Callahan Memorial Award: Stanley Bergman

Callahan Memorial Award: Stanley Bergman

Stanley Bergman, chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., has had a long history of supporting the dental profession. For his contributions, Bergman will receive the Callahan Memorial Award from the Ohio Dental Association on Friday, Sept. 18, at this year’s Callahan Celebration of Excellence in conjunction with the ODA Annual Session in Columbus.

“Stanley Bergman is being recognized for his long history of support of the dental profession and the strides he has led his company to make to help advance the profession,” said Dr. Joe Mellion, chairman of the Callahan Memorial Award Commission.

Bergman said he is honored to receive the award.

“Receiving the Callahan Memorial Award is a tremendous honor, particularly in light of the pioneering work in dentistry and dental research that Dr. John R. Callahan did in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,” he said. “The list of award winners since 1922 is a veritable who’s who of dentistry, and it is very humbling to be included among such stellar leaders.”

Bergman has been Chairman of the Board and CEO of Henry Schein, Inc., since 1989. He first became involved with Henry Schein in 1980 when he was an accountant and consultant at BDO Seidman in New York, and Henry Schein was his client. Jay Schein, son of founders Henry and Esther Schein, was leading the company at this time and offered Bergman a job as chief financial officer.

“At that time, I asked myself the most important question you can – ‘Why not?’ – and over the next years I learned all about the dental industry from so many,” he said. “I have come to appreciate the remarkable professionalism and commitment that dentists around the world share. Dentists are a rare combination of skilled health care clinicians, entrepreneurs and business owners, determined to provide the best possible care to patients and give back to their communities.”

Bergman said that with the support of an extraordinary team at Henry Schein, they have been able to accomplish a lot since he became chairman and CEO of Henry Schein’s distribution business, including “spinning off the generic pharmaceuticals business to focus on distribution; expanding internationally; taking the company public on NASDAQ in 1995; growing our full-service offering for dentists, physicians and veterinarians; becoming a technology leader; expanding strategically through mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures. With the shared commitment of more than 18,000 Team Schein Members, we have now become a Fortune 300 company and the world’s largest provider of health care products and services to office-based dental, animal health and medical practitioners.”

Bergman said the company’s success is a result of a strong team working together.

“While the Callahan Memorial Award may only have my name listed, it really is a reflection of the shared commitment of more than 18,000 Team Schein Members who work tirelessly to balance the needs of our five constituencies – our customers, supplier partners, investors, Team Schein and society – and who help our customers advance oral health around the world,” he said.

Bergman said his favorite part about being involved in the dental industry is how the dental community comes together to provide care to patients and improve oral health.

“The shared commitment of the dental community to improve global oral health is constantly astounding and inspiring,” he said. “Around the world, oral health professionals are passionate about providing the best possible care to patients. This commitment remains constant as the profession itself continues to evolve at an accelerating rate thanks to technology advances. In this age of digital dentistry, the pioneering spirit of the dentist remains as strong as it was in Dr. John Callahan’s time, but technology-driven tools enable today’s dental professionals to realize a higher vision for patient care that few could imagine even a few decades ago. That is what excites me most about dentistry now – the technology we are using today and are dreaming about for tomorrow.”

Henry Schein has been a supporter of organized dentistry, and Bergman said he believes organized dentistry is very important because it provides dental professionals an opportunity to come together and share ideas, experiences and best practices.

“In that way it continues to drive the bar for patient care higher and higher,” he said. “Organized dentistry also provides oral health professionals with a powerful unified voice to bring to the debate on complex global health care issues. Whether at the local, state, national or international level, or whether general or ethnically-specific, organized dentistry plays a vital role in continuing to advance the profession, and Henry Schein is so pleased to partner with many of these organizations.”

Bergman is an honorary member of the American Dental Association and the Alpha Omega Dental Fraternity.

He serves as a board member or advisor for numerous institutions including New York University College of Dentistry; the University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine; the Columbia University Medical Center; Hebrew University; Tel Aviv University; the University of Witwatersrand Fund; The World Economic Forum’s Health Care Governors; the Forsyth Institute; and the Business Council for International Understanding.

His awards include being the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor; the CR Magazine Corporate Responsibility Lifetime Achievement Award; a Doctor of Humane Letters from A.T. Still University’s Arizona School of Dentistry and Oral Health, and from Case Western Reserve University; and Honorary Fellowship of King’s College London and the International College of Dentists.

Bergman is a graduate of The University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa, and is a South African Chartered Accountant and a NYS Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

Outside of work, Bergman enjoys the opera and is on the board of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. He also enjoys skiing, and his favorite activity is being a grandfather. He and his wife, Marion, enjoy spending time with their two sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren.

The Callahan Memorial Award Commission was established in 1920 by the ODA to honor the work of John Ross Callahan, one of Ohio’s noted dental researchers and a leader in organized dentistry. Since its establishment, the award has continued to grow in prominence in the dental profession.