Getting it Bright

Innovator: Alumnus Steven Bilt Gives America Something to Smile About

By Jaime Buck

"Some people who can skirt precipices without a tremor have a strong dread of the dentist's chair...Few of us are obliged to circumnavigate precipices, but we all have to take a chance at the dental chair." -MARK TWAIN

Mark Twain's words capture a long-harbored fear for many Americans: going to the dentist. While "dental anxiety" has been the subject of numerous medical studies, and the reason for many postponed checkups, Pepperdine alumnus Steven Bilt is busy addressing a different kind of dental anxiety-the concerns of the health care providers themselves.

Bilt is CEO and co-founder of Bright Now! Dental, Inc., the Santa Ana based dental practice management company that is the largest provider of its kind worldwide. During February 2003, Bright Now! acquired a much larger competitor, literally quadrupling the company's size overnight.

According to Bilt, the United States dental market-a sixty-eight billion dollar sector-is growing rapidly. However, half of the country is still not receiving dental care, a public health concern so grave that both the Surgeon General and Center for Disease Control and Prevention have initiated extensive programs to educate Americans about the serious consequences of neglected oral health.

These factors contribute to a complex business climate and put independent dentists, a group Bilt calls "the heart of our business model," smack-dab in the middle of a serious dental dilemma: how can they be available to a growing number of patients, continue to provide individualized, quality care, and navigate the vast amount of administrative work necessary to run a medical office?

Bilt's answer is to partner with these dentists and assume responsibility for the day-to-day business functions of running dental practices, allowing dentists to make the best use of their time with patients. "The average private practice dentist can only spend sixteen to twenty hours a week taking care of patients," Bilt explains. "Dentists who work with us literally spend forty hours a week practicing dentistry . . . they get to do the things they are best trained to do." It also gives the 1.5 million patients who visit Bright Now! dentists every year more one-on-one time with their dentists, and a more pleasant experience in the dentist's office.

"I use a business model called the Virtuous Circle," says Bilt. "I take each of our constituents-patients, doctors, employees, investors-and put them on a circular graph. I then honestly ask myself and my management team, 'How are each of these groups winning with this model?' If the model works for everyone-if everyone's needs are being met-we replicate it. If it doesn't work for someone, we go back, start over, and adjust it."

Bilt's straightforward, "win-win philosophy," has not only steadily grown the business since its founding in 1998, it has won the loyalty of Bright Now! Employees and caught the attention of leading professional services firm Ernst & Young, which awarded Bilt the prestigious "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in June 2003. Also sponsored by CNN, USA Today, and the Nasdaq Stock Market, the award is granted to men and women who, according to Ernst & Young, are "the backbone of our country, and whose ingenuity and perseverance have created and sustained successful, growing business ventures." As a result, Bilt joins the Entrepreneur of the Year Hall of Fame and Academy in good company. Other members include Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer; Richard Schulze, CEO of Best Buy; and Jack and Andy Taylor of Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

While he says that winning the Ernst & Young award was surprising, Bilt credits his entire team for working hard to make it possible-he is quick to clarify that "we won the award." The win was especially rewarding because it wasn't so long ago that the University of California, Santa Barbara, graduate worked for Ernst & Young himself. Fresh out of college in 1988, Bilt was assigned the less-than-glamorous task of handing out name badges at the Entrepreneur of the Year award ceremony. Last year he won, and this year he'll serve as a judge.

The honor comes as no surprise to those who knew him during his time in the Presidential/Key Executive MBA (P/KE) program at Pepperdine's Graziadio School of Business and Management. Dr. Wayne Strom remembers Bilt as "consistently positive with high energy and disciplined focus," and Dr. Otis Baskin calls him a "credit to the entrepreneurial tradition of Pepperdine." Bilt says he was initially drawn to the school because of a new career path he was taking-transitioning from a financial role as CFO to an operational role as CEO of Bright Now! "I never thought I was done in school," comments Bilt, "and it was time to expand my thinking." Since receiving his degree in 2001, Bilt has enjoyed guest lecturing for some of his former professors.

Though his business accomplishments are impressive, Bilt understands that "it's important to refresh yourself," and nothing is more refreshing than spending time with his two children: eleven year-old daughter, Kendyl, and four year-old son, Carson. Last year, he was bestowed the honorary title of tribal chief for Kendyl's Indian Princess tribe. This year, he steps up to the plate as Carson's t-ball coach, a position that Bilt relishes because he and his son can share one of his longtime passions-baseball. When he can, Bilt goes mountain climbing and occasionally makes time for scuba diving.

It's been six years since he co-founded the little company that showed big promise. Flourishing under his careful leadership, Bright Now! is poised to get bigger and better. For millions of apprehensive Americans, it may be enough to make dental anxiety a thing of the past.