Dr. Rick Workman is the founder and executive chairman of Heartland Dental, a DSO based in Effingham, Illinois, with 1,000 offices and 1,600 dentists nationwide. After seeing the need in his community, Dr. Workman opened his second office within one year of opening the first, followed quickly by a third office: Heartland Dental was born.

Dr. Workman spearheaded the success of Heartland by viewing its dentists as customers. Heartland’s philosophy is: Take care of dentists, set them up for success, and surround them with opportunities for success. They also prioritize taking care of their patients, which creates more demand for both new and experienced dentists. Dr. Workman will share how he guided Heartland to focus on these strategies:
•  Recruit highly successful, experienced dentists
•  Mentor dentists just out of dental school, teaching them the practices of experienced dentists
•  Provide ample opportunities for continuing education; make developing leadership skills just as important as honing technical skills
•  Prioritize the economic security of dentists

For six years, Eric Roman was the CEO and co-founder of CarolinasDentist — a six-location DSO — where he provided the company’s vision and day-to-day executive-leader development. Eric will share his journey as CEO of CarolinasDentist and its growth story, including:
•  Struggles, low points, highlights, and successes along the journey
•  Advice for groups and DSOs looking to speed up growth by tapping the capital of outside investors
•  Lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid while scaling quickly, with tips geared toward smaller DSOs
•  Challenges encountered when scaling startups, particularly when seeking financing

Ken Kaufman is CFO of Community Dental Partners, a 28-location DSO based out of Denton, TX. Serving in this position since 2016, Ken successfully led the financial management of this growing DSO. Ken will share the essential strategies for optimizing your DSO’s finances, as well as mistakes to avoid, including:
•  How to take a deep look at your DSO’s financials
•  Essential financial metrics and KPIs to evaluate
•  Financials of a “healthy” vs. an “‘unhealthy” DSO
•  Advice for the CFOs of DSOs that are just beginning to scale 

Steve Bilt is the CEO of Smile Brands Inc. and OneSmile, LLC. He co-founded Smile Brands and OneSmile, and in 2016 combined the two businesses (collectively “Smile Brands”). Steve has overseen more than 200 de novo practices at Smile Brands, and each of the OneSmile platform acquisitions. Smile Brands has been recognized as a Best Place to Work by Glassdoor in 2017 and 2018 (#23 in U.S. and #1 in multi-site healthcare).

Steve also serves as Chairman of the Smiles for Everyone Foundation. Additionally, Steve is a founding member, former president, and executive board member of the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO).

Steve’s successful career and volunteer leadership has been recognized with numerous entrepreneurship and leadership awards. Steve will share his story of success as a leader and provide a roadmap for DSO leaders striving to reach their leadership potential.

Cheryl Penava, VP of practice excellence at Mortenson Dental Partners, is an expert in operational best practices, learning and development, leadership development, and change management. Cheryl has a unique background of leadership experiences, having worked for several Fortune 500 companies: BellSouth Advertising & Publishing, Allstate Financial, and Humana.

Cheryl will share her passion for developing people so they can achieve operational excellence, resulting in outstanding patient care. She will share the essential keys for growing a successful team within your DSO:
•  Best practices for managing employees
•  Proven strategies to successfully onboard and train both new and existing employees
•  Ways to effectively build a positive company culture
•  How to get new employees excited about the company vision

Tarek Aly is co-founder and COO of OrthoDent Management, which has 11 locations, and co-owner of Modern Smiles, with six dental practice locations. He is experienced in pediatric dentistry and orthodontic model ownership. His expertise includes M&As, business valuation, human resource management, business operations, dental organizations management, and platform development and management of dental-support organizations.
Tarek will share the value and importance of establishing and tracking the right KPIs and metrics for your DSO’s success, including:
•  Looking at the KPIs of a thriving vs. a struggling DSO
•  Deceiving metrics to look out for
•  How to assess which metrics could be valuable for your DSO vs. those that yield little information
•  A list of essential KPIs that all DSOs should measure and track

A.J. Peak is CEO of Peak Dental Services, a 30-location DSO based out of Colorado Springs, CO. A.J. founded Peak Dental Services in 2008. Under A.J.’s leadership, the company has been recognized as one of Inc. Magazines Top 5000 fastest-growing companies.

Drawing from his experience as a leader of a rapidly growing DSO, A.J. will share the key strategies for building systems to successfully scale your DSO. He will focus on the importance of and methods for building solid systems for the following to ensure your DSO’s success :
•  Human resources
•  IT
•  Project management
•  Centralized financial management
•  Leadership and management alignment