At Delta Dental of Arizona, we believe everybody deserves a healthy smile. Through the work of our Foundation, we’re able to achieve this mission by giving back to the community and partnering to provide oral health education and resources to those who need it most. It’s a big job—but one we’re so grateful to work towards each year.
As you can imagine, we have a dedicated team that truly understands how our partnership with other community organizations enables better access to oral health care, education, and resources across our state. And luckily for us, our team is growing! As we end the year with feelings of gratitude for all that we’ve accomplished we thought it was the perfect time to reintroduce the smiling faces behind our Delta Dental of Arizona Foundation and celebrate the addition of our newest team member.
Get to Know the Smiling Faces of Our Foundation
Barb Kozuh
Director of Community Benefit
For more than 4 years Barb has led our Foundation and specializes in directing our work in the community, managing grants, projects and sponsorships. She has been with Delta Dental for 8 years and started handling fundraising events and relationship building. Originally she was inspired by the dedication, patience, and kind-heartedness of her childhood family dentist in Joliet, IL and wanted to make others feel good about their smiles by becoming a dentist. However, after graduating from Arizona State University with a business degree, she was lured into the non-profit sports industry where she was able to both fulfill her need to help others and satisfy her love of sports. Barb has served as executive director of Chicago White Sox Charities, the Frank Thomas Charitable Foundation and Phoenix Coyotes Charities. In addition, Barb has worked in marketing, advertising, and public relations for firms in Chicago and most recently was the director of grants and programs for the Arizona Foundation for Women before arriving at Delta Dental of Arizona.
Barb’s warm and thoughtful personality allows her to engage easily with community members and she’s constantly thinking outside the box for ways to move the needle for our Foundation. In her spare time, she loves to try new recipes and spend time with her daughter Annie.
Julie Roorda
Administrative Assistant & Dental Supply Donation Program Coordinator
In a nutshell, Julie is our resident and self-described “office ninja.” For more than 7 years Julie has administered our dental supply donation program and provided top-notch administrative and special project support to our executive team. Julie grew up in southern California but has called Arizona home for many years. In her time in the desert, she has lent her “whatever you need done” attitude to many industries, including healthcare, higher education, and nonprofits. In addition to coordinating all the logistics behind our supply donation program, Julie manages meeting support for our Foundation board of directors.
It’s common knowledge here at Delta Dental of Arizona that if you have a question about Excel or Microsoft Office, Julie is your go-to. She is incredibly organized, detail-oriented and as trustworthy as they come.
Julie oversees the Dental Supply Donation Program and loves getting toothbrushes out to communities all over the state! She also loves to spend time with her husband and their rescue dog, Bailey (AKA Crash Bandicoot) who really keeps her on her toes at home.
Espie Jauregui-Echeveste
Grants Coordinator
And now without further ado, we’d like you to meet our newest team member, Espie! Although Espie is not new to our organization, she’s been with Delta Dental of Arizona for more than 12 years—she is new to our team. Espie started her tenure in our communications center and from there she moved into customer service and finance. Most recently she was promoted to senior billing representative where she worked with large group accounts. She truly knows the ins and outs of almost every department here at Delta Dental of Arizona.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in social work last year (while working full-time) Espie felt a calling to work with others and to give back—something she’ll excel at through the mission of our Foundation.
As our grants specialist Espie will be working with our grantee partners each year as they submit their applications. She’ll be supervising this process by reviewing documents for accuracy, helping to process grant money, assessing interim reports, maintaining project schedules, and building relationships with these partners.
We are so fortunate to have Espie’s friendly and engaging personality working directly with our grantee partners and can’t wait to see how she grows and develops in this new role.
Learn More About Our Work
To learn more about our Foundation and how we do the work we do, we invite you to check out these other resources:
