DEO Partners

Jacob Puhl is passionate about establishing thriving dental organizations by building executive teams, executive leadership, culture, operational systems, recruiting, retention, and financial structures.

As a current partner and CEO of the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization (DEO), Jake works with dental companies of all sizes, and turns them from fragile practices to thriving organizations by creating best-in-class training programs and curating elite networking communities. Jake gives dental company leaders the resources and support they need to move from disjointed “dots on a map” to unified, thriving dental organizations by “Thinking like a CEO.”

Darin Acopan is a Partner and EVP of Sales at the Dentist Entrepreneur Organization. Before entering Dentistry, Darin leveraged his talent for business to help scale the Bowflex brand from $50M to $450M in annual revenues over an 8-year span.

Darin transitioned into the dental space in 2014 as the head of business development for Stratus Dental’s DSO division. In 2017, Darin signed on with the DEO as Partner and EVP of Sales, growing the membership from 20 to 300+ representing approximately 1,900 locations and $3 billion in combined annual revenues.

In his free time, Darin enjoys spending time with his family, listening to podcasts, and volunteering at the local humane society.

Dr. Eric J. Roman has lived the true Dentist Entrepreneur journey, fulfilling roles as a dentist, clinical director, founder, partner, CEO, coach, and consultant. He has no shortage of entertaining (and sometimes frightening) stories to tell about the two companies he built and “exited”, the most recent being CarolinasDentist, which he successfully exited as CEO in 2019.

After a few months of thoughtful time off to re-calibrate, Eric stepped back into the role of entrepreneur and visionary to establish a handful of companies in the dental industry and beyond. This included Traction for Dental (Dentistry’s only EOS Implementation focused solely on dental groups), joyFULL People (training for team culture and engagement), and a coaching company focused on dental executives. In the fall of 2021, these companies were acquired by the DEO to accelerate their shared vision to serve dental organizations. Eric is excited to continue sharing his energy and his experiences to help accelerate the transformation of our industry.

Josey is a DEO Partner and the Co-Founder of DEO MAP, the first business operating system built specifically for growing dental companies.

An RDH, with 15+ years of experience, she has held many executive roles including COO of a rapid-growth, multi-location dental group. With 10k direct coaching and facilitation hours, she is a sought-after expert and speaker.

Having spearheaded DEO MAP,’s creation Josey is leading its charge, with big impacts on the dental groups that implement it – higher staff retention, aligned operations, lean systems, and more all resulting in happy healthy teams, increased profitability, and growth. Many dental entrepreneurs are already singing DEO MAP’s praises and with more using it every day, Josey believes it can revolutionize the industry.

Emmet is a dental industry disrupter, entrepreneur, and co-founder of Community Dental Partners (CDP), and Partner at the DEO. An engaging and celebrated leader, he is dedicated to changing the way the dental industry runs from the inside out!

Emmet is President of the Association of Dental Support Organizations; founder and host of the popular DSO Secrets podcast; and author of the #1 Amazon Bestselling book “DSO Secrets: The Ultimate Guide To Building Your Dental Empire”.

Emmet’s work in the dental industry began in 2010. He co-founded CDP in 2012 and has helped it grow from 1 to 90 dental partner practices and growing.

Ken Kaufman is the President & CFO of Nuvia Dental Implant Centers with locations around the United States. He was formerly the CFO of Community Dental Partners with 80 supported locations. Ken has been in dental finance for over 16 years. In part because of his leadership, Ken has helped many companies 3 to 10x their size. He regularly hosts episodes on financial-related topics for the DSO Secrets podcast.

When Ken talks about DSO finance, you don’t want to miss it. Listen to Ken on the Dental Finance Forum – A monthly meeting for finance-minded Dental Entrepreneurs to learn how to bring your financial growth to the next level.