Elaine Loyack
Delta Dental of North Carolina
Vice President of Community
Engagement and Government Relations
All her life, Elaine Loyack has been searching for a job where she was hired to “make friends and form partnerships.” The idea of building deep connections and furthering relationships always appealed to her.
Before her current position at Delta Dental of North Carolina, headquartered in Raleigh, she got involved in a variety of ventures, seeking that human connection. After earning a degree in sociology from Wake Forest University, she sold computers before getting an MBA in global management and working for World Wildlife Fund. After that she owned and ran a pre- and post-natal fitness company, then consulted on research related to school bus emissions. She went on to teach at a preschool before doing contract work with N.C. Air Awareness in the Triangle.
“I like to use my path as an example to young people that it may not always be a straight line,” she says with a laugh.
It was four years ago, during her contract work, that she started looking for a full time position where she could combine everything she loved about her past jobs. She connected with Curt Ladig, Delta Dental’s president and CEO, and the rest is history.
Every day, Loyack gets to do what she’s most passionate about as she builds partnerships with employers, dentists, and others in the state to make Delta Dental, a nonprofit dental insurance provider, a recognizable name in dental insurance.
“We’re improving lives, especially for those who can’t afford it.” she says with conviction. “The nonprofit model means a portion of our residuals each year are reinvested in North Carolina, either corporately or through our foundation. Our clients and our members are a part of that giving back.”
Loyack was born in Charlotte and has lived in North Carolina for most of her adult life. Her job goes beyond an 8 – 5 workday and entails travel across the state. She loves to spend time with her husband, her 17-year-old son, who’s leaving for college, and her daughter, who’s a rising junior at N.C. State University.
She’s also on the Girl Scouts-North Carolina Coastal Pines board development committee, which covers 41 counties, and is also a board member for SAFEchild, a nonprofit child abuse prevention agency serving Wake County. Her path is full of leaps of faith. “You can take chances,” Loyack says. “Even when I was looking for this job, there were a lot of ‘nos.’ That’s okay. There is something else out there that’s a better fit.”
