Sourcing and Vetting Executive Talent for the Dental Industry

DSOPro: Tell us about your background.

I am founder and managing partner of GRN Plano Executive Search and have more than 20 years’ experience building high-performance diverse teams in Fortune 100, mid-cap, PE-owned, and start-up businesses in consumer products, medical devices, healthcare, and digital technologies. After college, I started carrying a retail sales bag for Campbell Soup Company and earned my way up to executive and operating roles as VP of Sales, VP of Marketing, EVP of Operations, President of a Fortune 100 Division, and CEO.

Among the things I achieved with great teams over my career are delivering EBITDA growth and business turnaround leading to a successful sale of a company, selling a private equity Board on a multimillion-dollar capital investment plan enabling innovation and doubled EBITDA, leading Canadian CPG transformation, and leading a Global Walmart Team winning supplier of the year award.

I had the privilege of leading great teams at Novartis - CIBA Division, Campbell Soup Company, PepsiCo – Frito-Lay Division, Eastman Kodak Company, Dr. Pepper, and Mom 365/PE supplier to 1,800 hospitals. It’s been a great ride. I could not have done it without the great teams I had the pleasure of working with and the grace of God.

DSOPro: How did you get from there to dental?

Since half of my career was in healthcare and the other half in consumer products, the focus for my search company was an obvious one. I started in healthcare in ophthalmology on the supplier side and as head of sales for the Novartis – CIBA division. My organization called on 45,000 independent and multi-unit eye care providers. We worked alongside the providers to provide the best products and training. In the end, some of those executives running the eye care organizations went to other medical specialty companies like dental.

Once I started the search business, it was easy for me to go back to helping small to mid-cap healthcare provider organizations build their leadership teams. I started in dental by referral. Executives who knew I had personal experience hiring talent at executive levels in my corporate career asked me to help them find “leaders” for their now dental organizations. It really became a natural progression of medical specialties we supported and now we market our services to the industry.

Additionally, my team and I talk to talent every day across medical specialties: dental, eye care, dermatology, oncology, orthopedics and others. Those individuals get placed into dental organizations and then refer us to help find talent for their organizations. We find dental to be greatly rewarding, with a lot of great leaders, and who does not like a great smile. Transformational, really. So much new technology, too!

DSOPro: Do you focus primarily on DSOs?

We support any small to large multi-unit dental group or dental supplier/manufacturer that has a need to add a leader or replace a leader on their team. So, we absolutely support DSOs. We have a few doctors who are forming a DSO, hence in start-up mode, and we help find the “right” leaders they need to operationalize their organization, too. As we get to know the owners and suppliers, their business culture, and the patient care they want to deploy in the market, we find leaders who have the skills needed and match the same culture and patient focus the client has, making it a win-win. We support DSOs, a JV model/DPO, or an independent multi-unit group or supplier to dental needing the “right” leader for their team.

DSOPro: What makes your company different?

We think GRN Plano Executive Search stands out for a lot of reasons, but here are my top five:

1. Personal experience: My partners and I each bring the lens of 30+ years of personal executive leadership experience to every search we do, C-suite to manager. We have had to deliver P&L results by the hires and teams we have built personally. We’ve personally built start-ups and led billion-dollar divisions. We know the deep experiential and behavior questions to ask in our vetting process to ensure a great hire. We start with client strategy and goals, culture, and then size and scale, and the experiences needed for the “right” leader.
   
   
2. Our size: We are a boutique-size company. We are urgent, adaptable, nimble, and position our work to meet the client needs. No matter the agency size, due to technology, we all have access to the same talent. We focus 100% of our time with clients and candidates, we are not bound by internal operations and protocols. A client can pick up the phone and reach me—the owner—easily, quickly addressing a need. Lastly, when we assign a partner or director to a client, they own the search and are working the search, too. Leadership screens and determines who moves forward. Again, we want to use our leadership experience to guide the choices we make. No inexperienced recruiters are involved in screening.
   
   
3. Backed by vast network of resources: GRN Plano Executive Search is affiliated with Global Recruiters Network (GRN) an affiliation of 170 offices globally. GRN has been in the recruiting industry for over 20+ years and provides legal, financial, accounting, technology, and industry oversite and support ensuring we are compliant with all state and local hiring practices. This should provide assurances to our clients that we have sound business practices and work with the highest ethics always. They also have resources for my office to have the ability to scale up quickly for a large assignment yet keep our boutique business model intact. In reality, GRN Plano Executive Search runs just like a DSO. GRN Corp. is the “Support Organization”, and my team focuses on client needs and care!
   
   
4. Executive Search “Reimagined”: I believe we have changed the game on the search model. With technology advances, we have been able to simplify components of the financial model that is very attractive to our clients. Much of this is confidential for our client conversations. However, CFOs and CHROs report that our business model has cut their recruiting costs at least 20% and increased the quality of the “right” leaders at the same time.
   
   
5. Guarantee: Provided with every search – including C-suite.

DSOPro: Do you have any advice for interviewers or interviewees?

Be authentic. Make sure you can clearly articulate what you bring to the table and the results you’ve achieved. Be as specific and quantitative as possible.

A word of caution: stop relying solely on AI to write your resume. We recently reviewed four or five executive-level CTO resumes, and they all had the same format and similar wording in some sections. My advice to interviewees is that while technology can be a great asset, it can also work against you. This is why authenticity is key—focus on sharing your results-driven accomplishments and what makes you uniquely suited for the role. No one can convey your achievements better than you. Use AI to polish what you write, not to create it for you.

For hiring managers, it’s important to remember that while you are responsible for selecting and hiring candidates, how you manage the process from the first interview onward matters. The interview process is a candidate’s first impression of you and your company, and it can significantly impact their desire to continue with the process or even join your team.

DSOPro: From your perspective and experience in so many industries, talk about what’s similar, what’s different, and what has evolved.

Healthcare has evolved. High-quality care has always been a cornerstone for providers. Today, while treating and solving health issues remains essential, patient retention increasingly depends on how patients perceive the care was delivered. This includes everything from how they feel when they walk into the office, their interactions with staff, the empathy of the doctor, the cleanliness and atmosphere of the environment, the perceived quality of technology, and even surprises in billing and any follow-up. There’s a greater emphasis on the entire patient experience—similar to my time in consumer industries, where we used to say, “When the consumer is king, cash is king!”

I’ve also observed the rapid growth of the DSOs, DPOs, and all the other models in between. I believe this trend will continue across all healthcare medical specialties. While interest rates may be restrictive at the moment, this is temporary. DSO growth is likely to persist for years to come due to the model’s efficiencies in purchasing and the ability to integrate new technologies quickly, ultimately enhancing the patient experience. It is really an exciting time to be involved in dental.

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About Laura Klein

President and Managing Partner of GRN Plano Executive Search, Laura Klein brings over 30 years of executive leadership and global P&L experience. Her executive background includes CEO, President, SVP/GM & VP roles in Fortune 100, Private Equity, and Family businesses primarily within Healthcare and Consumer Products. (Healthcare: Novartis & Envision - Eye Care/Vision, Mom365 - Hospital Services. CPG: Dr. Pepper, Campbell Soup, PepsiCo, Eastman Kodak, and Saputo)

From consumer products, Laura transitioned to healthcare as Head of Sales for Novartis - Eye Care Division (CIBA). She worked with multi-unit and independent eye care professionals to deliver quality contacts and patient eye care solutions. She later became President of a PE-backed service provider to 1,800 hospitals across the US, which was successfully sold after strong EBITA growth.

Throughout her career Laura consistently built high-performance, diverse teams that achieved exceptional financial results, driven by her belief that placing the “Right” leaders in key positions can positively impact EBITDA. Now at GRN Plano Executive Search utilizing expertise in sourcing, screening, and vetting executive talent, the team places great LEADERS, earning repeat business and referrals from satisfied clients.

GRN Plano Executive Search

GRN Plano Executive Search is a boutique search and recruiting firm in Plano, Tx. Specializing in finding the “Right” Leaders for healthcare multi-unit medical specialty support organizations, and medical device/product suppliers in North America. FORBES – America’s Best Executive Recruiting Firms 2017 -2024.