Staff & Board

Laura Marcus | Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Marcus started her career in nonprofits in 1997 as part of an HIV/AIDS prevention project in South Africa and became Executive Director of the Human Care Alliance after returning to the United States in 2000. Laura joined Dientes Community Dental Care in 2004 and served as Executive Director from 2006 through 2008. After serving as the Vice President of risk at Nonprofits Insurance Alliance Group in Santa Cruz, Laura rejoined Dientes Community Dental Care as Chief Executive Officer in May 2011. A graduate of Leadership Santa Cruz County, she earned a bachelor’s degree from San Jose State University (a first generation college graduate) and is a fellow of Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, Leadership Institute for Nonprofit Executives. She completed her Master’s in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley in 2018. Laura currently serves on the board of the Health Improvement Partnership and the Santa Cruz County Chamber. She is a 2013 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2015 recipient of the Community Assessment Project Community Hero Award.

Dr. Sepi Taghvaei | Executive Vice President of Operations

Dr. Sepi Taghvaei attended San Jose State University for her undergraduate studies and obtained her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree from New York University College of Dentistry in 2009. She completed a one year General Practice Residency at Community Regional Medical Center in Fresno, CA where she learned the importance of access to care and providing underserved patients with dental care and education as early as possible to ensure a lifetime of great dental health. In 2014, after spending several years in a corporate dentistry environment in a leadership role, Dr. Taghvaei was excited to return to her passion of community dentistry at Dientes. As the co-chair of Oral Health Access Santa Cruz County, Sepi has found great pleasure in leading a multi-partnership effort in improving the oral health of Santa Cruz County residents. Dr. Taghvaei lives in Aptos with her son and their pug, Squirt. They love Santa Cruz and spend their free time exploring all that our beautiful county has to offer.

Sheree Storm | Chief Business Development Officer

A marketing professional with over 25 years of experience, Sheree brings a business perspective to the non-profit world in her position as Chief Development Officer. Prior to joining Dientes, she worked at ReSurge International, Second Harvest Food Bank Santa Cruz County, Oracle, Marine Terminals Corporation and Global Business Access. Sheree also worked in Japan promoting U.S. agricultural products to the Japanese market. She holds a Masters of Business Administration in International Business from The George Washington University and a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from California State University, Fresno. She is a 2007 graduate of Focus Agriculture and a 2018 graduate of Leadership for Community Transformation.

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Jesse Navarro | Chief Financial Officer

Jesse is a seasoned accounting and financial leader that has worked in the non-profit sector since 2004. Prior to joining Dientes, Jesse was Controller at Salud Para La Gente, an FQHC in Watsonville. He has served in key finance leadership roles including CFO at Janus of Santa Cruz and Director of Finance at Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County.

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Laurie Halsey | Chief Administratve Officer

Laurie leads Dientes core administration functions including human resources, facilities operations, and information technology. She has over 20 years of human resources, administrative functions, and operations management experience with 11 years in leadership roles. Prior to joining Dientes Community Dental, Laurie held Leadership Operations and HR roles at Kaiser Permanente/The Permanente Medical Group, a leading healthcare provider with over 217,000 employees across the United States. Laurie also served as the Chief HR Officer and Chief Administrative Officer at Gardner Family Health Network/Gardner Family Care Corporation, where she was responsible for all aspects of human resources, compliance, CQI/risk management, and credentialing. Laurie holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Behavior and Leadership from the University of San Francisco and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, Magna Cum Laude Honors. Laurie is a certified Lean Six Sigma and Six Sigma Green Belt from the National University.

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