Ed Choate*

Ed Choate is always trying to freshen the product mix of Delta Dental of Arkansas.

“Dental benefits have been fairly constant for a number of years,” said Choate, who’s been the president and CEO of Delta Dental in Sherwood since 2000.

So he’s trying to shake it up.

“We’re rolling out an individual dental product, which we did not have before, and … a vision product,” Choate said. “We’re identifying segments in the marketplace that we either have no penetration or low penetration, [and we’re] designing products for that segment.”

The move is paying off for Delta Dental. Its revenue jumped from $165 million in 2003 to $239 million in 2005. Last year, its revenue was projected to be $264 million. And for 2007, Delta expects to see $282 million.

Choate said one of the keys to Delta’s growth is advertising more and becoming more involved in the community.

One of its programs, “Smile! Arkansas,” is designed to improve the oral health of Arkansans. Delta Dental gave more than $1 million to the program between 2002 and 2006. In 2007, the company plans on donating $500,000 to the initiative.

One of the challenges Choate has faced is the competition from the other three main carriers in the state to take away from Delta Dental’s 40 to 45 percent market share.

“They’re working hard to obtain market share,” he said. “When you’re the market leader, you’re the target.”

Delta Dental competes against the biggest and best employee benefit companies in the world, Choate said.

Delta Dental customers “don’t expect to get anything less just because they’re doing business with a company from Arkansas,” Choate said.

Choate’s biggest victory was landing the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville account that went up for bid in 2005.

Choate said the secret to the nonprofit company’s success is knowing the stakeholders and meeting their needs. As a manager, he believes in hiring the best people and listening to them.

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