ACD Strategic Planning 2023

Copley Plaza Hotel, Boston, MA

It’s 2040, and an integrated health model and technology supported by augmented intelligence is standard practice for oral healthcare. The world is very different, perhaps in surprising ways. As much as things might have changed, the ACD is still the leader in ethics and professionalism for oral healthcare professionals.

From April 20 to April 22, 2023, ACD board members, fellows, SPEA leadership, a past president, and senior staff gathered at the College’s birthplace, Boston, Massachusetts, to create a vision for our future rooted in our timeless values. The strategic plan that will emerge from this work will guide our organization in the years to come.

Using scenario-based planning strategies, the team grappled with the hypothetical aftereffects of potential seismic shifts in government and natural and manmade catastrophes, and how the ACD will continue to thrive in the future under fraught circumstances out of our control. Using these future hypothetical scenarios depicting worlds different from the one we live in now, participants were led through a series of question-based exercises to help create strategies that the College can rely on under any circumstance—near, medium, or long-term. The scenarios were developed by Futures Strategy Group (FSG), our strategic planning partner, and the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). The materials and process were customized for the ACD.

Prominently included in the exercise was the creation of a profile for a new Executive Director, which will be used in the coming months to refine the role of the ED and guide the hiring of a new leader.

To promote within the dental profession the highest ethical standards, stimulate interprofessional relationships, and urge upon the professional person recognition of his responsibility to participate in the affairs of society as a citizen of the community;” Preamble to the ACD Bylaws—our strategies might change, but our values are timeless.

At the end of the second day of the session, ambassadors from each scenario group visited the other groups to stress test their proposed strategies. After the testing, the strategies were sorted and categories developed as themes emerged. The

top 10-15 strategies that are clearly most relevant under the broadest set of circumstances are the ones that will eventually be fleshed out with goals, objectives, a timeline, and budget. After the information generated at the in-person session is sorted and categorized, it will be presented to the Board to refine and publish for the Fellowship in the eJACD

The in-person session was supported by preliminary work that included 30 interviews with fellows and friends of the College, including honorary

fellows, authors contributing to the eJACD, new and long-time fellows, and past presidents. FSG conducted these interviews privately and anonymously, encouraging frank and open conversation with the interviewees.

The overarching question: How will ACD continue to thrive in a future we cannot control? What do you think?

Share your thoughts at https://tinyurl.com/38nhx3rm

On the topic of advocating for vulnerable populations –“ This is something we have always worked on…and it’s something we can lead on.” Another said, “If our goal is to be on the forefront [of ethics] we should think bigger. Professional identities or patient identities? A potential gathering place for the marginalized?

– Anonymous (from the Interview Summary)

On the in-person process –“ This was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. What a gift to work with such amazing, invested participant leaders to work to make an important organization even better.

– Larry Garetto

It was inspiring to be in the same location where the ACD was founded in 1920 with such a dedicated and passionate group of ACD Fellows for the Strategic Planning in Boston. I am looking forward to the final outcome with its related actions and am excited about the future of the ACD.

– Hanna Lindskog

Being a full-time academician, I have participated in [and at times mustered up the strength to endure] several strategic planning processes and committees. Working with the ACD and the Futures Strategy Group has been a surprisingly pleasant undertaking. The scenario-based concept, while initially a bit daunting, was actually fun and invigorating. The approach to consider the role of the ACD in a variety of future worlds pushed us to think in a robust way about the ACD we need to be and want to see, ensuring our place and role as the conscience of dentistry for decades to come.

– Carlos Stringer Smith, DDS, MDiv, FACD Associate Dean, Inclusive Excellence, Ethics, and Community Engagement, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry

To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents...

– Winston Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill wasn’t speaking of the Strategic Planning sessions for the ACD, but he could have been. The team was full of visionary leaders and luminaries. The sessions were equal parts creative and analytical, remarkable, and full of promise. All members trusted the work they put in and will wait with anticipation for the actionable items and keys to implementation. The ACD must finish well.

–Kevin Lauwers, DMD Section Chair, British Columbia Section

STRATEGIC PLANNING TEAM MEMBERS

Pamela Alston

Phyllis Beemsterboer

Steven Chan

Julie Connolly

Joseph Crowley

Teresa Dolan

Peter Dubois

Nanette Elster

Robert Faiella

Cecile Feldman

Paula Friedman

Larry Garetto

Peter Guevara

Carole Hanes

Krista Jones

Richard Jones

Robert Lamb

Kevin Lauwers

Hanna Lindskog

Rebecca Long

Ned Nix

Terry Norris

Suzan Pitman

Robert Plage

Tom Raimann

Toni Roucka

Lance Rucker

Matthew Sheriff

Carlos Smith

Pamela Zarkowski