April Schmaltz never lived in the same place for long while growing up. 

She was born in Tennessee, spent most of her childhood in a small community called Buhler, Kan., and moved to Texas when she was a freshman in high school. 

But since moving to Iowa in 1999, she hasn’t looked back. 

“I got my bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and worked for a brain injury rehabilitation facility there until 1999,” Schmaltz said. “And that is what moved me to Iowa. Originally, I was supposed to leave on a Monday to go to Joplin, Mo., to learn about their Medicaid business and how we could use that information in Texas.”

Instead, the Friday before her move, Schmaltz said she got a call asking her to go to Altoona to run four group homes for people who had brain injuries. 

“I was told if you like Iowa, you can stay. I moved here and fell in love with it,” Schmaltz said. “My work for the brain injury rehab was very rewarding. During that time, I went back to school and got a Master of Business Administration from Iowa State.” 

Schmaltz is approaching her third month as president and CEO of Delta Dental of Iowa. She succeeded Jeff Russell, who left in June 2023 to become the president and CEO at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Nebraska. She’s worked at Delta Dental of Iowa since December 2014, when she became vice president of marketing and business development. 

Since then, Schmaltz has served as senior vice president of marketing and sales, from April 2020 to January 2024, before becoming the interim co-CEO in June along with Todd Herren, who is the senior vice president of technology and operations at Delta Dental. 

Schmaltz also serves on numerous professional and community boards and councils, including the Iowa Healthiest State Initiative, EveryStep and the Global Insurance Accelerator. 

The Business Record recently caught up with Schmaltz to discuss her path to Delta Dental of Iowa, her first 60 days as CEO and her goals for the not-for-profit insurer.  

This Q&A has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. 

What’s been the focus for you in your first 60 days as Delta Dental’s CEO? 

I’ve been focused on rolling out our 2024 strategic plan. Each year when we introduce our strategic plan, the CEO will host strategic dialogue sessions with our team members. These are small-group sessions where employees can ask questions that are on their minds. They have been great sessions to start the year and [for me] as I begin leading the company. I’ve already got a few key takeaway actions from those meetings, so it was a very productive time. I’ve also been spending a lot more time in the community and getting more familiar with all areas of our business. 

After having those meetings, what are the goals moving forward?

As we think about what’s next for Delta Dental, I think our future is certainly bright. Our strategic plan theme is to “Engage, Enhance and Evolve.” As an overall health and wellness company, we are always looking for ways we can provide our customers with best-in-class benefits that ultimately help them live healthier lives. Most people know us as a dental insurance company, but we also offer vision, legal, life and disability insurance to more than 4,500 Iowa employers and their employees throughout Iowa and the U.S. In addition, we introduced Caregiven as an employee benefit in 2023 that helps employees going through a caregiving experience.  

What’s kept you invested and living here in Iowa for over 20 years?

I’ve watched our community grow in a lot of different ways, and I believe we have such a vibrant community. In Texas, there is an old adage that says, “I wasn’t born here but I got here as fast as I could.” This community is special, and it embraced me when I was much younger in my career. I have more Iowa pride than I have Texas pride. I have grown up in this community and industry in a lot of defining moments of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. 

What first led you to Delta Dental? 

I came to Delta Dental in 2014, spending much of my career in health care and financial services. I have worked for companies of all sizes, from a startup where I was the 14th employee to a company of 60,000 to everything in between. When I was approached about leading marketing and product development for Delta Dental, I knew they had a strong brand and were well known. The company had a lot of growth opportunities, and I wanted to get back into the insurance and health care space. The other area that attracted me to Delta Dental was they were a purpose-driven brand. As a not-for-profit insurance company, we come to work every day and we make an impact. This can be through the insurance benefits we provide our 1.6 million members or the investments we make through the Delta Dental of Iowa Foundation and company giving. Since 2002, Delta Dental has committed more than $68 million to improve the health and smiles of our communities. The company culture at Delta Dental is also very strong. Our team members come to work knowing what our purpose is, and we live our mission to help improve the health and smiles of the people we serve on a daily basis. 

Do you have a favorite experience or memory from working at Delta Dental? 

My best memories are around our community impact work and our annual employee give-back projects. One of our most recent projects was partnering with Eastern Iowa Health Center in Cedar Rapids to host a free, volunteer-led vision clinic. We saw over 400 patients who received vision exams and glasses if needed. To see the life-changing experience when people get glasses for the first time, it’s a pretty unbelievable experience. Anytime I get the opportunity to be involved with our company giving, it really shows how everything we do on a daily basis drives to our greater mission and makes our work worth it. 

What does a typical day look like for you in the new position? Or is there any such thing as a typical day as the CEO of Delta Dental?

I don’t know if there is a typical day for me. I work to be mindful and focused on what my day might look like. However, you come in and something happens and your day shifts. Typical days have not been a part of my routine for some time, but I tend to thrive in that environment. 

Is there any one thing you wish people knew more about the dental industry? 

The dental industry has evolved over the last few decades. I remember as a kid going to the dentist and hearing about people’s fear of the dentist. I know there are still some out there that have that fear. But dentistry today is really about prevention, so you can prevent those bigger issues from happening. The dentist can tell a lot about your overall health with an exam and at times identify other possible chronic conditions, such as diabetes. We see that in our vision care too. Our vision director has shared that when he was in practice, he would identify brain tumor symptoms in a patient on a monthly basis, just from a routine eye exam. At Delta Dental, we want you to use your insurance benefits. So make sure you are getting those preventive dental and vision exams. It’s good for you and your overall health. 

Jill Feilmeier, director of corporate communications at Delta Dental of Iowa, provided clarification about the organization’s strategic plan: “The ‘engage’ focus is about how we provide value in every interaction we have with our customers. Our ‘enhance’ focus is about making what we do best and making it even better. And our third area of focus is ‘evolve.’ This is really how we take our business to the next level.” 

---

At a Glance

Hometown: Spent most of her childhood growing up in Buhler, Kan.  

Education: Bachelor of Arts from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas; and Master of Business Administration from Iowa State University.

Family: Son, Jack, who is a senior in high school; daughter, Lauren, who is a freshman in high school; husband, Matt; and two 5-year-old dogs, Max and Milo.

Activities: Attending kids’ activities, including games and show choir events; working out; spending time with family; and self-care.