Executive Management

Michael F. Walsh has more than 30 years of experience in the healthcare industry.  A native of County Mayo, Ireland, he moved to the United States in 1971, rose rapidly in the ranks of the business world and has been President and CEO of DeCare Dental and its family of companies since 1987.

Since taking the helm of DeCare, Walsh created substantial growth in membership, services and revenue, positioning the organization as a national leader in the dental benefits industry.

Under his tenure, total managed revenues of the organization increased to $1.06 billion in 2006 from $57 million in 1987.  In 1987 the organization served .6 million members.  Today, 4 million individuals (at more than 22,000+ employer groups) are served under the DeCare umbrella across the nation.

Faced with a changing dental benefits landscape and intense competition from significantly larger, national health insurance companies, Walsh developed an aggressive business strategy to diversify and expand DeCare's dental business across the United States.  Under his leadership, DeCare has established relationships with some of the leading medical and life insurance carriers in the United States.

In 1998, Walsh established a software development company, DeCare Systems Ireland (DSI), in Cork, to support DeCare and its family of companies.  The software company has expanded to provide Web-based software solutions to external clients including Avon, MasterCard International and others.  In 1999 Walsh established a claims processing center in County Mayo, Ireland, which currently processes approximately 25,000 dental claims a day from DeCare's U.S. business.

Prior to his role at DeCare, Walsh worked as an Assistant Vice President for the Blue Cross Association in Chicago and Empire BlueCross and BlueShield in New York as a divisional vice president, overseeing various aspects of the health/medical insurance business.  He also taught at the University of Chicago and served on the adjunct faculty in the Graduate School of Business and Health Administration at New York University where he received the Professor of the Year award in 1986.  Walsh is on the board of Boston College and is a member of the Minnesota Business Partnership, University of St. Thomas Center for Irish Studies, The American Ireland Fund, The American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland and the ICCUSA (Ireland Chamber of Commerce in the USA).  Walsh is a regular guest speaker at numerous colleges, universities, and industry conferences.  He was guest speaker recently at Stanford and Harvard, and also addressed A.M. Best's Annual Review and Preview Conference.

Walsh received a Bachelor of Science in Commerce at University College Dublin (UCD) and a Doctorate in Economics from the University of Chicago.

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As the executive vice president for finance and business development, and CFO at DeCare Dental, Fjelstad has lead responsibility for the underwriting, analytics, actuarial, accounting and finance departments, and DeCare Systems Ireland, DeCare's software development company in Cork, Ireland.  Fjelstad spent nine years with KPMG Peat Marwick's Minneapolis office where he specialized in the health care industry. He is a Certified Public Accountant and a 1996 graduate of the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development.  Fjelstad has been affiliated with DeCare Dental since 1989.

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Moksnes has about 25 years experience in dental benefit sales, marketing, product development and joint venture implementation, both on a local and national basis.  He also participates and consults nationally on the implementation and servicing of multi-state customers, joint venture agreements and product introduction strategies.  Moksnes received an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis and is a graduate of the Harvard Business School Program for Management Development.  Moksnes has been affiliated with DeCare Dental since 1978.

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As the executive vice president of operations, Storbakken oversees all operations and leads all information technology development at DeCare Dental.  Storbakken has extensive experience in the U.S. health insurance industry having served as vice president of Medica, chief financial officer and group vice president at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota and as CEO of insurance companies in Minnesota and Texas.  Storbakken graduated from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, with a Bachelor of Arts in Accounting.  He also received a Strategic Planning Certificate from the Harvard Business School and graduated from the Advanced Leadership Program at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota.

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Michael F. Walsh, President and CEO

Dani V. Fjelstad, EVP, Finance and Business Development, and CFO

Mark A. Moksnes, EVP, Sales and Marketing

Norman C. Storbakken, EVP, Operations