Officers & Bios

President 2012-2013

Susan Savage, RDH, BSDH, of Ellensburg, Wash., is the 2012-2013 president of the Chicago-based American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA).

Savage has served in various positions within ADHA including as president-elect and vice president of ADHA, a delegate, Reference Committee member, and chair of the Washington State Dental Hygienists’ Association ADHA Annual Session delegation committee and ADHA Minutes Review Committee. She has also served in the capacity of district XII trustee. Additionally, she served as president of the Washington State Dental Hygienists’ Association, a constituent of ADHA, and the Isaac Knapp Dental Hygiene Society, a component of ADHA.

Savage has practiced dental hygiene for 24 years and is currently employed at the Mountain View Dental Center, PS. She is employed in a dual role as a clinical dental hygienist performing expanded duty dental hygiene functions, as well as the office manager. Savage spent five years working in rural Alaska with the Alaska Native Health Services as a dental disease prevention specialist.

She earned her associate degree in dental hygiene in 1988 at Indiana University at Fort Wayne and received her Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene from Eastern Washington University in 2005.

President-Elect 2012-2013

Denise Bowers, RDH, PhD, of Lima, Ohio, is the 2012-2013 president-elect of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA).

Bowers has been an ADHA member since 1988. She has held several positions within ADHA including two five-year terms as a delegate, Student Relations Committee Member, district V trustee, Executive Committee Member, liaison on various ADHA councils, HyPac treasurer and ADHA vice president.

Bowers has also served as a consultant to the American Dental Association’s Commission on Dental Accreditation and two years as president of the Ohio Dental Hygienists’ Association (ODHA). Currently, she works as a professor and chair of the dental hygiene program at Rhodes State College. She is a member of the Ohio Council of Dental Hygiene Directors and the American Dental Education Association.

Bowers earned her dental hygiene certificate from the Ohio State University and her Bachelor of Science in biology, with a minor in chemistry, from the University of Texas. She also acquired a master’s degree in education administration from the University of Dayton, and a doctorate in higher education from the University of Toledo.

Her dedication to the profession of dental hygiene and to continuing education has earned her a number of awards and recognitions, including the Margie A. Pearce Aspiring Professional Award, the ODHA Outstanding Effort Award and the ODHA Gail D. Benninger Member Scholarship Award.

Vice President 2012-2013

Kelli Swanson Jaecks, RDH, MA, of Salem, Ore., is the 2012-2013 vice president of the American Dental Hygienists’ Association (ADHA).

Swanson Jaecks has served ADHA in various capacities, including as a district XII trustee, as a member of the Council on Regulation and Practice, a delegate, a Reference Committee member, and an alternate delegate. She also served as president of the Oregon Dental Hygienists’ Association, as well as president of her local component, the Marion-Polk-Yamhill Dental Hygienists’ Association (MPYDHA).

Swanson Jaecks is president of Verbal Impact, LLC, an educational and consulting company that offers health care courses in both lecture and interactive formats. She is a nationally published author and speaker on a variety of health care related topics, including issues of health awareness, oral/systemic correlations and dental/medical collaboration. She has been an American Dental Association Cell Seminar Series speaker since 2009.

Swanson Jaecks holds a master’s degree in Communication and Adult Education from Oregon State University, where she taught leadership and public speaking. She received her Bachelor of Science in dental hygiene from Oregon Health Sciences University in 1996. She also holds an expanded practice permit, which allows for independent dental hygiene practice to underserved populations.

She has received various recognitions and awards, including ADHA Research Poster Presentation for her project “Interdisciplinary Collaboration: The Dental Hygienist’s Role” in 2007 , MPYDHA Inspirational Leader Award in 2006 , the ADHA/Colgate Community Outreach Award for her component in 2004 , and the John O. Butler Healthy Gums/Healthy Life Award of Distinction in 2003.