After receiving his undergraduate degree in anthropology, Dr. Tom Ahman attended dental school at the Ohio State University College of Dentistry, receiving his Doctor of Dental Surgery degree in 1977. He started his dental career as the prison dentist at the Chillicothe Correctional Institute; he also volunteered and served inpatient and outpatient veterans at the VA hospital in Chillicothe.  He practiced general dentistry for seven years before returning to continue his education.  He completed his residency and received his Orthodontic Certificate and Master of Science degree in 1985. Upon graduation, he joined the practice of Drs. Lauer, Webb, Fowler and McFarland in Lima, Ohio, where he practiced for thirty-two years prior to retiring. He is a past-president of the Great Lakes Association of Orthodontists, and represented GLAO on the AAO’s Council on Membership, Ethics and Judicial Concerns for eight years and was chair of this committee for two years. He was appointed to the AAO President’s Committee on Practice Alternatives, and was instrumental in the development of the program that is now known as the AAO Practice Opportunities program. He served as Speaker of the AAO House of Delegates for three years, and then chaired the AAO’s Governing Documents Committee that spent two years revising and updating all of the AAO’s governing documents, bylaws and policies. Dr. Ahman is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and has served as a past board examiner. He was selected to be the outside reviewer as part of the accreditation process of an orthodontic program.  He served over twenty years as a case reviewer for the Ohio State Dental Board and has served on local, regional, and state peer review committees. For his service to the AAO, he received the James E. Brophy Distinguished Service Award in 2014.  Dr. Ahman served as a member of the Executive Committee of the World Federation of Orthodontists from 2010-2020, during which time he served in several leadership capacities, including chair of the bylaws and board certification committees.