The American Dental Association and New Jersey Dental Association announced on Friday that Mr. James (Jim) Schulz will leave his position as NJDA Director of Governmental and Public Affairs to become the new Senior Vice President of Government and Public Affairs for the ADA. Jim will officially begin his new role on August 1, 2024.

Jim will lead the implementation of the strategic forecast in legislative advocacy in collaboration with volunteer agencies and Association leadership and staff. He will serve as a member of the Professional Affairs Portfolio that coordinates ADA priorities across the enterprise.

Jim will lead and create trusting partnerships among staff, volunteers, and dental societies to define advocacy and help the Association achieve success. Jim will also lead knowledge-based discussions on key issues, inspire constituencies, share ownership of jointly discovered solutions with volunteers and staff, and communicate effectively with all stakeholders throughout the dental profession.

For more than 20 years, Jim has served as the Director of Governmental and Public Affairs for the New Jersey Dental Association (NJDA), where he also serves as the Executive Director of the New Jersey Dental Political Action Committee. He was integral in securing the reinstatement of a full-time New Jersey Dental Director, by a licensed dentist, for the first time since 1989.

During his tenure at NJDA, he has reshaped the dental narrative amongst New Jersey policymakers by highlighting dentists as both small businesses and important members of the communities in which they live and practice. He was instrumental in ensuring dental health care professionals were classified as “essential” during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in New Jersey.

Jim has served on the ADA Task Force for Strategic Planning in Public Policy, which has served as the cornerstone of several ADA’s federal policy initiatives. He served as a consultant to the ADA’s Emergency Department Referral Working Group, which partnered with the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) to develop Emergency Department Diversion Programs, aimed at reducing the number of emergency department encounters for non- emergent dental procedures. He served as a consultant to the ADA’s Medicaid Task Force. He is a member of the ADA’s FIIST Task Force, which focuses on state strategies to address third- party payer intrusion in dentistry and oral health. In 2019, he was inducted into the International College of Dentists as an Honorary Fellow and one of 100 non-dentist professionals in the College’s 100-year history.

Jim is a proud graduate of The College of New Jersey, earning a degree in Political Science, and where he currently serves on its Board of Trustees. He hails from a multi-generational, bi- partisan political family, which has been active in government and politics at the state and local levels, serving as a mentor and confidant throughout his career.