Chad has worked in the Dental Industry for over 17 years. He spent my first 16 years working at two large DSOs, American Dental Partners (ADPI) and Midwest Dental. Chad spent 13 years at ADPI, heading up their payer relations department for much of that time. He also oversaw ADPI’s revenue cycle and credentialing teams. At Midwest Dental, Chad took a similar path, leading their payer relations team, credentialing and eventually revenue cycle too. Chad was with Midwest Dental for three years before he started Clear Choice Consulting. Clear Choice Consulting was formed to support dental groups both large and small and to support solo offices as well. His primary support focus areas are payer relations, credentialing and revenue cycle. Chad has always been a big advocate of the payer/provider partnership and tries to continue that as a consultant. Chad has been a member of the NADP for over ten years. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota.

Chuck Stewart is founder and managing consultant for DDS Consulting, a dental consulting firm. Chuck and his team apply a unique combination of provider and carrier experience to help insurance carriers, dental support organizations (DSO’s), and individual dental practices become best in class.

Previously, Chuck served as Director, Business Development for Smile Brands, one of the nation’s largest DSO’s. Chuck oversaw Plan Relations, a commercial sales team, and sales for an in-house dental plan.

Before joining healthcare, Chuck built a career in the product repair industry. He served as Director of Business Development for Sears, Roebuck and Co. Chuck oversaw the sales and marketing of Sears Service and A&E Factory Service brands to Fortune 500 companies. Prior to joining Sears, he held positions of increasing responsibility at Sony Electronics.

Chuck earned a BSc and MBA from Arizona State University.

Rita Moravec is the assistant director for the Dental PPO Network at Principal Life Insurance Company. In the 16 years at Principal, Rita has worked as a dental network recruiter, manager of Large Group/Retention and now in her current role, she leads a team dedicated to the Dental Service Organizations (DSO’s) and retention of the overall network. Rita has been in the dental industry 30+ years, 10 in private practice and 20 on the carrier side. She holds an MSA and an MBA from Central Michigan University. In her spare time, she is involved in a number of community outreach projects.

Greg has 23 years of network development experience including the recruitment for Medicaid, Medicare, Commercial Exchange, DHMO, and Commercial PPO networks nationwide.

Michelle has been in the Dental Industry for over 30 years, working in a variety of practice settings as a registered dental hygienist for more than 10 years before expanding her education and experience onto the Payor side and receiving an MBA in Health Care Administration from Bryant College. She served in many different capacities at Delta Dental of Massachusetts including UR/UM and Provider Relations before moving to Guardian for 22 years in Dental Networks and started a new opportunity 2 years ago with Humana. In her current role at Humana as associate vice president, Strategy Advancement, Michelle is responsible for network expansion and retention for all lines of business ensuring that all Humana members have access to participating dental providers in order to maximize their dental benefit.

Dr. Richard W. Gesker is the chief dental officer of UnitedHealthcare Dental, a national ancillary benefits company serving the oral health needs of more than 11 million people enrolled in commercial and government programs.

Dr. Gesker leads the development of innovative clinical quality initiatives, clinical strategic direction, and clinical policies, promoting access to quality and cost-effective dental services for enrolled members. He serves as the company’s chief advisor and thought leader on clinical quality and care management related to oral health, including representing the organization with various external alliances such as the American Dental Association, National Association of Dental Plans, and Harvard School of Dental Medicine.

Prior to joining UnitedHealthcare Dental in 2020, Dr. Gesker spent more than 17 years in a variety of healthcare leadership roles spanning private practice, nonprofits and the military. He previously served as a lieutenant dentist in the United States Navy; chief dental officer for Mary’s Center, a primary care medical center in Washington D.C.; and director of professional development for Dental Associates in Milwaukee. In these roles, he applied his expertise in developing clinical protocols, cultivating health care provider relationships, enhancing the patient experience and supporting multi-office strategic initiatives.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University a Doctor of Dental Medicine (D.M.D.) and an M.B.A. from Temple University, where he previously served as an adjunct professor.

In April 1999, Mike Cole joined Dental Care Alliance (DCA), an NADP Associate member and one of the largest dental service organizations in the country. As vice president of Insurance Plan Management, Mike oversees the teams responsible for insurance relations, revenue cycling and the credentialing departments. Prior to joining DCA, he was a network manager for both Prudential Healthcare and United Concordia. With more than 30 years in the dental healthcare industry, he was instrumental in fostering partnerships between DCA and the insurance plans. Working together to achieve the best outcomes has led to creation of the NADP credentialing application, NADP-supported directory validation process and innovations with the patient experience. My received the Don Mayes Award at CONVERGE 2019.

Mike has been active in the NADP for the last eight years and has served on the Operations Workgroup, where he is currently the vice chair. Mike is a graduate of the University of Missouri – Columbia and is also a Certified Employee Assistance Professional (CEAP).

Bret is the President of Dentistat and President / Founder of go2dental and has overall responsibility for the companies. Bret has over 38 years in the Employee Benefit field, with 25 years in the dental benefits space. Bret’s background includes working for The Travelers Insurance Company and as a Principal at a Brokerage firm.

Dentistat provides Network Management services and is one of the largest dental Credentialing Verification Organizations. Dentistat has been certified by NCQA 7 times.

go2dental has been helping consumers gain access to valuable web-based information to help them make better choices concerning their overall oral health care. Go2dental provides dental plans with a customized member experience to improve member satisfaction and improve the client’s value proposition. go2dental has been in business for over 20 years and works with over 25 dental plans.

Bret earned his Bachelor of Science in Marketing from San Jose State University and his Certified Employee Benefits Specialist (CEBS) degree from The Wharton School of Business in Pennsylvania.

Le Ann Morris is the vice president of Business Relations for DentalXChange and has been with the company for over 10 years with an additional 20 years of experience working as the western regional sales director for a medical clearinghouse. In her time at DentalXChange, Mrs. Morris has headed the team to launch Humana’s and United HealthCare’s all payer portals, as well as the national launch of Delta Dental Plan Association’s ERA solution. She has also led the team to expand DentalXChange’s web based, credentialing platform, DDS Enroll and recently completed multiple implementations with Delta Dental payer networks, expanding DDS Enroll to seven states; with 4 more plans scheduled for implementation by early 2021. She has been supporting the DSO market for over a decade and sees credentialing as a major need. Mrs. Morris has been extremely active in the dental community, including being the NDEDIC Committee Chair in 2010 and a pivotal leader in Uniting the Industry, where providers and payers joined together to improve electronic delivery of eligibility and to reduce costs to all parties. Organizations are looking for innovative, dental driven tools and for over 30 years, Mrs. Morris has been leading the development and launch of these products.

Ruth Ann joined Ruark Consulting in 2004 and developed its dental consulting practice. In 2018, that practice became Dental Actuarial Analytics, LLC, an affiliate of Ruark. Prior to joining Ruark, Ruth Ann spent 11 years with Cigna. There she served as the actuary for Cigna Dental and the reserving actuary for Cigna Healthcare, among other roles. She is involved in volunteer work for the Society of Actuaries and the National Association of Dental Plans. Ruth Ann is originally from North Carolina, where she graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with degrees in both mathematics and music. She is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and lives in Bloomfield, Connecticut.

Kevin Kropp is the director of actuarial & analytics at Delta Dental of Wisconsin (DDWI). Mr. Kropp is responsible for embedding data into every day thinking to drive decisions to be data informed through functions such as creating and implementing data strategy, data visualizations, core actuarial functions, reporting tools and standardization and automation through process improvement.

Mr. Kropp joined Delta Dental of Wisconsin in 2016, and served as Manager, Actuarial Services, before assuming his current role. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with two majors in actuarial science and accounting from University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. Mr. Kropp is an Associate of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries.

Cipriano Mascote is the director of actuarial and reporting & analytics at Delta Dental of Missouri. Mr. Mascote leads pricing, claim reserving, network analytics, manual rating model development and maintenance, actuarial database maintenance, internal and external reporting, data visualization, as well as ad-hoc analyses.
Mr. Mascote joined Delta Dental of Missouri in 2009, and served in previous leadership positions, including as actuarial and client reporting manager, and actuarial and reporting & analytics manager, before assuming his current role. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in actuarial science from Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville. Mr. Mascote is a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries and a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. He holds a Predictive Analytics Certificate from the Society of Actuaries and an Advanced Management Certificate from Washington University in St. Louis.

Laura McMullen has significant experience in diverse aspects of the healthcare industry. She has provided marketing and communications expertise at Cigna Dental, National Healing Corporation, and the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. As Director of Client Engagement for Zelis Network Analytics, she draws on her industry knowledge to help customers leverage network analytics to drive business results. Educated at Nova Southeastern University and the University of Florida, Laura currently serves on the Education Commission for the National Association of Dental Plans, keeping her ear to the industry’s trends and needs.

Jillian is an accomplished product and insights lead with 8 years of healthcare industry experience specializing in payer-focused technology solutions. She is an influential thought-leader with demonstrated success combining industry expertise, customer insights, competitive analysis and company strengths to develop engaging content that builds awareness and trust. Jillian has a proven track record of bringing cross-functional teams together around a shared vision to build, launch, and commercialize innovative solutions that result in profitable new product offerings. She is an MBA graduate with a performing arts background who is confident presenting to internal and external audiences large and small to gain stakeholder buy-in.

Jerry brings more than 20 years of experience in market research, strategy and analysis to his role at NADP.  Prior to joining NADP in 2004, Jerry worked in market research and advertising in healthcare, financial services and electric utility industries.  Jerry earned his BA in Political Science from Louisiana State University and his MBA from Tulane University.

Ms. Layman has 25 years of experience in political and legislative affairs and a comprehensive knowledge of health policy issues. She represents clients in health care matters before Congress and the Executive Branch on legislative, regulatory and administrative issues. She also provides strategic advice and counsel to clients on broad public policy and program goals as well as specific client business needs.

Prior to going into private government relations practice, Ms. Layman served as a member of the U.S. Senate Legislative Staff for 11 years. She was a senior policy advisor to U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow and earlier in her Senate career advised Senators Bob Graham, Richard Bryan and John Chafee on health care matters.

During that time, she was involved in drafting, analyzing and negotiating legislation involving Medicare, Medicaid, prescription drugs, managed care, health information technology and private health insurance.

She also worked on health care issues for the Congressional Budget Office, preparing baseline and legislative cost estimates.

Following her tenure with the US Senate, Ms. Layman held the position of Vice President for Government Affairs at the Generic Pharmaceutical Association (now known as the Association for Accessible Medicines). In that position, she worked closely with generic pharmaceutical executives to develop and execute public policy and lobbying strategies.

For nine years prior to joining Hooper, Lundy & Bookman, Ms. Layman was a principal in the Government Law & Strategies practice of Brown Rudnick, where she represented the interests of health care clients before Congress and regulatory agencies.

With almost two decades of Capitol Hill, association and private sector experience, Ms. Delmore advises clients on political strategy, advocacy and health care policy. She is highly regarded on both sides of the political spectrum. Given her deep health care business knowledge, Ms. Delmore has worked effectively with companies, coalitions and associations to create policy solutions and legislative opportunities.

She has represented various health care clients before Congress and the executive branch over the years, including; hospitals, dialysis providers, health care provider associations, large regional health systems, national health insurance associations, Medicare Advantage plans, cancer centers, and pharmaceutical companies, amongst others on an array of policy matters.

Prior to becoming a consultant, Ms. Delmore held the following key roles in DC; Director of Federal Government Affairs for the American Physical Therapy Association, Legislative Assistant to House Ways & Means Committee member Rep. Phil English (R-PA), and Regulatory Policy Analyst for the American Osteopathic Association. Before her time in Washington, DC, Ms. Delmore worked in hospital settings in Pittsburgh, PA, where she focused on health information technology, cancer registry, and HIPAA implementation.

Ms. Delmore holds a B.S. in Health Information Management and a Master of Health Administration from the University of Pittsburgh.

Adam Choe, MS, is a Co-Founder of Yonder. Adam was the Managing Director at gener8tor, an early stage venture capital accelerator, with former exp at St. Jude Medical, Nestle Healthcare, & two research fellowships. Adam launched the first healthcare accelerator in Minnesota. Adam has worked with 40+ portfolio companies and those companies have gone on to raise $20M+ in dilutive and nondilutive funds.