations in nine states, including Florida, Georgia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Ohio, Texas, New York and New Jersey. In this new role, Flanagan will plan, direct, coordinate and oversee operations in the orthodontics sector, ensuring development and implementation of efficient operations and cost-effective systems to meet current and future needs of Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners which currently has 200 practices in 17 states.
“With decades of experience in operations, Wendy is a highly motivated, driven and energetic professional that is dedicated to providing exceptional experiences to our clients,” said Mitchell Goldman, Chief Executive Officer of Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners. “Her leadership and commitment will ensure that our orthodontics team continues to provide the highest-quality dental care.”
Source: Mid-Atlantic Dental Partners
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.
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DSO People! New DSO And Dental Group Hires, Promotions & Awards – October 2020
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