12 Presenters
June 7-9, 2018
Phoenix, AZ

(360) 980-1437

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Speakers

The Emerging Future of Group Dentistry

Dr. Gordon Christensen

Dentistry in 2028 - What will it look like?
Gordon J. Christensen is Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Practical Clinical Courses (PCC), Chief Executive Officer of Clinicians Report Foundation (CR), and a Practicing Prosthodontist in Provo, Utah.
Gordon and Dr. Rella Christensen are co-founders of the non-profit CLINICIANS REPORT FOUNDATION (previously named CRA), which Rella directed for many years. Since 1976, they have conducted research in all areas of dentistry and published the findings to the profession in the well-known CRA Newsletter now called CLINICIANS REPORT.

Dentistry in 2028 - What Will It Look Like? 


Dr. Sulman Ahmed

The future of Emerging Groups and DSOs

Dr. Sulman Ahmed earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Texas, Dallas and his dental education and training from Tufts University School of Dental Medicine in Boston.

In 2008, Dr. Ahmed opened his first dental office and set out to create a truly patient centered model. His belief in putting patients first is the fundamental backbone in DECA Dental's core values and patient care delivery model. Ensuring adequate training for doctors, the very best materials being placed in the patient's mouth, weekend hours and multiple specialists working under one roof are just the beginning of his vision.

Under Dr. Ahmed's leadership DECA Dental has received many honors and awards. Some of the more notable ones are being recognized as Inc. Magazine's Top 5000 fastest growing companies in the nation.

The Future of Emerging Groups & DSO's 


Dr. John Snyder

The Future of Hospital Dentistry
Dr. John J. Snyder completed his dental education at Oregon Health & Science University School of Dentistry in 1986. After completing a General Practice Residency at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut, Dr. Snyder returned to Oregon and joined Permanente Dental Associates (PDA) in 1987. Since that time he has served PDA in multiple leadership roles and in 2008 he was elected by PDA Shareholders to serve as the Dental Director and Chief Executive Officer for Permanente Dental Associates. He is currently serving in his second term. He has remained a strong advocate for evidence-based dental practice, oral health research, and medical-dental integration throughout his career, and has enjoyed numerous national and international speaking  opportunities to share his passion for expanding total health and wellness.

The Future of Hospital Dentistry 


Dr. Alon Mozes

The Future of Robotics in Group Dentistry

Dr. Mozes has been working in computer graphics and image-guided applications in start-up companies for nearly 15 years. As a principal engineer and one of the first 20 employees at MAKO Surgical Corp., he helped develop the software for their ground-breaking Rio system for orthopedic robotic surgery.
Prior to MAKO Surgical Corp., he developed Emmy award-winning technology with Sportvision, Inc. in the area of real-time sports broadcast graphics. Dr. Mozes received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Miami and his B.S. and M.Eng. degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).


The Future of Robotics in Group Dentistry


Maria Melone

The Future of Practice Acquisition for Groups
Maria Melone is a results driven, team oriented leader with repeated success in developing strong relationships, directing due diligence teams and closing transactions. Extensive knowledge of the dental industry, and a proven ability to analyze markets, operations and growth opportunities. 

The Future of Practice Acquisition for Groups


Charles Jennings

The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry:
Surviving the AI Invasion
For over two decades, Charles Jennings has been a founder/builder of Internet companies, including Preview Systems, which had an IPO in 1999; and GeoTrust, which was acquired by Verisign. He is also a co-founder of TRUSTe, the Internet’s leading privacy assurance service; and Swan Island Networks, which provides security intelligence software and services used by 20% of the Fortune 100. Currently, Jennings is CEO of NeuralEye®--an emerging company that has exclusively licensed extensive Machine Learning IP and technology from CalTech/JP, focused on computer vision and recognition intelligence.

The Future of Artificial Intelligence in Dentistry: Surviving the AI Invasion 


Dr. Frank Catalanotto

Dental Therapists/Midlevel Providers
and the future of dental practice
Dr. Frank Catalanotto is currently a Professor in the Department of Community Dentistry and Behavioral Science at the UF College of Dentistry. He graduated from the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1968 and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in pediatric dentistry at Harvard School of Dental Medicine and Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston. He has been on the faculty of five dental schools including UFCD where he served as Dean from 1995-2002.
 Dr. Catalanotto is the co-author of more than 100 scientific publications. His academic and professional interests include community based dental education, ethics/social responsibility, oral health disparities and racial equity, advocacy for health care reform and access to dental care. In addition to the above topics, Dr. Catalanotto’ current advocacy efforts are focused on the new emerging oral workforce models.

Dental Therapists/Midlevel Providers and the Future of Dental Practice 


Dr. Andrea Shepperson

The future impact of advancing technology
 on DSO's and their dentists
Dr Andrea Shepperson is an internationally recognised clinician, thought leader and educator.  
Dr Shepperson is a Digital Smile Design Master and Instructor, leading New Zealand’s only accredited Digital Smile Design Clinic. Her office is part of New Zealand’s largest corporate dental group, Lumino The Dentists.
Dr Shepperson is also a Director of Lumino The Dentists, a subsidiary of NZX listed Abano Healthcare Ltd. She runs a two year mentoring programme for dentists - across Australia and New Zealand who are employed with Lumino The Dentists and Maven Dental Group, aligning practical, targeted best-practice concepts with diagnostic capability, communication skills and productivity.  

The Future Impact of Advancing Technology
On DSO's and Their Dentists 


Angela Baker

the future of bank financing for group dentistry
Angela Baker, MBA, is vice president of the Professional Practice Group at Village Bank & Trust, a Wintrust Community Bank. She has been working with dentists for over 15 years, helping them with financing for their practices.
She has a master's in business administration from Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois.

The Future of Bank Financing for Group Dentistry


Darius Somekhian

The future of specialty care in group practice

Darius Somekhian is a business development strategist who partners with travelling dental specialists, and helps grow their professional careers in dentistry, one dental office at a time.
He is the Co-Founder and CEO of Synergy Specialists, a support agency that teams up with travelling dental specialists to develop an in-house model for specialty. Synergy Specialists is the largest network of travelling dental specialists in the country contracted with over 40 active specialists, supporting 120 private dental practices and growing. Darius is also the founder of DDS Affiliates, a buying group for dental supplies that combines hundreds of independent private practitioners. He attended UCLA.


the future of specialty care
 in group practice 


Meet The 2018 DEO Summit Panelists


panel 1 - The Future of Capital Investors
& What They Are Looking For


Karan Garg

 DIRECTOR - HOULIHAN LOKEY

Karan Garg has thirteen-plus years of healthcare investment banking and private equity experience. He has closed more than 30 healthcare transactions, including buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions, as well as private financing and equity raise transactions for public and private companies. He is considered one of the premier professionals when it comes to understanding the equity side in group practice.


Dana Soper

CEO - Coredental Group

Dana is a proven healthcare executive with a track record of more than 25 years starting, acquiring, integrating and growing healthcare-related businesses. She co-founded CORDENTAL Group™ and is excited to build a world-class dental support organization based on the core values of respect, integrity, quality care, exceptional customer service, team-based achievement, and an appreciation for developing a unique company culture.


Geoffrey Ligibel

CEO - Gentle Dental of New England

More information coming soon.


panel 2 - Increasing Profitability In Your Dental Group


Ken Cooper

 ceo - North American Dental Group

Ken is the CEO and Founder of North American Dental Group. He has helped build the organization to become one of the leading Dental service organizations in the US. Ken served as a Senior Executive for nearly a decade in several joint ventures with Sony Music group, Universal Music and Publishing, and Atlantic Records. Ken started his career as an Investment advisor with Wheat First Butcher & Singer in Pittsburgh PA. He studied finance at Youngstown State University and successively acquired his Series 7, 63, & 65 investment advisor licensures. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the ADSO, and he also serves on several nonprofit boards such as the Mahoning County Mental health and addiction services, The Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley, and the Mahoning Valley Teen Challenge. 


Mitch Olan

Executive Chairman - Dental Care Alliance

Mr. Olan has been COO of Dental Care Alliance since 1994 and became Co-Chief Executive Officer in 2012. Including prior experience, Mr. Olan has 29 years of experience in the dental industry. Prior to joining DCA, he served as Regional Vice President at Option Care Incorporated, a publicly traded home infusion therapy business, and he served 10 years in various operational capacities at ORMCO, a division of Sybron Dannaher Corporation.

Mr. Olan received a BS in Business Administration from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University.


Margaret McGuckin

Co-Founder - I3 Ignite

More information coming soon.


Facilitators & moderators​

Jacob Puhl
CEO of DEO

For the past 5 years Jacob has grown Firegang Dental Marketing to one of the leading authorities on digital new patient attraction. He’s become well known in the dental space for his ability to identify the best cutting edge technologies for growing practices quickly through Google, Facebook, and other popular platforms. After spending near $2,000,000 advertising to new patients in the past few years, Jake will share his best takeaways and future outlook on attracting new patients.

Dr. Marc B. Cooper
President of DEO

As President of DEO Dr. Cooper’s principal commitments are in educating, developing and training dentist- entrepreneurs and senior executives of emerging or established managed group practices. His work is focused on strategies to succeed in the emerging future of dentistry, leadership development, senior executive development, corporate infrastructure development, and generating high performance cultures. Over the last six years Dr. Cooper has worked with dentist-entrepreneurs worldwide to generate highly successful managed group practices. Dr. Cooper is author of eight successful books; Mastering the Business of Practice, Partnerships in Dental Practice, Running on Empty, SOURCE, Valuocity, Valuocity II, Valuocity III, and The Elder. His electronic newsletter reaches thousands of subscribers in 31 countries. Dr. Cooper also co-developed a suite of online dental practice management assessment tools.

"The topics aren't just content. They are insight to the upcoming trends. Real preparation for impending choices you didn't know you were going to have to make."

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