Employee Spotlight: Rob Daniel Helps Improve Patient Care Through Operations and Leadership
A dedicated and seasoned leader in dental organization operations, Rob Daniel currently serves as Vice President of Field Operations at Benevis, where he exemplifies the organization’s mission to provide high-quality care to underserved communities.
From Retail to Dental
While the last 15 years of his career are in dental operations, Daniel started his professional path in retail, managing stores with demanding schedules. "I was working long hours, late nights, early mornings, weekends, and blackout holidays," he recalled. "I was traveling around cleaning up stores while trying to grow a family and I thought, this is not sustainable."
Searching for better work-life balance in a role equally challenging and rewarding, Daniel found his first role in dental as an office manager. He was among approximately ten individuals selected for an intensive four-month training program that covered all aspects of dental operations.
The experience ignited his passion for the dental field. "I fell in love with the value added every day. To changing a patient's life versus selling a shirt, " Daniel said. "The value of seeing somebody out of pain or just seeing how emotional people started reacting to dental care and how it was life changing was really special to me."
Experience and Leadership Philosophy
Over the years, Daniel has gained a wealth of experience across various Dental Service Organizations (DSOs), equipping him with a comprehensive understanding of best practices in the industry. "I've worked at large DSOs, smaller startup DSOs, new office build models, and in merger and acquisition models," Daniel said. "I've been able to see so many different things, filter out the bad, and learn best practices from each stop I've made."
As an operations leader, his philosophy centers on supporting practices by identifying and addressing operational gaps and alleviating administrative burdens on office teams. "I always love to say that as an operations leader coming in to support a practice, it's our desire to fill in the gaps and pave the way for more efficient business practices to serve your patients better and increase access to care," he said.
In addition to supporting operations, Daniel also believes in developing his team. A strong advocate for mentorship, Daniel draws inspiration from a mentor he had early in his career who invested time in his development, motivating him to adopt a similar approach with his team members. "One of the things I love the most about being an operator and a leader is seeing success for those that I lead," Daniel said. "I love when my team members take my job someday because, to me, that's the biggest key of success in my role – their success."
Commitment to Mission
Daniel joined the Benevis team in the fall of 2024, noting that its mission to expand access to high-quality dental care for underserved communities was a key component of what attracted him to the dental organization.
"Dentistry takes many forms, and this is the lane I want to be in because it can feel like a sales job in dentistry, depending on who your clientele is and what services you provide. That's not the case at Benevis," Daniel said. "We are focused almost exclusively on serving as many people as we can with the highest quality care in underserved areas. That's the type of mission I want to be a part of."
Personal Life and Community Involvement
Beyond his professional endeavors, Daniel has been married for 17 years and is a father to six children. "My kids are in different life phases. We have high school, elementary, and middle school.” Daniel added that they are all involved in sports and other extracurricular activities. “I'm a supporter, a coach, and a chauffeur in the evenings and the weekends.” In between work and family, Daniel enjoys playing basketball, doing his best to avoid injury to keep up his busy schedule.
To learn more about Benevis and look for a practice near you, visit https://benevis.com/locations/.
