Keep the Good Things Going: 2025-2026 WSDA President Dr. Lisa Egbert

Oct 6, 2025

“Helping people is why I was put on Earth,” said Egbert, who will serve as WSDA’s next president. “It is why I became a dentist and why I spend so much of my time volunteering on behalf of dentists.”

Quick Bites:

Incoming WSDA President Lisa Egbert is, for all intents and purposes, a PNW local. Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, her parents moved the family to Clarkston, East Wenatchee, and eventually, Kirkland.
Egbert co-owned a family dentistry practice in Bothell. She sold the practice in 2016 and retired, allowing her to pursue volunteer activities within organized dentistry.
She and her husband, Dr. Mark Egbert, have been married for 32 years. They have two adult sons: Richard and Raiden.
Lisa and Mark also have two feathered friends: Hers is an African grey parrot (Greyson); his is a blue and gold macaw (Charlie).
The Egberts are a 100% purple and gold Dawg House: Lisa, Mark, and their two sons are all alumni of the University of Washington.
A self-professed gym rat and “total homer,” Egbert enjoys an active lifestyle and cheering for local sports teams like the Seahawks, Huskies, Kraken and Mariners.
Not-so-secret superpower: Egbert is famous for her homemade chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies, which she shares at every WSDA board meeting.

She won’t admit to being Wonder Woman, but let’s just say no one has ever seen Lisa Egbert and Wonder Woman in the same room at the same time.

Either way, WSDA will benefit tremendously in the year ahead from Egbert’s energy, expertise and enthusiasm for helping people and leveraging the power of organized dentistry.

A successful private practice dentist, businesswoman, wife, mom, mentor, volunteer and leader, Egbert is in her element when active and giving her all.

A Pacific Northwest Local

Some hard-core PNW “purists” may challenge her roots, but for all intents and purposes, Lisa Egbert is a true NW local. Born in Sandpoint, Idaho, Lisa and her family moved to Clarkston, then East Wenatchee, and eventually, Kirkland. Her parents, Dick and Barbara Parsons, are the source of great personal inspiration and admiration, serving as role models for Egbert.

“My parents and siblings are the best,” said Egbert. “My parents have the strongest marriage I’ve ever seen and they consider themselves an inseparable team. We were taught to give our all in the workplace, and value loyalty, integrity and a good laugh.”

Her mother, Barbara, managed an information technology department for a large beer and wine distributor. Her father, Dick, was in the insurance industry. For him to be promoted, their young family was often relocated. Eventually, he went back to school when Egbert was in junior high to become a computer programmer.

“He was a math major, and he really wanted to use his degree, but he had a family he had to take care of, so he kind of jumped into the first jobs that came along. I was really proud of him when he went back to school,” she said. “Mom worked nights and took care of us in the day; Dad did the opposite until we were old enough to be latch-key kids.”

They settled in Kirkland — a more affordable and (at the time) remote part of Puget Sound. It was there, during a health unit in elementary school, that Egbert’s interest in biology was first kindled.

“I remember in fourth grade learning about the circulatory system, and I just thought it was so cool learning how bodies work,” she said. “I ended up in biology, and I thought I was going to work in genetic research, because at that time, they hadn’t decoded the human genome. They were working on it but were not done. And then I realized that I didn’t want to be in a lab working all by myself. I really needed to be around people.”

In college at the University of Washington, she pursued her interest in biology, unsure what direction it would take her. As it turns out, a routine dental cleaning launched her career in dentistry.

“I went to have my teeth cleaned and they ended up offering me a job,” said Egbert. “I started working in the front office, and then I spent a quarter taking night classes and working during the day. I thought, ‘Wow, this is awesome, because you can do science and be around people!’ And since I was already a biology major anyway, I just finished up in bio and took my DATs and got in [to dental school].”

Private Practice

In addition to her passion for science, Egbert also knew she wanted to focus on family dentistry.

She opted to start from scratch with another dentist from the UW School of Dentistry, after a friend introduced the two of them. Both were focused on family — in terms of their own practice and personal lives. Working together could give them a bit of a work-life balance, Egbert said.

“I always felt it would be easier as a woman to work with somebody else, so that I could take time off if I wanted to have children or whatever comes up in life. That way, maybe someone would be there that could help with the practice,” she said. “I thought maybe having a female partner, they’d understand better at that time.”

As it turned out, she did. Egbert and her business partner, Dr. Christine Lentz, built a successful family dentistry practice — Creekside Dental in Bothell — where their own families were their only patients to start with.

“It was a good match,” said Egbert.

Lentz agreed, noting the partnership was a “wonderful working arrangement.”

“We were like sisters in the end. I think we were good partners because we weren’t the same and yet we had fun together,” said Lentz. “We each had our own gifts, and we complemented each other.”

Together, the two built a successful practice, eventually parting ways with Lentz’s retirement in 2011. Egbert sold the practice in 2016 to another Northshore dentist.

“I loved having someone in the community take it over,” she said. “I do miss my clinical practice. I miss talking about health all day long and being part of the community — supporting youth sports, knowing law enforcement and other public servants, networking with other business owners, and providing jobs that support families. I also loved speaking at career fairs and working with school nurses to provide what’s needed for local students.”

Egbert would find opportunities in those moments to leverage dentistry to change lives, whether offering tobacco use cessation, recognizing a need for mental health care, or detecting other health issues like cancer, hypertension and sleep apnea in previously undiagnosed patients. She also found ways to help community youth by intervening in risky behaviors and situations like child neglect.

Both Egbert and Lentz were actively involved in STEM efforts to increase female representation in science fields — including dentistry. They would visit Bothell High School on career day to recruit and pique student interest. Lentz recalled how they each dressed up as “Dentist Barbie” for their visit to a local elementary school.

“We were both interested in STEM. When we came out of dental school, only about 4 percent of dentists were women. It was a great profession [for women] because we could balance being partners in the practice — balance both our personal and professional lives,” said Lentz.

Egbert also encouraged exemplary young people, sending hand-written notes to anyone she had seen doing something positive in local media — an Eagle Scout or Merit Scholar, an outstanding athlete or student engaged in school government.

“Many parents told me that their youth would hang on to the notes, and that some had never received a hand-written card before,” she added. “Giving people hope, for their dental health and other parts of life — this is why every person needs a dental home. Dentists have a wide knowledge base and amazing interpersonal skills and, given the opportunity to really know their patients through continuity of care, they can make a huge impact.”

'I Hit the Lottery'

Lisa and her husband of 32 years, Mark Egbert, are as much best friends as they are each other’s professional muses and personal cheerleaders.

Mark Egbert has enjoyed an equally successful professional career in dentistry, as a pediatric oral and maxillofacial surgeon at Seattle Children’s Hospital. Both Egberts also believe in the power of volunteer service and in organized dentistry: In September he will complete his nine-year leadership commitment to the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons.

“He understands the demands of professional service and volunteer leadership,” said Egbert. “Mark knows what it’s like to be in a board meeting and miss a meal at home,” she added.

The couple has two adult sons who may not share their parents’ profession but have already forged very successful career paths. Richard completed both his undergrad and his master’s in aeronautical and astronautical engineering at the University of Washington and is a rocket scientist. His younger brother, Raiden, double majored in aerospace engineering and ACMS — applied and computational mathematical sciences — at the UW and is finishing his master’s in financial mathematics at the University of Chicago.

“The nice thing is, they’re ALL just super nice people,” said Egbert of her family. “I hit the lottery.”

^{Left: Dr. Lisa and Mark Egbert on a recent AAOMS trip to Lake Tahoe. Right: Purple Reign - The Egberts are all UW Alumni.}

Volunteer Trajectory

As a busy professional woman with young sons and an equally busy and successful husband, Egbert’s volunteer efforts did not really begin until her sons were older and she was more advanced in her practice.

Like many dentists, she began her volunteer work at the society level — with the Seattle-King County Dental Society — helping as needed with events. But she wanted more for herself — and her fellow female dentists — than stuffing goodie bags with toothbrushes.

She approached then-Executive Director Jennifer Freimund with her concerns. It could’ve ended right there — but Freimund took notice of the comments, and the volunteer.

“She kind of kept me top of mind when they needed volunteers. She knew that I liked number stuff so they brought me into their budget and finance,” Egbert said. “So, I started on that committee.”

The next year, she was their treasurer, a position she held for two years.

And the next, was tapped to run for society president.

Then COVID hit, and the executive director position was vacant. Egbert served as an ad hoc executive director, navigating them through the pandemic and leadership void.

“Seattle-King County went through some really hard times while I was there,” she said. “When my term as president began, there was no staff at all. And it ended in COVID — a nice bookend there! I had to basically act as the executive director, start a search for a new director, and create a strategic plan for the next years.”

Once Seattle-King County was in a more stable position, Egbert looked to elevate her volunteer work again — this time with WSDA. The same trajectory followed, starting on the board and their budget and finance work group and eventually, culminating in her nomination to board president.

Because if there’s one thing about Lisa Egbert, it’s the numbers. Lisa Egbert is all about the numbers.

Numbers-Focused

Egbert has no hesitation about stepping into the role as WSDA President. That’s due in part to two things: excellent leaders who preceded her, and the knowledge gleaned through her own work on the association’s budget and finance work group.

Egbert recently completed work on the WSDA Investment Committee with Drs. Bryan Edgar and Mike Buehler and then helped to craft the board’s new investment policy. She also serves on the finance committee for the ADA.

“I always start out kind of on the money end and wind up with my nose in everything,” she said jokingly.

But Egbert is all business when it comes to numbers.

“You learn everything about a nonprofit when you look at where their checks are going,” said Egbert. “I love the math. I love the numbers. I always say budget and finance is the best work group to be on. To come in early and work through countless hours of numbers. No one else likes it, but I love it,” she said.

One person who has seen Egbert’s leadership firsthand is current WSDA President Dr. Chris Dorow. The two have become good friends and colleagues, reconnecting through their work on the WSDA board, having first connected as students at the University of Washington School of Dentistry.

Math is very much her strong suit, he said. But math is not her only strong suit.

“She has some unbelievable strengths — including math. I’m a really logical person but she has emotional intelligence that I don’t have — I wish I did! — but her emotional intelligence is off the charts,” he added.

This past legislative session, Egbert was one of the chief drivers on Senate Bill 5351, WSDA’s bipartisan dental benefits reform legislation. The bill passed the Legislature with unanimous support in both chambers.

“We all did a lot, but no volunteers did more than Lisa Egbert. None,” said Dorow.

“When she was elected, she said, ‘The area I need the most support in is politics,’” recalled Dorow. “And I thought, ‘If that is the area that she thought she needed the most help with — if that’s your WEAKEST area? — then WOW!’”

Case in point: Dorow cites her work in meetings early in the negotiating process with Delta Dental of Washington as an example of her leadership abilities.

“Lisa was outstanding in her presentation and in her strength when dealing with Delta Dental directly. She had obvious resolve when it came to addressing the needs of our membership. And that allowed me to not be the day-to-day dental benefits person,” he said. “It also allowed me to build relationships with legislators to augment her activities directly in the day-to-day meetings on dental benefits.”

“We worked seamlessly together.”

Keep the Good Things Going

Looking ahead to her term as president, Egbert says her priority is to “keep the good things going.”

This includes continuing the good work in Olympia on dental benefits reform and workforce training. One of the components of the dental benefits bill, a structured mediation process between WSDA and other stakeholders in the dental benefits industry on dental loss ratio and non-network reimbursement fairness, began this summer; Egbert serves as the lead dentist for WSDA in those negotiations.

“Working on the dental benefits bill this year and seeing that come to fruition was a major win for our membership and our association,” said Egbert. “I am super excited because if we can get out-of-network parity that will change everything for dentists, which changes everything for patients — and the staff.”

Egbert also praises the association’s work to increase value for WSDA members. Like any profession, dentistry is not without its operational challenges. That’s where membership in WSDA can really make a difference, Egbert said.

“A security breach, an L&I claim or an HR issue. There’s always someone who’s been through it before. You don’t know how to handle it until you’re in a situation, and then WSDA can connect you with someone who’s walked in your shoes, help you sort through it and make you feel like you can get out the other side unscathed,” she said.

In recent years, WSDA has developed several new member products — not to mention unveiling a whole new membership dues structure — that help dentists at every level of the profession. For example, WSDA L&I Advantage can help members improve how they manage workers’ compensation claims and save them time and money. And WSDA’s new dental compliance service, ComplyBetter, modernizes dental compliance management, documentation and training for an affordable price.

And then there’s the new membership model.

“Our new membership model is one of the things that I am most proud of,” said Egbert. “At WSDA, we’ve made actual moves to decrease the cost for our members and still have a really high value,” she added.

“So much of what organized dentistry offers is that someone’s done it before. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” she said. “We’re in such a good place right now, it’s kind of like, ‘Pinch me!’”

“It’s hard to put in words because some people just don’t know that they’re better off because we exist. When you can just call your organized dentistry people, life is so much better.”

'Lisa Understands the Challenges'

Fellow WSDA board member and colleague Dr. Lisa Buttaro says the Wonder Woman analogy is not all that far off from reality.

Both Buttaro and Egbert — often lovingly referred to as “The Lisas” and the “Wonder Twins” by their WSDA board colleagues — share similar career paths in their private practice and volunteer work. Where Egbert served in leadership roles with the Executive Council for Seattle-King County Dental Society, Buttaro did so with the Pierce County Dental Society.

“She’s a leader, a business owner, a mother and a mentor, so Wonder Woman is pretty appropriate,” said Buttaro. “She’s pushed me and other leaders to become better leaders. She is super smart, and asks the tough questions. When a boat needs rocking, she won’t hesitate to give it a push.

“I like to say my Wonder Twin flushes out the BS,” she added. “It’s been a fierce battle in Olympia with our legislators — they see her coming and they know she means business.”

According to Buttaro, Egbert also bakes the best chocolate chip cookies. “Lisa works hard to keep things sweet for our members and our profession.”

Besides her baking abilities, Buttaro says Egbert is an excellent role model for female dentists, especially young women balancing career, service and family.

“Dentistry is not an easy profession and right now, especially, we have so many forces pulling on us. I think it’s important for younger female dentists in particular to see that you can be a mother, a wife, a professional, a leader. Lisa has an amazing husband and two wonderful boys,” Buttaro added.

“That’s what Lisa really exemplifies: Yes, you CAN do it all. It is possible.”

Lentz agrees that her former business partner is perfectly positioned to take on dentistry’s new challenges.

“It’s a different game in dentistry now; it’s changed so much since 2011,” said Lentz. “I think there are so many more challenges today. But Lisa is thoughtful and flexible. She’ll be a good captain at the helm.”

Reflecting on his own work with Egbert, Dorow concurred.

“Where we’re going with WSDA — Lisa is only going to take it farther,” he said. “We had a lot of wins this year, but we need a lot more wins to get dentistry where it needs to be. Lisa understands the challenges and is prepared to address them in multiple areas.”

Dorow said WSDA members will probably see more communication from WSDA and more outreach in the next year — that’s something that really matters to Egbert, as does transparency. “It’s very important to her to be accessible and let members know what’s happening,” he said. “You’re going to see a lot more of that with her.”

He added, “What I love about Lisa is her desire to be the best of the best of the best — that’s what drives her. She is a driven person. Her passion, above and beyond anything, is serving the members of the WSDA. She wants the resurgence of our profession. She wants to have a hand in that — it keeps her awake at night,” said Dorow.

“She doesn’t want it good: she wants it better than it’s ever been.

This article originally appeared in Issue 3, 2025 of the WSDA News.

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