In this panel, you'll hear from three different DSOs, including Ken, and learn their approaches to researching and creating associate ownership plans, including successes and failures, best practices, and tips and advice for group-practice owners who are exploring their options or rolling out similar models.

Ken is the CEO and Founder of 150 + location North American Dental Group (NADG), one the premier DSOs in the industry. He has helped build the organization to become one of the leading Dental service Organizations in the US. As a panelist, Ken will cover NADG’s innovative growth model, what has been successful and what they have learned in their growth journey to 150+ locations. Ken will offer input on NADG’s model including how they look at partnering and purchasing emerging dental groups, what their acquisition process is like, how they find groups to partner with or acquire, and more. 

In this panel, Tarek joins Ken to share his approach to answering these questions: How do we attract and retain the best associate talent? Is it essential, if not mandatory, to offer associate ownership?

Tarek Aly is Co-founder and COO of OrthoDent Management with 11 locations and Co-Owner of Modern Smiles with 6 locations. He is experienced with periodontal and orthodontic model ownership. Tarek will discuss the associate ownership model, what’s worked and what hasn’t and what he sees for future of  the employee dentist vs. associate dentist ownership model.

Merritt rounds out this panel offering a unique approach to associate ownership plans. As CEO of Rock Dental Brands, Merritt has overseen their growth through acquisitions and de novo clinics from 2 locations in 2012 to 74 locations in 2018.

He will share how Rock Dental Brands accomplished its growth through a progressive partnership model that allows dentists and dental specialists to focus solely on patient care while the Rock Dental team provides all the centralized practice management services and back-end support. As a panelist, Merritt will share what makes their associate ownership model successful, why it helped them grow quickly and the best practices learned. 

Dr. Janash will host this panel and also offer his insight on the most common issues and decisions growing groups face, including: the biggest challenges getting through the first few locations; current obstacles; and future hurdles when growing a dental group.

In 2011 Dr. Janash, founded Underbite Management, a New York City-based DSO, dental management group. Through this role he shares his experience of owning 5 locations. Underbite offers a comprehensive slate of services and solutions designed to protect practices from the seismic shifts happening in the dental industry.

Dr. Adelberg also joins this panel and brings his experience with growing a 4 location pediatric dentistry practice. He will share the unique growth opportunities and challenges he faces in owning and growing a multi-location specialty practice. Come prepared to learn what pitfalls you should avoid when growing your specialty group practice.

Dr. Adelberg founded and owns Adelberg Montalvan Pediatric Dental, PC with 4 locations outside New York City. He received his dental education from the University of Buffalo and completed a two-year residency in pediatric dentistry at Montefiore Medical Center, the hospital for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He often lectures to mommy-and-me groups, pre-schools, and kindergarten classes, introducing the fun of dentistry to many 3- to 6-year-olds.

Dr. Lori Noga brings her experience of growing from 1 to 3 locations to this panel. As an owner of 3 locations with unique spa-like environments, she will share the daily challenges she faces, with her teams and business to execute this model. Dr. Noga will offer the strategies she's learned along the way to successfully build her group as well as the tough lessons learned.

Dr. Noga is Founder & CEO of Tranquility Dental Wellness with 3 locations in the Tacoma, WA area, offering a contemporary spa-like environment for patients. Her treatment philosophy encompasses health, function, and beauty.

Scott Guest rounds out this panel, bringing operational knowledge to share. Scott is COO of New Horizons Dental Practice Management, a DSO which currently manages 9 practices and growing. Coming from a business perspective, Scott will share the the biggest challenges he’s observed as practices grow through the first few locations and pass the insights he's gleaned on to you.

Scott co-founded New Horizons Dental Practice Management in 2013 and is responsible for overseeing all the day-to-day operations, including instilling the discipline of utilizing data and key performance indicators into all aspects of the business.

And...Featuring Special Guest Emcee: 
Emmet Scott, CEO, Community Dental Partners 

Emmet is CEO and co-founder of Community Dental Partners, and Smile Magic Dentistry and Braces – a Chucky Cheese like dental practice for kids. Community Dental Partners based out of Denton, TX has 20 locations with 50 associates- primarily pedo with some GP- both Urban and Rural locations. They have PE backing and are in the process of integrating Ortho into all of their locations.

Before building Smile Magic, Emmet started in the financial planning industry where he built and sold two financial planning firms one in Houston, TX and the other in Las Vegas, NV. He then launched his own radio show from Las Vegas called “The Entrepreneur Life™” and established a consulting firm branded “Entrepreneur Advisors™.