Career

I spent fourteen years as the CEO of an orthodontic practice in Birmingham, Alabama. During that time I was able to help grow the company from $3.4M to $18.5M in production. This success was accomplished by concentrating entirely on new patient growth. We saw continuous improvement each year with an average annual growth rate of 13%. That equated to growing an average of just over $1M per year for fourteen straight years. The staff grew from twenty to seventy-five employees and providers increased from two to five. The majority of my focus was spent on improving the effectiveness of our systems, prioritizing a strong staff culture, and designing the best marketing campaign in our market. Our practice invested over half a million dollars during my tenure to learn from more than a dozen of the top consultants in the country. Since my position was outside of the clinic, I could spend my time researching and implementing all of our policies and systems to create top-in-industry results. During my time as CEO, I also served as our Marketing Director with a final marketing budget of over $1M.

Six different local publications recognized our practice as Birmingham's Best Orthodontic Practice. As well as the Birmingham Business Journal named us Birmingham's Small Business of the Year. In 2022, the practice was sold to a successful Dental Support Organization (DSO). I then served as Head of Patient Experience across all of their brands for their 100+ locations. The year I spent with the DSO gave me a deep understanding of the complexities that they face. This learning experience was invaluable as our industry is at a crossroads. How big of a role will the DSO play in our future? I chose to retire a year later in 2023 when I realized that my personal fulfillment came in helping build practices in more creatively flexible ways than is realistically feasible in such a large scale company answering to Private Equity Investors.