05 January 2023

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Delta Dental of Arkansas promotes Jennifer Morales to VP, HR

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Delta Dental of Arkansas has promoted Jennifer Morales to vice president of human resources, effective immediately.

In her new role, Jennifer will set and enforce all policies, procedures and best practices related to the recruiting, training and professional development of the company’s 220 employees. According to a news release, she will report directly to Kristin Merlo, president and CEO of Delta Dental of Arkansas.

“Ever since Jennifer joined Delta Dental, she has impressed the senior leadership team and me with her superb leadership skills,” Merlo said in the news release. “She actively promotes our unique company culture by focusing on our customers in all her business decisions. Jennifer will be an incredible human resources leader and a strong advocate for our current and future employees.”

Morales joined Delta Dental in late 2019 as the director of Delta Dental Smiles, the company division administering State of Arkansas Medicaid dental benefits. Under her leadership, the division successfully navigated the company’s first-ever External Quality Review Organization assessment and all subsequent reviews and achieved a 99% acceptance rate for the encounter date of the Delta Dental Smiles program.

Before joining Delta Dental of Arkansas, Jennifer served as business operations manager for the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

A native of Texas, Morales earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Hardin Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, and a master’s degree in public health from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She’s also a 2021 Leadership Arkansas Class XV graduate. Morales and her husband Rodolfo are parents to Lucas and Micah.

About Delta Dental of Arkansas

DDOA is the largest dental benefits provider in the state, helping more than 800,000 Arkansans keep their smiles healthy through commercial and Medicaid coverage. As a not-for-profit company, Delta Dental is committed to improving the oral health of Arkansans through the philanthropic efforts of its foundation, which donated more than $3 million to support oral health education initiatives in the last three years.