Delta Dental of Tennessee
Legal name: Delta Dental of Tennessee Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 620812197
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, United States
- Phone
- (800) 223-3104
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $261,606,699
- Expenses
- $253,631,336
- Assets
- $119,596,787
- Liabilities
- $25,366,734
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
25 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JEFFREY BALLARD (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- DR PHILIP A WENK (FORMER CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- DR PHILIP A WENK (FORMER CEO): $1,462,609 total reported compensation
- JEFFREY BALLARD (PRESIDENT & CEO): $1,406,542 total reported compensation
- MELISSA HUSCHKE (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $668,565 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We’re dedicated to helping you achieve a healthy smile! As Tennessee's largest independent dental benefits carrier, we connect individuals, families, and employers with affordable, high‑quality dental coverage through the nation’s largest dental network. Beyond benefits, we’re deeply committed to the communities we serve — working alongside our partners and our Smile180 Foundation to expand access to care, support oral health education, and make a meaningful impact across Tennessee.
What it reported doing in 2024
The primary purpose of delta dental of Tennessee is to provide professional dental services under written contracts which entitle the subscribers to reimbursement for covered services provided by licensed dentists, primarily in the state of Tennessee. Both local and national contracts are administered, which have the key feature of giving subscribers access to the local provider networks maintained by delta dental of Tennessee, as well as the national provider networks of the delta dental system under the delta USA program. The company makes unconditional promises to give, to both its foundation and various other organizations, which support educational and research programs for the advancement of dental science and to promote the oral health of the public through educational and service activities. Delta dental of Tennessee assisted clinics that primarily serve the working poor and funded ambulatory surgery centers to allow inpatient oral health care. At the education level, the company assisted dental schools in order to keep their facilities and teaching equipment up to date and funded dental scholarships to 3rd and 4th year dental students.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 99% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Member-benefit provider. The nonprofit used 85% of its reported program spending for member benefits.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Program spending has declined or grown slowly and revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 82
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 92.7%; rating input score 93
- Program expense ratio: 95.4%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 93.5%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 3%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.47; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.8%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -5.8% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.4% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 92.7% of revenue deployed · 95.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 10 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $241.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.5M · 25 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.3M reported
- Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 67 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 76 filed related-organization links
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 41/100.