About this role
Vice President, Government Affairs - Effingham, IL
Job Description: Vice President, Government Affairs About Heartland Dental: With more than 1,900 dental offices supported across 39 states and Washington, D.C. and over 3,100 supported doctors, Heartland Dental is the largest dental support organization (DSO) in the United States. Founded in 1997, Heartland Dental has a proven track record of growth and success. Quite simply, Heartland Dental’s vision and mission are the reason the Company exists, and the mission/vision bring to life all that we do. Heartland Dental’s vision is to be a world-class company and the leader in dentistry. Our mission is to support dentists and their teams as they deliver the highest quality dental care and experiences to the communities they serve while providing exceptional careers and creating value for our stakeholders. In a Nutshell: If you’re an energetic and government affairs professional with 10 plus years of experience, and ready to advance your career with the nation’s leading DSO in the healthcare field, keep reading. Yes, a dynamic personality is important – we need someone who is open, positive, and mentally flexible and has an interest in new challenges, building your leadership skills, and participating in the rapid growth of our Company. It is a roll-up your sleeves job. The successful candidate will have the thinking ability and experience to strategically identify opportunities; the drive, grit and common sense to execute tactical tasks; and the personality and executive presence to build relationships and lead initiatives with multiple stakeholders. This individual will act as a primary government affairs liaison between the Company and the Association of Dental Support Organizations (ADSO). This position will report directly to the SVP, General Counsel and will be part of the Company’s Legal, Compliance and Regulatory Team. Working Environment: Remote. Support offices are available in St. Louis, MO or Effingham, IL with other Heartland Dental team members if you live in one of those areas. Moderate travel (10-20%) is required as part of this government affairs work and to attend company related events, leadership trainings, goals meetings, and team offsites. Occasional weekend or evening work may be needed for critical deadline periods or urgent matters. Responsibilities Position Description and Expectations: We are looking for an individual that can advance Heartland Dental’s nationwide government affairs presence through forward thinking, a strong commitment to communicating the Heartland Dental story and a willingness to roll up sleeves, execute and make things happen. Here’s what you could expect to fill your time during Year One with our Company:
• First and foremost, working to build yourself and the role through ongoing leadership opportunities; • Extensive onboarding to learn about Heartland Dental, how we support doctors and offices, and to develop a wide range of relationships, both internally and externally, to successfully advance the government relations activities; • Monitor, analyze and report on legislative, regulatory, political and industry developments affecting Heartland Dental, supported doctors and supported offices. Assess the business impact of those developments, identify risks and opportunities, and provide practical recommendations to stakeholders; • Review enacted laws identified through legislative monitoring resources; determine which laws potentially affect Heartland Dental, supported doctors and offices; and timely communicate the relevant legal changes in easy-to-understand language to the appropriate internal stakeholders; • Collaborate with ADSO, other DSOs, trade associations, government affairs professionals and internal business partners to advance Heartland Dental’s government affairs and public policy objectives; • Build and maintain relationships with legislators, regulators, elected officials and their staffs; • Represent Heartland Dental’s positions before policymakers, regulators, trade associations and other external stakeholders, and develop advocacy materials, policy communications and educational resources to support those efforts; • Initiate and manage government affairs, public affairs and external relations initiatives that support Heartland Dental’s business objectives and help create a favorable external environment; • Coordinate the work of external lobbyists, consultants and other government affairs partners supporting Heartland Dental’s initiatives; • Ensure compliance with applicable lobbying, advocacy, ethics, registration and reporting requirements; and • Perform other duties, projects and responsibilities as assigned by the SVP, General Counsel or as business needs require. Beyond Year One: As the function matures, this role is expected to grow in scope, deepening Heartland Dental's presence/involvement in priority states, developing internal reporting and advocacy infrastructure, mentoring or building out additional government affairs resources as the Company's footprint expands, and measuring the function's impact against defined policy and business objectives.