The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is often perceived as the guardian of a company’s finances, primarily focusing on numbers, budgets, and driving shareholder value. While these are fundamental aspects of their role, there are other critical traits that define an outstanding CFO, traits that go beyond financial acumen. These lesser-known characteristics are pivotal in navigating today’s complex business landscape and contribute to the success and resilience of a company, its senior team, and its employees.
Emotional Intelligence An outstanding CFO doesn’t just understand numbers; they understand people. Emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive, evaluate, and respond to one’s own emotions and the emotions of others, is vital in leadership. A CFO with high emotional intelligence can effectively manage team dynamics, creating a work environment that fosters productivity, creativity, and satisfaction. Their empathy allows for better investor and lender relations, as they communicate not just facts, but also confidence and company vision.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ability to empathize with what our team members were experiencing was critical. We made the principled decision to cover both employee and employer healthcare costs for our employees during an extremely challenging employment environment. Emotional intelligence in a CFO contributes to ethical decision-making, as they can better gauge the impact of their actions on various stakeholders and employees.
Strategic Foresight An exceptional CFO must possess strategic foresight – the essential ability to anticipate and prepare for future financial challenges and opportunities. This goes beyond understanding current market trends, but also predicting future ones, ensuring the company’s financial strategies are robust, adaptable, and anticipatory.
Strategic foresight can safeguard the company against volatile market shifts and guide it through economic downturns.
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Over the last two years, as inflation and interest rate increases were rampant, we reduced discretionary spending and postponed some hiring. Those anticipatory decisions were made to avoid potential layoffs and preserve cash reserves, should the economy head into recession. This foresight has served us well, and led to record top and bottom-line financial results.
Strategic foresight can also lay the groundwork for future results. For instance, by foreseeing the impact of digital transformation across industries and the advent of Open AI, we redirected our capital investments into areas where we can leverage those technologies, enabling the company to scale with personalized customer engagement, more real time operating intelligence with the same or fewer resources. This characteristic often remains in the background but is critical for sustainable growth and long-term financial health.
Technological Awareness In today’s digital age, a tech-savvy CFO is essential. The ability to understand and integrate a wide and broad range of technologies will elevate efficiency across nearly all aspects of finance operations, accounting, tax, and revenue operations. Manual repetitive tasks of yesteryear are now performed with the robotic and machine learning capabilities. Forecasts and budgets are regressed and analyzed using artificial intelligence for predictive analysis. Tax filings, registrations, licenses, and reporting are all fully integrated with source systems. A technologically adept CFO can streamline financial processes, reduce costs, and unlock new insights from financial data. A tech-forward approach can also foster innovation across the company, encouraging teams to think creatively about solving financial challenges.
Regulatory and Ethical Acumen CFOs are the stewards of not only a company’s financial health but also its ethical and regulatory standing. A deep understanding of the regulatory landscape and a strong commitment to ethics are crucial. This means navigating complex tax laws, financial regulations, and compliance issues with dexterity. An ethically grounded CFO ensures that the company’s financial practices not only meet legal requirements but also aligns with broader ethical standards, thereby safeguarding the company’s reputation and trustworthiness. Their role in ethical decision-making cannot be overstated. Think of the CFO as a barometer. Team members and executives constantly evaluate the CFO and their ethics in decision making as well as their ability to set the tone of compliance and ethics within the company.
In summary, the role of a CFO extends far beyond the traditional confines of financial management. Emotional intelligence, strategic foresight, technological savvy, and regulatory and ethical acumen are indispensable traits of an outstanding CFO. These qualities enable them to lead through the unknown with insight, integrity, and innovation. As the business world evolves, so does the critical role of the CFO, making these lesser-known characteristics increasingly important for a company’s success. Understanding and valuing these traits can help businesses identify and nurture CFOs who are not just financially proficient but are true leaders in their field.
Rahma Samow’s ascent to CEO of ClearChoice Management Services marks a historic achievement and paves a bright future for the dental healthcare industry.
Rahma Samow’s appointment as CEO of ClearChoice Management Services is a groundbreaking moment in the dental industry. Her ascent, marked by resilience and strategic acumen, is an inspiration to those working to be heard and placed in influential roles. As one of the first black women in such a role, Rahma’s journey reflects a shift in corporate leadership, highlighting the value of diverse perspectives to shape the future of healthcare.
What are you up to these days, Rahma? I am so proud to be serving as Chief Executive Officer of ClearChoice, a TAG company. We are the largest dental implant therapy provider in the United States specialized in fixed, full arch dental restorations with roughly 2,500 employees. At ClearChoice, we restore hope and confidence in our patients, and ultimately change the course of their lives. I have the privilege and responsibility of sustaining our industry-leading position, expanding into new markets, diversifying treatment services, and advancing the company’s vision as a beacon of hope for the edentulous and those with acute oral disease.
What drew you into the industry, and what motivates you to continue in this field? Having spent over 14 years with Siemens Healthineers, I gained valuable insights into advanced medical technology, digital health, and breakthrough innovations that save patients’ lives. However, what drew me to the dental industry, particularly my move to Straumann, was the opportunity to get closer to Healthcare consumerism. Straumann Group’s portfolio caters to both providers and consumers, resembling a portion of the healthcare retail business in many aspects—an aspect that intrigued me and expanded my horizons. It offered a unique proximity to the patient, allowing a deeper understanding of their complex needs and challenges. This closeness also enables a direct view of the impact our business has on their lives.
The struggles were profound, but the subsequent personal growth and accomplishments made every ounce of effort undeniably worthwhile.
Joining ClearChoice was motivated by its mission to be a Platform of Hope for edentulous patients and those suffering from acute oral disease. The transformative work carried out in ClearChoice centers across the country is not just changing lives but also restoring their confidence. I find immense reward in being part of an organization with such a meaningful mission, making it an incredibly fulfilling place to continue my journey in the industry. Being part of The Aspen Group means we can serve more patients, more efficiently, ultimately changing more lives through our unique model of care.
Has any event or leader had a profound impact on your career? What did you learn from them and try to model today? Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege of encountering many inspiring individuals, but two have left a lasting impact and changed my career trajectory. Arthur Kaindl, President & Head of Varian at Siemens Healthineers, not only entrusted me with significant roles like Global Head of Sales, Digital Health, and later Senior VP overseeing Sales, Marketing, and Communications but also imparted invaluable lessons on effective leadership. Arthur emphasized the importance of people being the cornerstone of success, also positioning oneself in a corporate environment, showcasing successes, and celebrating milestones. His guidance taught me to navigate challenges strategically, maintaining a focus on both accomplishments and solutions. As a woman in business, his insights were particularly empowering, reminding me of the significance of visibility and a seat at the table.
The other leader who significantly shaped my career trajectory is Sabine Kohler, Founder & Managing Partner at Board Boutique GmbH. After dedicating more than 14 years to Siemens and essentially “growing up” within the organization, Sabine presented a pivotal challenge: to reassess my career and embrace the new level of growth that awaited beyond my comfort zone. Leaving the familiar home I had known and cherished throughout my entire career to join Straumann was a daunting prospect. Despite my limited knowledge of the dental industry at the time, thorough research and interactions with Straumann’s leadership revealed a high-performing culture and a compelling market position that captured my admiration. I was and still am impressed with Straumann’s ability to sustain market leadership through innovation and education.
Sabine’s encouragement to step outside my comfort zone and prove myself in unfamiliar territory has been instrumental in shaping my current position. I discovered the value of embracing discomfort and the transformative power it holds for personal and professional growth. I wholeheartedly advocate for others to take bold leaps in their own careers, especially when faced with the prospect of stepping into the unknown.
Share a pivotal moment in your personal life or career that shaped you into the leader you are today. In 2010, a pivotal chapter of my career unfolded when I embraced the opportunity to represent the medical device & digital health business at Siemens Healthineers in the Middle East and Africa. This role demanded navigating diverse cultures and norms while supporting countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iraq, etc. As a woman in a predominantly male field, facing the added challenges of securing a seat at the table, I recognized the profound journey ahead to prove my worth. Navigating the complexities of this role and ensuring success and impact proved immensely challenging. I discovered that nothing truly worthwhile in life comes easily. Through this transformative experience, I cultivated resilience and the tenacity to ardently pursue my goals. The struggles were profound, but the subsequent personal growth and accomplishments made every ounce of effort undeniably worthwhile.
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What is the best piece of advice you’ve received? Did you solicit this advice? What were the circumstances when you received it? How has it guided you since? The best advice I’ve received, growing up in a household surrounded by brothers, came from my mother. This wisdom wasn’t directly sought but emerged from my upbringing. My mother, through various conversations, emphasized the crucial role of personal agency, urging me not to let my brothers control me and to stand up for my rights. She instilled in me the significance of embracing feminism and diversity, highlighting that being different is not a vulnerability but an asset in the complexities of the world.
Since then, this advice has been my guiding light, empowering me to take control of my destiny and resist being confined by societal expectations. In my professional journey, it has emboldened me to seize opportunities, even when I at times felt insecure. I’ve learned to acknowledge and celebrate my achievements, taking the leap with confidence. This invaluable counsel has played a pivotal role in shaping my approach to both personal and professional challenges.
How has your leadership style evolved over the years? At the core of my leadership philosophy is a commitment to value creation and passion. I guide my team by providing vision, direction, and clarity, fostering a culture of boldness that champions innovative thinking and rewards risk-taking. Understanding the paralyzing impact of the fear of failure and the risks associated with missed opportunities, I emphasize the need to overcome such fears.
While my direct communication style, characterized by tough love, may sometimes be challenging, I’ve evolved my approach to alleviate perceived overwhelm. Breaking down work packages into manageable pieces and introducing guardrails, I aim to create an environment where the team feels comfortable enough to explore their potential freely. My ultimate goal is to empower and support my team in realizing their fullest potential.
How do you keep focus on company culture while dealing with adversity and challenges? To put it simply, you cannot overcome adversity and challenges in business without having a strong company culture. Building a culture where teams thrive, feel safe taking risks, feel included, and work together toward a common goal should be the highest priority of any business leader. It is critically important for leaders to ensure that teams understand the vision of the company and feel connected to it. Teams must clearly understand how the work they are doing everyday ties to the vision and goals of the company. Without this, you cannot overcome adversity and challenges. I feel very fortunate to lead a company like ClearChoice that has such a strong purpose and vision for being the Platform of Hope for patients suffering from advanced oral disease.
As a minority woman, I also believe strongly in building diverse teams and feel it is the responsibility of every organization to celebrate the many positive changes that have happened to create equality, while committing ourselves more fully to the necessary structural and social changes needed to make full equality of opportunity possible regardless of gender, ethnicity, nationality, religion, sexual orientation, etc.
To be an impactful leader, you must be able to influence positivity and surround yourself with smart and good people.
What advice do you have for those aspiring to be an impactful leader in the industry?I believe the most important qualities of a great leader include integrity, accountability, empathy, humility, resilience, and vision. To be an impactful leader, you must be able to influence positivity and surround yourself with smart and good people. The best advice I can give to someone who aspires to be a leader in this industry is to start by building a culture where teams feel heard and can thrive. Encourage more direct and transparent communication, and better collaboration with every team member in the organization from top to bottom. Take time to listen to team members from all walks of the organization to learn where there are strengths and pain points. From there, focus on those opportunities, embrace change and innovation, and stay positive.
What legacy do you want to leave? First, a leader who has left no stone unturned to expand access to care to those in need. I have addressed proactively the care gaps throughout my career. At ClearChoice, we have launched the ‘No Patient Left Behind’ initiative to make good on our purpose of being the platform of hope to those in need!
Second, fostering a high-performing culture is indeed at the core of my business philosophy. I firmly believe that without a robust culture of ownership, accountability, empowerment, and transparency resonating with every team member, organizational growth is constrained. The legacy I aim to leave, regardless of my location, is one characterized by a thriving culture where talent flourishes, and teams are empowered to operate at their peak, creating a lasting impact. I aspire to be remembered for cultivating an environment where individuals feel connected, inspired, and capable of making meaningful contributions and creating substantial value to make the world a better place.
Picture a sprawling Midwestern farm, where the earth is as generous as the people tending to it – this is where the story of DeAnn McClain, Heartland Dental’s COO, begins. Much like the hearty crops that rise from the Midwest’s soil, DeAnn’s career grew from humble roots into something remarkable. Her journey, intertwined with the growth of Heartland Dental, shows us the beauty of a well-tended life, where dedication and care for oneself and others can cultivate extraordinary success.
The story of Heartland Dental’s female COO is one of a woman from the Midwest who took a chance after college and joined an organization as it embarked on a journey that would lead to decades of exponential growth, continuous improvement, and building industry leaders. DeAnn enjoys gardening and understands the resources and nurturing it takes to grow something magnificent. She applies the same care and attention to detail in leading her team and helping Heartland Dental’s supported doctors in her role as the company’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Since day one, Heartland Dental and its people have stayed true to Founder, Dr. Rick Workman’s vision to establish a company by doctors, for doctors, to help them focus on what matters most – their patients. One contributing factor to the steady growth and the establishment of a vibrant culture at Heartland Dental can be attributed to the unassuming yet formidable leadership of DeAnn McClain.
DeAnn is known for her sharp insight, adept strategy, and a blend of mental toughness and emotional sincerity. Hailing from a farm in Hidalgo, Illinois, DeAnn imbibed the values of hard work and dedication early in life.
DeAnn’s career journey shifted to a new level fueled by the belief that Pat Bauer and Dr. Rick Workman had in her leadership potential.
After graduating from Eastern Illinois University, her journey led her to Workman Management Group, where a pivotal interview with the CFO paved the way for her role in the accounting department of the soon-to-be Heartland Dental. Unbeknownst to DeAnn, Dr. Workman was assembling a team that would take his group of dental practices to the next level.
“I am blessed that throughout my career, Dr. Workman and Pat believed in me every step of the way. They have invested in me, as a leader and a person.”
In 1997, Dr. Workman hired Pat Bauer, today the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer, as Chief Operating Officer. As DeAnn’s career grew over the years, the unwavering support of Dr. Workman and Pat Bauer played a crucial role ensuring she had a seat at the table. Reflecting on their impact, DeAnn emphasizes the belief they instilled in her, fostering both personal and professional growth.
“I am blessed that throughout my career, Dr. Workman and Pat believed in me every step of the way. They have invested in me, as a leader and a person,” shared DeAnn. “As I grew myself and my career, I never had to think about how being a woman was impacting my success at Heartland. As I have grown my network outside of Heartland, I realized many women did not have such a strong support system.”
One pivotal moment in her career was when DeAnn decided to leave the comfort of the accounting department and make a bold move to Operations, accepting the responsibility of leadership that Pat and Dr. Workman continually reinforced seeing in her. And that one decision took her career on a new and exciting path.
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With quiet wisdom and influential leadership, DeAnn’s impact on the growth of others is felt across the Heartland Dental Network.
As an introvert, DeAnn didn’t imagine a career trajectory that would land her in a c-suite role. However, Pat and Dr. Workman’s trust in her and her passion for making a difference for Heartland supported doctors brought her to the Heartland Dental Senior Leadership Team. Over the years, she learned to be more vocal and proactively share her thoughts and ideas, realizing the impact she could have on others. Now, with over 25 years of experience as a leader, DeAnn recognizes that sharing her voice in an authentic way will be something she constantly has to work on, and she is grateful to have the tools to help her do so! Afterall, continuous improvement and education are important aspects of the Heartland Dental culture.
DeAnn notes one of the most impactful investments Pat and Dr. Workman have made in her has been their investment in Bell Leadership. Today, Heartland Dental has provided this leadership development opportunity to thousands of supported doctors, hygiene providers, and team members across the company’s supported network. Through her work with Dr. Gerald Bell, founder of the Bell Leadership Institute, DeAnn has realized the impact she can have on others by focusing on herself first. She ensures that with all of the priorities in front of her, she maintains a focus on investing in her development, listening to feedback, and working to understand how her behaviors influence those around her. DeAnn has also found that being vulnerable is a leadership trait that goes a long way, especially when leading a team of professionals across the nation.
“I learned to be more vocal and proactively share my thoughts and ideas, realizing the impact it had on others.”
It would be easy for DeAnn to appreciate how far she has come and start to relax a bit after over twenty-five years growing with a record-breaking, history-making company. But she remains dedicated to the success of herself, her team, and Heartland Dental’s supported doctors. Regular coaching sessions, completing daily homework focused on self-awareness and self-improvement and reading books (sometimes as a team book club) are all part of DeAnn’s routine to stay sharp and keep the practice of growing herself. Knowledge and understanding of the external environment, or what is happening outside of Heartland Dental and even the dental industry, are also a priority for Founding member of Women in DSO® DeAnn. She studies the external environment and engages in peer-to-peer learning through communities such as World 50 Group, an invite-only community for Boards, Executives, and other leaders to evolve and collaborate alongside each other.
DeAnn’s unassuming yet formidable leadership allows her to connect with others to keep Heartland Dental’s culture filled with nurturing support.
When it comes to the broader Heartland Dental supported community, DeAnn identified the company’s doctor-led support model and culture as the bedrock of its sustained success. As a leader in Operations, DeAnn fiercely believes in upholding this culture. When things get bumpy or there’s a win to celebrate, she knows all eyes turn to her for direction. But DeAnn’s wisdom lies in leaning on the robust systems Heartland Dental has meticulously built.
“Instead of panicking or abandoning the plan, having solid systems to fall back on allows us to navigate uncertainty with clear heads,” DeAnn stated. These systems, which DeAnn herself played a pivotal role in developing, are the lifeblood of delivering world-class support, even when the going gets tough.
DeAnn is the epitome of quiet wisdom, and over the years, DeAnn’s leadership style has evolved, with her demeanor transforming into a powerful force. Her journey, much like a well-tended garden, is a blend of patience, care, and consistent nurturing. Rising through the ranks while staying true to her values, she has become an inspiration for people within and beyond Heartland Dental. Her legacy emphasizes the significance of hard work, passion, continuous personal growth, and the courage to share experiences—a blueprint for making a difference.
DeAnn’s story is more than becoming a COO; it’s how to use your voice and heart to make a difference, proving that when you invest in yourself, you nurture everyone around you.
Straumann Group launches the very first brand dedicated exclusively to supporting enterprise-level customers in an ever-evolving market.
The history of Straumann Group is one rich with innovation and steeped in a reputation for quality and precision. While our company got its start in dental implants, our brand has evolved over the past seven decades to include a diverse portfolio of solutions and services with each one maintaining our commitment to quality and to unlocking the potential of people.
Today, Straumann Group, one of the most established companies in the oral healthcare sector, is proudly supporting a dedicated brand developed to address the needs of dental support organizations (DSOs) and large account dental groups. Our tradition of innovating in response to growth and change has led to the recent formation of a most extraordinary entity: Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions.
According to a report by Precedence Research, the size of the dental support market is forecasted to increase significantly by 2032.
The data bears out the fact that we are witnessing a shift from solo provider practice to the dental support organization (DSO) model on a large scale, necessitating a fundamental shift in the way industry providers, suppliers, and consultants assist these organizations.
Why Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions? DSOs are inherently complex—a single entity must strive to generate profit through the mitigation of highly variable factors across a range of diverse holdings. Implementing workflows, processes, and systems equally across every dental practice in a DSO is a formidable feat. Many solutions currently available for DSOs may not fully address the daily complexities these organizations face. The portfolio offered by Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions, however, provides DSOs with a holistic and harmonious range solutions and services all in one place.
Additionally, DSOs today face uncharted waters when it comes to scaling and growing market share. Despite experiencing prolific growth, the DSO market is a neonate with little established precedent for DSOs to follow. In a very real sense, the leaders of successful organizations today are pioneers who push the boundaries and sometimes struggle in the face of unanticipated challenges such as establishing a brand identity and strategy, recruiting and retaining employees, scaling sustainably, and pivoting in times of economic uncertainty.
Straumann Group has always embraced innovation and so we celebrate the DSO leaders who do the same. This new customer group is very important to us and we strongly believe that it also plays a critical role in improving access to oral care. In light of the rapidly expanding DSO market and the ongoing challenges these organizations face, Straumann Group has dedicated a large part of our organization to serving the DSO customer group. We have developed specialized teams, clinical digital workflows, and services that focus on helping DSOs to activate growth potential, elevate clinical excellence, and enhance operational efficiency.
A recent review of the branding and positioning for our DSO portfolio indicated a need for expanded efforts to ensure that forward-thinking leaders can fully benefit from Straumann Group’s expertise and insights.
“Straumann Group’s commitment to serving the fast-growing DSO customer segment dates back approximately 6 to 7 years, with the establishment of a specialized DSO organization in 2017,” says Straumann Group CEO Guillaume Daniellot. “As the dental industry undergoes transformation and the demand from our DSO partners becomes increasingly distinct, we recognized the importance of formalizing our dedication to this target group. Our customers can expect highly customized solutions, including digital workflows and related services that we are actively developing.”
“As the dental industry undergoes transformation and the demand from our DSO partners becomes increasingly distinct, we recognized the importance of formalizing our dedication to this target group.”
– by Guillaume Daniellot, CEO, Straumann Group
A Closer Look at Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions At Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions, our aim is to support dental support organizations and other enterprise-level oral healthcare providers in transforming oral care specialties and the delivery of oral care as a whole with our customized, scalable, and digitally-powered solutions and services and our dedicated team of experts. We provide a holistic portfolio of resources tailored to support DSOs at all operational levels and stages of growth.
We are among the first movers in the industry to effectively accommodate the scale and needs of DSOs, offering them bespoke resources in the form of clinical solutions, comprehensive digital workflows for specialty treatments, on-site training, clinical education, and consultation services with industry experts. We serve as the comprehensive resource and strategic empowering partner for leaders aiming to develop more resilient and growth-oriented enterprises.
Given our trusted Straumann Group history and our commitment to growth and innovation, it was only fitting to give our new brand a crisp visual identity that instills a sense of confidence, uniting our trusted corporate heritage values and widely respected industry experience. Our new visual identity embodies our philosophy of being powered. The colors include blue for trust, professionalism, and expertise, and mint green for freshness, innovation, and advanced technology solutions. The interconnected rings symbolize unity and integration.
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Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions may be the new name, but we have already been hard at work curating insights and developing solutions for the past 6-7 years. Our team working around the globe are working hand-in-hand with DSO customers to support them in achieving their own objectives, and we leverage our deep collaboration, collected data and customers’ feedback to continue innovating and improving the solutions we design.
Among our portfolio of solutions trusted to enhance operational efficiency, is CareStack. Powered by award-winning, innovative technology, Carestack offers a holistic range of features including scheduling, clinical operations, billing, patient engagement, and reporting, all on a single cloud-based platform.
We are also dedicated to developing thought leadership materials that serve executives within organizations with the insights and strategies they need to lead effectively and to innovate. These resources are designed to enhance decision-making and drive industry advancements.
Our initiatives also focus on fostering robust engagement among C-Suite executives of DSOs. For example, we host the annual Global DSO CEO Summit which fosters a collaborative environment where leadership can exchange ideas that drive transformative change within their organizations.
“The Global DSO CEO Summit not only provides a robust networking platform for our DSO CEO customers worldwide, uniting leaders from across the globe, but also serves as a venue for exchanging visionary insights, co-creating concepts, and sharing best practices on a global scale.”
– by Marie-Rose Wagner, Global Head Executive Engagement, Straumann Group
Besides our comprehensive portfolio of trusted Straumann clinical products, Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions also offers end-to-end fully digital workflows (Enterprise Specialty Workflows) designed to improve efficiency and standardize outcomes in high-production specialty treatment areas such as restorative dentistry including implant treatments, and orthodontics.
“The Restorative Dentistry 360 workflow reduced stress during surgery and achieved high placement accuracy, maintaining the highest standards for clinical excellence,” reported one satisfied customer. These workflows aim to streamline cases for greater productivity all while boosting clinician confidence and neutralizing variables that might otherwise result in inconsistent outcomes. Orthodontics 360 offers premium, smile design through efficient workflows for a superior patient experience.
We also place great emphasis on providing consulting services and comprehensive clinical education. These initiatives are designed to empower our DSO partners, enhancing both their operation efficiency and clinical excellence.
Enterprise Consulting with our select team of knowledgeable experts assists DSOs in developing and implementing actionable plans that will help the organization achieve objectives in the areas of demand generation, case acceptance, employee retention, and leadership evolution. Our consulting services supply organizations with customized growth strategies replete with the assets, training, business education, and real-time monitoring and fine-tuning of the strategy to ensure goals are met.
Enterprise Academy equips clinicians with the training needed to work efficiently and with confidence. We have been concentrating a lot of our efforts and investments in education as we believe this is one of the most important supports we can provide to our customers’ clinicians to facilitate the delivery of high quality specialty treatments such as implant therapy and clear aligners.
“The Restorative Dentistry 360 workflow reduced stress during surgery and achieved high placement accuracy, maintaining the highest standards for clinical excellence.”
Moving into the future with confidence, together It is with great pride and joy that we formally announce the launch of Straumann Group Enterprise Solutions. The establishment of this new brand signifies a continuation and formalization of our commitment that was initiated several years ago, acknowledging our longstanding dedication to DSOs and other large-scale oral healthcare enterprises.
We hold the strong conviction that this brand underlines the importance of responding to the unique needs of DSOs with a tailored approach. It is our hope that our ongoing engagement with executives combined with careful monitoring of the market and a proactive responsiveness will enable us to adapt to those evolving needs effectively.
We are committed to fostering innovation and sharing insights that enhance lives, and we take pride in being a trusted, comprehensive source of support for DSOs at the enterprise level. Straumann Group eagerly welcomes the ambitious leaders of DSOs of all sizes to contact our team to leverage our insights and discover bespoke solutions for success.
Women leaders aren’t just making strides; they’re setting the pace and redefining the landscape. Lessons in Leadership is a window into the multi-faceted world of women leaders in the DSO industry.
How Christine King Became the World’s First Female Semiconductor Company CEO
An uneducated, single mother at 20, Christine King climbed the tech ladder to become the world’s first female CEO of a semiconductor company. Now she’s sharing her hard-won lessons for personal and professional triumph in her own words.
Lesson 1
Without Skills or an Education, You Are Nowhere We all make questionable decisions in our lives, and one of my earliest was deciding to marry a hippie. He looked great, played a mean guitar, and I just went for that. And then one day, my husband came home and said, “I got to go to California, this marriage thing’s not for me. It’s nothing personal against you. Bye-bye,” and he was gone, leaving me with an 18-month-old son in a run-down trailer park and almost no money.
I quickly realized that without an education or skills, I was nowhere and wasn’t going to get very far in life. I couldn’t do much about being a woman or being a single mom, but I could tackle my lack of education and at least give myself a fighting chance to stand out from the crowd.
I immediately started looking for a job – any job – to fix the increasingly desperate situation we were in, but quickly discovered I was starting with three strikes against me.
I was a woman, with all that meant in the 1970s. One company said they wanted to offer me a clerical job, but they couldn’t because I was “too pretty” and would distract the men on the factory floor.
I was a young, single mom. One bank wouldn’t hire me as a teller because they “couldn’t count on me to show up for my work shift if my son got sick.”
I didn’t have any higher education or marketable skills; I only had a high school diploma. I was just one of millions of unemployed, minimally skilled people in the middle.
Of course, you don’t just snap your fingers and get an education, especially if you’re poor and have a child to take care of. I started by applying for welfare and the financial assistance that would keep us from starving, but I never let our present needs distract me from that longterm goal of getting an education.
Early days, outside her trailer park home.
It wasn’t easy to sell my social worker on letting me use a portion of my welfare check to get an education at a local community college. That monthly stipend was meant to pay for living expenses, not luxuries like a college education. But in my mind, college wasn’t a luxury; it was a necessity. It was the only thing I could think of that would allow me to finally get a job and independently support my family. I remember the exhilaration I felt when I successfully made my case and she finally agreed to let me pay for college.
If you want to be the captain of your fate and transform your potential into your reality, you need a differentiator. In the professional world, that differentiator comes in the form of skills or an education. For me, pursuing an education was the beginning, the catalyst, for an incredibly vibrant and rewarding life. That’s not to say that college is the only path to a successful life. It is to say that building an area of expertise, a foundation of knowledge and skills that differentiates you from others, is essential. Whatever you pursue, strive to learn as much as you can and apply it to the best of your ability to actualize your potential and become the best that you can be. You only get one life, so don’t settle for anything less.
Lesson 2
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff Once, in my early days as an engineer, I stood at a copy machine making copies of my latest circuit design, feeling pretty good about myself, and looking forward to its review by my colleagues. I was shocked out of my reverie when a male engineer walked in, assumed that I was a secretary because I was a woman, and ordered me to make his copies for him. As the copier whirred away, I had a moment to decide how to respond to his clueless request. Would correcting the engineer and seeking an apology further my goal of advancing my engineering capabilities and reputation at IBM? What benefit would I gain? The reality was that the only benefit would be to my ego, and it would only be a small momentary victory in the larger war I would fight over the course of my career. Would I allow my ego to control my actions, and by extension, my life, or would I choose to use my ego more productively? I decided to not sweat the small stuff and save my power and energy for the important battles.
Christine and her son.
Some might view my decision to smile and agree to make the male engineer’s copies and drop them off at his office as “being a doormat,” but there is a difference between acquiescing out of weakness or lack of courage and being confident enough in yourself and your value to keep your ego in check and to pick your battles.
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We are living through an era where we have made much progress in the rights of women, people of color, and other marginalized individuals. At the same time, we are more easily offended than at any other time I can remember. Perhaps that’s a sign of how much progress we have made; we can afford to be incensed by others’ slights.
“I don’t have time to sweat the small stuff. I’m too busy working on the big stuff.”
But I can’t help but think that there is still a long way for us to go and that we need to be wise and stay laser-focused on the larger battle. Until women, people of color, and other marginalized individuals have full equity and access to opportunity, I don’t have time to sweat the small stuff. I’m too busy working on the big stuff. In that war, indignance is a poison that weakens the offended person more than the person causing the offense, while humility and taking the high road is a battlefield advantage worth its weight in gold.
I’m surprised by how often people – men and women – miss this simple principle and can’t rise to the call to set their own egos aside in support of the larger team or mission. I remember helping negotiate the sale of a company once where the CEO of the company being sold wanted a benefit that would likely never be needed. This benefit, if it was ever actually needed, would cost such a small fraction of the deal’s value that it was the equivalent of a rounding error in the calculation. The CEO of the purchasing company, however, was a cost-cutter and was irritated by the request, so a battle of egos emerged. It became so bad that this very large deal would have fallen apart over a relatively small sum of money if I hadn’t stepped in to personally guarantee the benefit (which was never needed!). That’s what can happen when egos lead the way.
Christine competing in a cow cutting event.
Lesson 3
Success Is a Team Sport I’ve known many brilliant people in my career, and I’m fairly smart myself, but none of us is as smart or capable as several of us. Teams have the capacity to accomplish far more than individuals by leveraging the broader scope and power of team members’ unique expertise, experience, and perspectives in a concerted effort. It’s the concerted effort that determines how successful a team can be.
We’ve all been part of or seen teams that accomplished far less than expected based on the capabilities and potential of the individual members. Aligning and coordinating those individual capabilities is the secret to team success and to achieving far more than any individual can. This principle applies at all stages in your career – at the beginning when you are a junior member of a team and learning and building your network, and in its later stages when you are the one managing people and working to maximize a team’s impact.
“Once we get beyond ourselves, we can achieve far more personal success.”
When I accepted an offer as a manager in the testing department at IBM, I had big plans. But it was one of those situations where you can’t do it alone. I would never have had the impact I did if I didn’t focus on aligning and motivating my team to work together to achieve the goals. That team included Joe, an engineer who was thoroughly disinclined to work with or even like me, and he was one of those people who carried an outsized impact on the team. If he remained out of alignment, the team would never achieve its potential. Winning Joe over wasn’t easy, and it meant my ego came second occasionally, but if I hadn’t taken the high road with Joe and continuously looked for pathways to connect with him, I never would have achieved what we did and, ultimately, been promoted.
Christine representing Henry Schein at the 2023 Investor Meeting.
The importance of your team to your success was driven further home when I took over managing IBM’s analog semiconductor chips business and was no longer the technical lead or “smartest kid in the room.” At that point, my technological expertise became less important than my people expertise. I stopped operating as “Chris, the sole proprietor,” and started operating as “Chris, the leader of a team of experts and member of something far bigger than herself.” That was the start of a more exciting, enjoyable, and rewarding phase of my career. The interesting irony of life is that once we get beyond ourselves, we can achieve far more personal success.
Christine’s book Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling follows her path from the trailer park to the boardroom and highlights the 12 essential principles that guided her along the way. Christine’s principles are hard-earned truths that have been proven time and again in her professional, avocational, and personal lives. Breaking Through the Silicon Ceiling is now available for order on Amazon and other leading e-commerce sites.
Women today navigate complex roles, balancing career aspirations, financial responsibilities, health management, and interpersonal relationships. To address these diverse needs, a wellness program for women is essential. Women in DSO® is proud to have a dedicated Wellness program focusing on four integral pillars: Financial Wellness, Professional Growth, Self, and Relational Joy. This holistic approach aims to empower women across various facets of their lives, fostering a sense of balance, resilience, and fulfillment.
Financial Wellness: In the pursuit of holistic well-being, financial stability emerges as a cornerstone. Empowering women with financial literacy, budgeting skills, and investment knowledge is crucial. This pillar recognizes that financial independence enhances overall well-being, providing a sense of security and autonomy. By addressing topics such as salary negotiations, investment strategies, and debt management, the program aims to equip women with the tools they need to navigate the complex financial landscape confidently. We focused on this pillar of wellness for the entire first quarter and on our Wellness Wednesday, we had an interactive session around Strategies for Wealth, led by Financial Industry experts.
Professional Growth: Career development is integral to a woman’s sense of fulfillment and well-being. The program focuses on fostering professional growth by offering mentorship, skill-building workshops, and networking opportunities. Recognizing the importance of gender equality in the workplace, it addresses challenges women may face and provides strategies to overcome them. Empowering women to pursue leadership roles and contribute meaningfully to their respective fields is a key objective, ensuring that their professional journeys align with their aspirations. With some large industry conferences happening in the 2nd quarter of the year, we have dedicated that time of the year to focus on professional growth every year.
Self: A woman’s well-being extends beyond external achievements; it encompasses the intricate relationship between physical and mental well-being. This pillar of the wellness program emphasizes self-care practices, stress management techniques, and mindfulness exercises. By promoting a holistic approach to health, the program aims to empower women to prioritize their well-being, recognizing that a healthy body and mind are essential for achieving personal and professional goals.
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Women in DSO® is proud to share that we will be hosting a members only Two days dedicated Wellness event focusing on all pillars of Women in DSO® Wellness Program fall 2024.
“Communities and countries and ultimately the world are only as strong as the health of their women.”
– by Michelle Obama
Relational Joy: Interpersonal relationships play a pivotal role in overall happiness and well-being. This pillar focuses on nurturing healthy connections, both personally and professionally. Workshops on effective communication, conflict resolution, and building supportive communities contribute to enhancing relational joy. By fostering positive connections, the program aims to create an environment where women feel valued, understood, and supported in their personal and professional relationships. We have committed the fourth quarter of every year to focus on this important wellness pillar, to bring in some extra joy for the holidays season every year.
In conclusion, a wellness program for women anchored in the four pillars of Financial Wellness, Professional Growth, Self-Health Management, and Relational Joy offers a comprehensive approach to empowerment. By addressing the diverse aspects of life, this program seeks to create a supportive ecosystem that not only recognizes but celebrates the unique journey of each woman. Through education, mentorship, and community-building, the program aspires to contribute to the holistic well-being of women leaders in the industry, fostering a sense of purpose, resilience, and fulfillment in all aspects of their lives.
Remarkable women across the industry are supporting great organizations with outstanding achievements, and well-deserved promotions. Join us in recognizing these Women in DSO members and the empowering organizations that recognize their brilliance.
Celebrating more than 25 years of YES at Aspen Dental
07/09/2024
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11 min. to read
Since the beginning, we’ve been dedicated to breaking down barriers to care and empowering dentists. It starts with a deep understanding of who the Aspen Dental patient is and what their needs are, while also creating a culture of collaboration and support that attracts dentists and team members who want to deliver life-changing care every single day.
Everything started with ‘Yes’ Aspen Dental was built on a foundation of “Yes”–yes to an easy and convenient patient experience, yes to rewarding careers and opportunities for dentists and team members, and yes to embracing the best protocols, treatments, and technologies available.
Founder and CEO of TAG – The Aspen Group, Bob Fontana.
After starting his career in a dental office in New England, Aspen Dental founder Bob Fontana couldn’t help but notice the multitude of friction points for patients and providers alike.
He wanted to solve the problems inherent in the traditional dental practice model to deliver a better experience for both patients and providers, which meant finding ways to break down barriers to care, both emotional and practical. For patients, that meant more convenient locations with extended hours; scheduling patients with urgency and accepting walk ins and emergencies; onsite labs that enabled quick turnaround on treatments like dentures; as well as transparent billing and affordable patient financing solutions. It was all about designing a model that would eliminate as much of the friction from the dental experience for patients as possible.
Equally important as designing a model that patients would choose was developing one that works for providers. That means The Aspen Dental model would also make things easier for dentists, by offering comprehensive, non-clinical business support, promoting opportunities for growth, enhancing job satisfaction, and fostering a stellar culture steeped in collaboration, mentorship, and fun–not to mention better incentives and payment.
In 1998, Bob turned this hypothetical model into a reality by opening the first Aspen Dental office in Greece, New York. Every piece of the Aspen Dental consumer experience was based on a deep understanding of the patients, from where they want to go, to how they want to be seen, to how they want to pay for their care. We got to know Aspen patients as consumers so we could meet them where they were at, finding creative ways to solve their problems conveniently and quickly.
As we grew in those first few years, we also worked to elevate the provider experience. Clinicians value flexibility, freedom, mentorship, and lifelong learning, and that’s what we sought to deliver. As we scaled the business, we continued to find new ways to help empower providers, introducing the Managing Clinical Director (MCD) program to our supported dentists in 2002. The MCD program was designed to help treat dentists as owners, recognizing their role as leaders in the practice and aligning goals for the entire office. We wanted to reignite dentists’ passion, energy, and commitment to the business while also breaking down silos between dentists and team members. As dentists became more engaged, our supported practices’ turnover decreased, while their income, practice profitability, and patient satisfaction all increased.
The results were so impressive that we quickly realized we needed to not only empower our supported dentists as clinicians–but we also needed to promote a complete path to practice ownership for more dentists.
The ownership inflection point By 2004, Aspen Dental had grown to just over 60 locations. From the MCD program, we’d learned how to better align dentist and business interests, as well as how to best meet the needs of clinicians. We realized, however, that we needed to do more than help our supported practices to just give dentists jobs–we wanted to promote and empower broader ownership of highly successful dental practices. To do that, we created the Practice Ownership Program (POP).
POP allowed new and established dentists to realize their ownership dreams much faster than they would at traditional practices, waiting decades for the current owners to retire. With POP, we could help dentists build lifelong careers at Aspen, supporting them “from hire to retire.” Bob credits creating POP as “the single most important decision in Aspen Dental’s history.”
With POP, we could continue to better align dentist and practice interests, working together to grow this business with clinicians. Empowering more dentists through real ownership opportunities helped us both attract and retain top talent, which further fueled our growth.
The results quickly spoke for themselves. Offices with POP dentist-owners proved to be all-around more successful: better team member engagement, better workplace culture, better patient satisfaction, and better business outcomes. POP is a ‘win-win-win’–dentists build practice equity, patients receive better continuity of care, and the business as a whole performs at a higher level.
Even though we had to radically transform our business model to introduce POP, this revamp made all the difference to Aspen Dental’s trajectory. From 2004 onward, we started gathering momentum. We held our first annual meeting in 2005, and continued growing our small family into a larger and larger one. We used our momentum to power through the 2008 recession; at its height in 2009 and 2010, we were hiring between 800 and 900 people per year. If there was any doubt about the benefits of the POP model, our success silenced them. We even surprised ourselves; we thought, at first, that Aspen Dental would be a small- to medium-sized regional company. With the introduction of POP and our rapid growth thereafter, we realized we had a national company on our hands.
The culture inflection point As we ballooned from 60 practices in 2004 to 400 in 2013, we reached another inflection point. With nearly 5,000 team members, we worried about keeping such a large group both engaged and connected to our core values. At this point, our biggest challenge was determining how to build a great culture at scale.
In the early days of Aspen Dental, everybody knew everybody on a personal level. It was easier to be aligned, and all team members were clear about Aspen’s mission and purpose. But given the rapid growth of the organization, we could no longer rely on a handful of people to accomplish that colossal task–we needed systems and a structure in place to get the job done.
In 2013, we built that structure and put systems into action. We created a 20-week program to help reengage everybody with our core values and our purpose, and we introduced the “Words to Live By” campaign, which helped fuel our passion, boosting engagement by 19% year over year. Our goal was to make everyone feel like a vital part of Aspen Nation, because we know that the patient experience will never exceed the team member experience. When Aspen team members can “bleed blue” and come together to support our larger purpose and mission, then an incredible patient experience naturally follows.
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The Healthy Mouth Movement has initiatives like the Overseas Outreach program, pictured above.
Our annual Leadership Retreats reinforces our mission and strengthen our relationships. The first Aspen Dental retreat was at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York in 2005, and since then, our retreats have gotten bigger and better. From Las Vegas to Chicago to Miami, we gather at world-class destinations to have fun, get together, reflect, celebrate, and remind ourselves why we are dedicated to what we do. We also take the opportunity to let loose, whether that be through talent shows, performances, standup comedy, Lip Sync Battles, and dance competitions. We’re able to all connect on a different level, and this spirit of lightheartedness further contributes to our enriching culture. Aspen team members leave refreshed, reinvigorated, and maybe with an ASPY (Achieve Superior Performance Yearly) award in their suitcases.
In addition to providing a fun release valve in the form of Leadership Retreats, we also introduced another pillar to our cultural foundation–service. We recognized that providing care is a wonderful thing, but providing care to those without access is also vital to our mission. We started the Healthy Mouth Movement in 2014 so dentists and their teams could give back to their communities, both locally and globally.
The Healthy Mouth Movement started with the Aspen Dental MouthMobile, a dental practice on wheels, that brought much-needed care directly to underserved communities. We also introduced a Day of Service to provide free care to veterans. Finally, we set our sights internationally, planning service trips to countries such as Haiti, Tanzania, Guatemala, and Mexico. Aspen dentists and team members have provided free dental care to communities all over the world. To date, the Healthy Mouth Movement has donated over thirty million dollars worth of free care. Providers who participate in any aspect of the Healthy Mouth Movement often say those experiences are some of the most rewarding of their lives.
During Aspen’s first fifteen years, we grew by about 28 new locations each year. After strengthening our cultural foundation through campaigns, programs, retreats, and community service, we started growing by closer to 60 new locations a year, even during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even today, we’re continuing to refine our culture. The strength of our relationships with dentists is critical, and in our business planning sessions, we still discuss new ways to make dentists’ and other team members’ lives easier and more meaningful, with increased support, new service programs, advanced training, and more. This organization is better when we have the right model and deep relationships with providers.
“As the organization grew, we had to be more thoughtful about onboarding, immersing people in our culture and values, and keeping everyone engaged.”
Rebranding and expanding Aspen Dental was headquartered in Syracuse, New York, for nearly 20 years. However, as we continued to grow and spread across the country, we realized we needed a larger and more central location. In 2018, we relocated our headquarters to Chicago’s West Loop.
Our original West Loop building didn’t contain us for long; in 2021, we opened a brand-new, larger office in Chicago’s Fulton Market. In conjunction, we invested six million dollars to establish our TAG Oral Care Center for Excellence, a state-of-theart facility that serves as a central place for gathering, training, giving back, learning, and growing.
Growing our organization requires a solid recruitment funnel, given that we open a new location every three to four days. We want more dentists to join our ranks, so we routinely offer new opportunities. In fact, over the past few years, we have put over twenty million dollars toward learning and development for Aspen dentists and team members.
By the time we moved into our new home in Fulton Market, we had matured from our humble beginnings in upstate New York to a national organization encompassing a family of brands, including dental, urgent care, medical aesthetics, and veterinary care.
As a reflection of that growth, in 2021 The Aspen Group (TAG) was born. While TAG may operate in four different healthcare categories, our brands are united by one singular vision: To bring better care to more people.
Nationwide, TAG supports 20,000 team members, 5,200 clinicians, and 1,350 locations. Despite all this growth, we’ve never lost sight of who we are and what we stand for.
Staying on the cutting edge We didn’t get to where we are today by resting on our laurels, and we don’t intend to start now. We’re always looking for new ways to bring the best possible care to patients, from free new patient exams for patients without insurance, to online appointment scheduling, to denture money-back guarantees, to our patient financing promise.
We also enthusiastically embrace new technology. We’re working to incorporate everything from artificial intelligence to 3-D printing as we continue to transform the business to be fully digital. Being able to scan a new patient’s mouth during one visit and then deliver a 3-D printed set of dentures a day later is revolutionizing both the patient and provider denture experience–and that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to incorporating new technology into provider workflows.
We’ve built this business by being committed to our core values, nurturing relationships, elevating the patient and provider experience, meeting people where they are, and embracing change. We care deeply about Aspen team members and patients, and every decision we make takes their needs into account. We’ve worked hard to grow a company-wide culture that makes team members excited to come into the office every day, and that excitement invariably trickles down to patients.
The past twenty-five years have been a time of incredible growth, learning, and innovation. We can’t wait to see what the next twenty-five will bring.
