ANCC Leadership and Management Directory

Rebecca is Senior Vice President, Accreditation and Organization Credentialing. She is responsible for the strategic vision, governance, and operations of ANCC's credentialing programs. The Magnet Recognition Program designates organizations worldwide where nursing leaders successfully align their nursing strategic goals to improve the organization's patient outcomes. The Magnet Recognition Program provides a roadmap to nursing excellence, which benefits the whole of an organization. The Pathway to Excellence Program recognizes a health care organization's commitment to creating a positive practice environment that empowers and engages staff. By investing in the optimum workplace for nurses, organizations demonstrate a culture of sustained excellence, resulting in the successful recruitment of top candidates and staff retention through high job satisfaction. Rebecca holds baccalaureate degree in nursing, both a master of science and master of business administration from the University of Maryland, University College, and a PhD student in health sciences, health care administration.

As Executive Vice President Patient Care Operations, System Chief Nursing Officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, Laura J. Wood, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN leads the discipline of nursing and provides system-level oversight of patient care delivery in support of the organization’s network, satellites, and expanding care delivery settings. Boston Children’s serves as the pediatric training center for Harvard Medical School, where nurses in concert with interprofessional care teams actively translate science to care delivery as part of the world’s largest pediatric research enterprise - treating more children with rare and complex conditions than any other hospital in the world.

Since joining Boston Children’s in 2013, Wood has further strengthened the hospital’s exceptional nursing practice environment through: the creation of nurse-designed care delivery strategies, the implementation of advanced practice clinician career advancement models in concert with a doubling of the APRN workforce, expansion of healthy work environment supports with positive system-wide outcomes, quality-safety-experience innovations, strategic contributions to nursing workforce diversity and inclusivity and the formation of the organization’s formal Office of Health Equity, and promotion of child-health and informatics public policy advocacy. In 2014-15, she jointly launched the organization’s high reliability organization (HRO) quality improvement initiative with the hospital’s president and other key leaders, resulting in ongoing reductions in the rate of serious safety events and numerous improvements to care quality — including national recognition of nurse-sensitive outcomes measurement performance.

Under Wood’s leadership, Boston Children’s nursing has achieved two successive ANCC Magnet® re-designations representing the most prestigious international distinction a health care organization can receive for direct care nursing excellence and achieved by only 12% of hospitals nationally.  Over the past decade, she has guided the launch of Boston Children’s nurse residency program that was subsequently awarded ANCC Practice Transition Accreditation Program with Distinction designation. Additionally, she supported several pediatric specialty-focused teams to be recognized via the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses Beacon Award program in all five intensive care units and through the Emergency Nursing Association to achieve three successive Emergency Nurses Association Lantern Award designations.

Earlier in her career, Wood held progressive nursing and operational leadership roles within three leading academic health care settings: The Johns Hopkins Hospital Children's Center, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and The University of Pennsylvania Health System serving in pediatric nursing, educational, and operational leadership roles. Additionally, she served as National Vice President, Clinical Solutions, Siemens Healthcare (subsequently Cerner/Oracle Corporation), where she managed clinical and business professional services, and subsequently led clinical IT business development for the U.S.

Wood received a Bachelor of Science (BSN) degree in Nursing, Magna Cum Laude, from West Virginia University School of Nursing; a Master of Science (MS) degree from The University of Maryland, Baltimore; and a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing. She is a Johns Hopkins University Deans Award recipient and Fralic Nursing Leadership Fellowship recipient. Wood is an elected Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, a Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow alumna, and completed the both the MGH Institute of Health Professions Health Disparities Leadership Fellowship and Harvard Medical School Macy Foundation Fellowship for Leaders in Collaborative and Humanistic Interprofessional Education.

Wood serves on a wide-range of regional and national boards, including: American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC); Boston Children’s Hospital (ex officio member); Friends of the Institute of Nursing Research (FNINR); Johns Hopkins University Nursing Advisory Board; Pediatric Physician Organization of Children’s (PPOC); PHLOW Children’s Hospital Coalition to reduce pediatric drug shortages; Risk Management Foundation for Harvard affiliated health systems (CRICO); and, the SIGMA Foundation for Nursing Scholarship.

Director of Human Resources & Inclusivity
Barnes-Jewish College Goldfarb School of Nursing

Reggie is a native of St. Louis who received his B.A. in Industrial Relations from the University of Missouri-Columbia and his M.A. in Human Resource Development and Management from Webster University. He also received his certification as a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) from the Human Resource Certification Institute and his certification as a Senior Certified Professional from the Society of Human Resource Management.  And just recently received his Lean Six Sigma Green Belt Certification from Virtualocity, LLC.

Reggie joined Goldfarb August 2022.  Prior to joining Goldfarb, he was the Director of Human Resources at Memorial Hospital, which he joined in February 2019.  Prior to joining Memorial, he was a Sr. HR Business Partner with Southwest Airlines. In addition, Reggie’s more than 35 year career includes time spent with Express Scripts, BJC Behavioral Health, US Bank, AG Edwards, and Edison Brothers Stores as well.

Reggie currently serves as the Co-President of the Society of Multicultural Professionals in Human Resources (SMPHR) and previously served as President of the Greater St. Louis Chapter of the National Association of African-Americans in Human Resources (NAAAHR) and the Vice President of Programs and Professional Development for the Dallas Chapter, as well as the Midwest Region Vice President of NAAAHR.

Reggie believes Human Resources is a critical component to every organization and should be a strategic partner in helping an organization meets its goals and objectives. In addition, Human Resources should be a driving force behind moving the organization and its most important resource, PEOPLE, to the next level.

Dr. Cole Edmonson has a career spanning two decades with roles including clinical nurse, supervisor, manager, director, Magnet project director, associate chief nursing officer, and his current position of Chief Clinical Officer at AMN Healthcare. He is a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing; the American College of Healthcare Executives; and the American Organization for Nursing Leadership; and Nursing Executive Advanced-Board Certified by ANCC. He is a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow Alum. He completed his BSN and MSN at Oklahoma University College of Nursing and his Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) at Texas Christian University.

He is a contributor to the literature, locally and nationally in the area of leadership, succession planning, research, moral courage, nurse bullying, culture building, emerging global health issues, and Magnet^®. Edmonson is a speaker in the academic and professional settings, locally and nationally on topics ranging from Magnet, research, leadership, succession planning, moral courage, nurse bullying, customer service, resilience, culture building, genetics/genomics, emerging global health issues and the IOM future of nursing. He is the co-creator of the Stop Bullying Toolkit.

Edmonson is a true nursing advocate who believes, espouses, and actively works to create leaders from the bedside to the boardroom and empowering them to lead. He creates environments where nurses are valued, respected, has the integrity of practice, and clearly demonstrate their contributions at all levels. He has lead two organizations to Magnet and Magnet Re-designation in the DFW area, one being the first Magnet in North Texas, as both a Magnet Project Director and a Chief Nursing Officer. He has been a primary investigator and a co-investigator on numerous national and local nursing research studies ranging from Just Cultures to genetics/genomics competencies for nurses. He is a co-creator of the genetics/genomics toolbox for the NIH/NHGP/NCI. He is a mentor to clinical nurses and both emerging and experienced leaders in healthcare, with his influence being felt outside of nursing. He was the primary architect of the “Just” Culture created in a large facility in Dallas and teaches High Reliability and Just Culture.

He dedicates his time to serving on local boards of colleges and universities to help shape the future and propel the profession of nursing forward. He served as a member of the National League for Nursing (NLN) Acceleration to Practice Committee, a commissioner on the NLN Commission on Nursing Education Accreditation and is the Chair of the NLN Foundation. Edmonson served on the Texas Board of Nursing transition to practice study group. He served on the Texas Hospital Association Board and as chair of the foundation. He served on the United Healthcare Groups External Clinician Advisory Council. He is a Past President for the Texas Organization of Nurse Executives and is the AONE Board Region 7 Representative beginning in 2017. He has been recognized for his leadership as the TNA District 4 nurse of the year, the winner of the Nurseweek Excellence Awards – Leadership Category, DMagazine Nursing Excellence Award in Leadership, the Nursing Management Magazine Visionary Nurse Leader of the year, DFW Great 100 Nurse 2003 and DFW and most recently the Oklahoma University Distinguished Alumni Inaugural Award.

Brian Selig is the Vice President of Surgical Services at Sunrise Hospital & Sunrise Children’s Hospital in Las Vegas. 

Dr. Selig served as a Commissioner for the ANCC Commission on Magnet Recognition from 2009-2018 and as a member of the Commission Executive Committee from 2013-2018. He has been named a 2019-2020 Reilly Nursing Leadership Fellow, was a 2012-2014 National Jonas Scholar, and a 2008 AONE Nurse Manager Fellow. He also served as the 2011 Kansas Emergency Nurses Association President.

Prior to this role, Brian held leadership positions in Perioperative, Procedural, and Emergency nursing units, in Kansas City as well as Las Vegas, NV. Early in his career, he worked as a clinical nurse in a Level I trauma center Emergency Department and as a Flight Nurse for an air ambulance program in Kansas City.

Dr. Selig has several publications and has been a speaker both nationally and internationally on topics such as nurse leader development, controlled substance diversion, organizational throughput, and improvement strategies using Lean Methodology.

Dr. Anderson is currently a healthcare consultant for RMA Consulting of Arizona and a consultant/surveyor for Global Healthcare Accreditation. From 2009 to 2016, she was chief executive officer of Cardon Children's Medical Center in Mesa, Arizona, a Banner Health hospital. Prior to that, she held CEO, COO and CNO positions for healthcare organizations in the East Coast, Midwest, and Southwest. In addition to serving as the Joint Commission Commissioner for nine years and on the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees for three years, she was on the Board of the Joint Commission International, the quality Committee and public policy committee of the Children’s Hospital Association, the Coordinating Committee of the Measure Application Partnership at NQF for seven years and was the ACHE Regent for Arizona.

Dr. Anderson is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and the American College of Healthcare Executives and a member of the American Hospital Association Committee of Performance Improvement and ACHEs Programs, Products and Services Committee.  She is currently a member of the NQF Medicaid Child task force. She chairs the AZNA foundation board and is a member of the AONE Foundation. She is a board member of Health Forum, Children’s Action Alliance, Arizona Perinatal Trust, ANCC, Healing the Children, Ryan House, Feeding Matters, Cymedica and Chamberlain University.  She serves her church as an elder and executive committee member, chairs the personnel committee and the organ committee.

Dr. Anderson has received several awards for her service to the nursing and business communities. In addition to receiving the Distinguished Achievement Award from Arizona State University College of Nursing, Dr. Anderson was a selected participant in The First International Institute: Executive Nurse Leadership in the United Kingdom and the United States, Florence Nightingale Trust in London, England. She was awarded the American Organization of Nurse Executives Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006. Dr. Anderson was named Arizona Business Magazine's 2012 Healthcare Leadership Award "Hospital Executive of the Year" and one of their “Fifty Most Influential Women in Arizona Business” and was given the Award of Honor 2014, the highest award given by the American Hospital Association. 

Dr. Julian L. Gallegos, Ph.D., MBA, FNP-BC, CNL, FAUNA, is a Clinical Associate Professor, Interim Assistant Head of Graduate Programs, and DNP Program Director at Purdue University School of Nursing - West Lafayette. He is a dedicated and patient-focused Advanced Practice Registered Nurse and Educator with 21 years of nursing experience in the military and civilian sector, having served in various roles. He has experience in hospital management, educational administration, diabetes care and research, stroke systems and clinical care, urology, sleep medicine, and men’s health clinical practice, research, and advocacy.

He has been in academia for 7 years where he has developed programs and curriculum focused on the role of the advanced practice nurse and the Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree. He maintains his clinical practice as a men’s health primary care nurse practitioner at the North Central Nursing Clinics in Indiana. The impact of his work as an exemplary NP educator in the space of health equity, clinical expertise in men’s health and developing clinical programs that serve the underserved is evident in his involvement in nursing educational and professional organizations on boards and committees. He currently serves the great state of Indiana as a gubernatorial-appointed member of the Board of Nursing, member of the Board of Directors of the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and an elected member as a Director at Large of the American Association for Men in Nursing. He also volunteers as a member of the subcommittee on Quality Health for the Indiana Commission on Hispanic/Latino Affairs.

He is a sought-out speaker and presenter, regionally, nationally, and internationally on topics related to health equity, leadership, and men’s health and has received several awards for his work related to these impactful areas. He also serves on several editorial boards for professional, scientific journals, including the Urologic Nursing Journal and the American Journal of Men’s Health. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Urological Nurses and Associates and a Luther Christman Fellow of the American Association for Men in Nursing.

Dr. Gallegos is a proud Boilermaker and is glad to be back in Indiana, giving back to his Alma Mater and helping the Purdue School of Nursing achieve its next Giant Leap!

Dr. Debbie Hatmaker, a nationally known nursing leader, is the Chief Nursing Officer of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Enterprise, which consists of the ANA membership organization representing the nation’s 4 million registered nurses; the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which promotes excellence in nursing and health care globally through credentialing programs; and the American Nurses Foundation, ANA’s charitable arm.

Dr. Hatmaker’s diverse practice experience serves her well as an advocate on behalf of patients, nurses, and the profession. After an early career in public health and maternal-child health, she was on faculty at the Medical College of Georgia School of Nursing for 16 years and practiced as a sexual assault nurse examiner (SANE) and SANE educator.

Dr. Hatmaker has served in many elected and appointed leadership positions. These include president of the Georgia Nurses Association from 1999-2002 and first vice president of ANA from 2006-2010. The ANA Board of Directors appointed her president of ANCC, where she served two terms from 2007-2011.

In recognition of her many outstanding accomplishments for the nursing profession, Dr. Hatmaker was inducted as a 2012 fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. 

Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, is the 37th president of the American Nurses Association (ANA), the nation’s largest nurses organization representing the interests of the nation’s 4 million registered nurses.

Mensik Kennedy is currently an assistant professor at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing in Portland Oregon. Mensik Kennedy is a sought-after presenter and prolific author. Her books include Lead, Drive, and Thrive in the System and The Nurse Managers Guide to Innovative Staffing 2^nd ed. She co-authored Lead like a Nurse, A Nurse’s Step-By-Step Guide to Transitioning to the Professional Nurse Role and The Power of Ten (Second Edition) and contributed a chapter to the book The Career Handoff: A Healthcare Leader’s Guide to Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer across Generations.

Mensik Kennedy has held numerous high-profile leadership positions within the nursing profession. She served as President of the Arizona Nurses Association 2007-2010. Nationally, Mensik Kennedy has served Treasurer, Second Vice President, and Director-at-Large on the American Nurses Association board of directors. Additionally, she held the role of governor of nursing practice for the Western Institute of Nursing in 2010-2014.

Mensik Kennedy earned a PhD from the University of Arizona College of Nursing with a focus on health systems and a minor in public administration from the Eller College of Management. Mensik Kennedy's MBA degree is from the University of Phoenix, while her BSN degree is from Washington State University. She also holds an ADN degree from Wenatchee Valley College-North. Mensik Kennedy was inducted as a fellow to the American Academy of Nursing in 2014.

Dr. Sego has recently accepted a position as Nurse Executive at Nihon Kohden. Dr. Sego brings 25 years of experience to the nursing profession and has served in a variety of roles in acute care, education, cardiovascular, ambulatory, quality, care management, performance excellence and executive leadership. Dr. Sego earned her Bachelor’s in Nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana.  She went on to obtain her Master’s in Nursing Education in 2010 and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Indiana University in 2016.

Emily served two consecutive terms as the President of the Indiana State Nurses Association from 2019-2022 and a two-year term as Vice President from 2017-2019. Dr. Sego was appointed to the Indiana State Board of Nursing in 2023 and is a current member of the Indiana State Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, and the Indiana Organization for Nursing Leadership.

DeeAnn has worked as an inpatient nurse practitioner on the hepatopancreatobiliary surgery service at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) since 2011, and is a founding member of MSKCC’s nurse practitioner council. At the national level, she serves as a content expert for the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner certification exam, having previously served on the exam’s Item Writer and Standard Setting Panel. Recent poster and podium presentations include the 2014 and 2016 American Association of Nurse Practitioners conferences, and the National Conference for Nurse Practitioners in 2013 and 2016.

DeeAnn is in her first year as a member of ANCC’s Commission on Certification (COC), where she works to ensure that ANCC’s certification exams reflect current, evidence-based practice in conjunction with educational curricula. She believes the COC strengthens nurse practitioner practice and provides it with cohesion and continuity by upholding consistently high standards of practice.

Cherith joined ANCC as a Cardiac Vascular Content Expert Panel member in 2017. Since that time, she has been nominated as Chair of the CV CEP and joined the Appointments Committee. She started her nursing career by graduating from Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. She has worked in cardiac care nursing in three different countries and across a diverse array of cardiac settings, including Cardiac ICU, Cardiac Surgical ICU and Cardiothoracic ICU.

She earned her MSN at Duke University School of Nursing and is certified as an Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner. She has been an active participant in unit specific committees, Duke Navigators Program, and on ANCC’s Cardiac-Vascular Content Expert Panel and Appointments Committee. In addition to her years of ICU nursing experience, she is a Clinical Instructor for Duke University School of Nursing and an active volunteer for a variety of quality improvement projects.

Holly Ma, MS, BSN, RN, NPD-BC, is the Marian Shaughnessy Endowed System Director of Nursing Education and Nurse Leader Center at University Hospitals Health System in Northeast Ohio. She earned her BSN (University of Indianapolis, 1998) and Master of Science in Adult Education (Indiana University-Purdue University of Indianapolis, 2004).  She is currently enrolled in the Doctorate in Nursing Practice for Chief Nurse Executive program at Case Western Reserve University in the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing.

Ms. Ma is board certified in Nursing Professional Development with ANCC as well as a certified Hogan Assessment coach.  She earned her Certificate in Distance Education (2003), and is trained in Lean Six Sigma: Green, A3 and Training Within Industry (TWI). She currently serves on numerous schools of nursing clinical advisory boards. She is a past American Nursing Organization of Nurse Leaders (AONL) Director Fellow (2019) and University of Illinois at Chicago Leader Fellow (2003). She is an active member of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL), Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD), and local AONL and ANPD chapters. 

Ms. Ma is recognized as an influential, innovative, and approachable nurse leader with a focus on quality, patient outcomes, developing relationships, and employee engagement.   She is passionate about elevating the nursing profession and mentoring new leaders.  She challenges the status quo and strives to identify novel opportunities to improve the development of nurses. 

Deborah is currently Visiting Professor in Educational Measurement and Statistics at The University of Iowa, where she conducts research, works with graduate students, and teaches. She is also editor of the National Council of Measurement in Education journal Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. Formerly, Deborah was Vice President of Psychometric Research at ACT, Inc., where she was responsible for providing psychometric leadership, consultation and support for assessment programs, and for ensuring the effective delivery and communication of measurement and reporting services to internal and external customers.

She has over 35 years of experience in high stakes, large-scale assessment, including licensure and certification testing, and has worked with paper and on-line assessments, multiple choice, constructed response, and mixed-format instruments. She has presented and published extensively, particularly in the area of the comparability of test scores, including equating, concordance, vertical scaling, and test security.

Dr. Michael Jones is a results-oriented, value-driven nursing leader inspiring teams to achieve their unimaginable. Michael has more than two decades of healthcare experience from practicing critical care nursing through leading the delivery and operations of health information systems and management services in large, complex, health systems. Dr. Jones continues his servant leadership commitment to addressing social determinants of health and improving our communities’ health and wellness.

Michael has worked with leading health systems and consulting firms before returning to nursing operational leadership (informatics). Currently, Michael serves as the clinical informatics division director (Arizona) for Dignity Health, a CommonSpirit Health organization that is the largest non-profit health system by revenue. As a part of Michael’s professional commitment to practice, he served as the chair for the Nursing Informatics Content Expert Board for the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Michael holds a doctorate and masters in health administration, a master of business administration, and a bachelor of science in nursing. He is also a board-certified nurse informaticist (American Nurses Credentialing Center), certified professional in healthcare information and management systems (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society), a project management professional (Project Management Institute), certified in executive nursing practice (American Organization of Nurse Leaders), and Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Dr. Julie Marfell is an Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, College of Nursing.  She is certified and practices as a family nurse practitioner.  Dr. Marfell is a leader in nursing education.  She has been a pioneer in online learning, has built curriculum, lead successful accreditation efforts and has held leadership positions in nursing education including dean of nursing.

Dr. Marfell has served on executive boards of directors for national and regional professional organizations.  She served as treasurer for the National Association of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) and the Kentucky Coalition of Nurse Practitioners and Nurse-Midwives and remains on the finance committee for both organizations.  Dr. Marfell has been a member of the work group that revised and delineated suggest content for the Nurse Practitioner Core Competencies (2017) (2014). She led the work for the Family/Across the Lifespan competencies for the NONPF Population-focused NP Competencies (2013). Dr. Marfell served on the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing Committee for the development of standards and processes for accreditation to practice programs (2017-18). She served as a member of the Kentucky AARP Executive Board of Directors and is currently on the board of directors for the Kentucky Center for Nursing. She has served as a mentor and is now a faculty advisor for the Emerging Education Administrators Institute for Sigma Theta Tau International. Dr. Marfell is a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and an AACN/Wharton Fellow.

Teresita has been a Nurse Executive for the past 17 years at Terrebonne General Medical Center in Houma Louisiana. Her bedside career included Critical Care Nursing as well as becoming that Department Director prior to moving into a Nurse Executive role.

She is currently serving her second year as the President of the Louisiana Organization of Nurse Leaders and just recently completed a term in the Nursing Administration role on the Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN). During her term on the LSBN she was appointed to the National Council of State Board of Nursing’s (NCSBN) National Item Review Sub Committee. She enjoyed the interaction at the national level greatly, which led her to apply for a position on the ANCC Commission on Certification.

Other state-wide committee work that she participated on include: Nurse Fatigue, Clinical Capacity and Availability Task Force (Chairman), Louisiana Hospital Association Medical Marijuana Task Force, and Louisiana Organ Procurement Advisory Board Member.

Teresita has received the Nicholls State University Xi Zeta Sigma Theta Tau Nursing Leadership Award and was nominated for the Nursing Leader award for the Nightingale Gala.

Her commitment to continued nursing education for her staff as mirrored by her own continued learning is her passion. She understands that supporting and encouraging nurses to practice to the full extent of their license and be confident that they are the most educated in their field of practice is a priority to her as a nurse leader.

Heidi has been on the Commission on Certification for the past four years and is employed as a Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist focusing on Drug Diversion Prevention at the Children’s Hospital Colorado in Aurora, CO.  Heidi has been a pediatric nurse for 18 years and has been a Clinical Nurse Specialist since 2005.  Heidi served two terms as a Content Expert for the Pediatric Clinical Nurse Specialist Certification exam through ANCC.  She is active in pediatric and healthcare professional organizations as well as devotes some of her free time volunteering in her community and serving on boards.  She is currently a PhD student at the University of Kansas.

Heidi received recognition as a Nightingale nominee in 2013 and 2015 and received the Excellence in Advocacy award in 2014 as well as was nominated for the New Knowledge, Innovations & Improvements award in 2018 for her work in research and quality improvement.  Heidi has been certified through ANCC since 2006 and recognizes the importance of professional certification as a means to identify expertise in a specific field as well as to promote professional growth as a nurse.  Heidi is pleased that the profession of nursing offers so many different opportunities for growth and experience, nurses have endless opportunities to help others through a variety of positions within the field.  “Nursing is the heart of medicine.”

Jeffery is employed as an Associate Professor at Gonzaga University and practices as a Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner at the Mann Grandstaff VA Medical Center in Spokane, Washington. He has over two decades of practice in psychiatric mental health nursing and higher education. He is a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, on the Board of Directors for the American Psychiatric Nurses Association and served 2 terms on the ANCC Content Expert Panel for the Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner certification.  He stays active in both educating future psychiatric nurses at both the generalist and advanced role and in practice treatment veterans with psychiatric and substance use disorders. 

Dr. Smith is ANCC Board Certified as an Adult-Gerontology Clinical Nurse Specialist and a Nurse Executive.  He currently practices as a clinical nurse specialist with the Allina Health System in St. Paul, MN. He provides direct care to patients along the wellness to illness continuum, currently focusing time with patients in the acute and progressive care inpatient settings. Dr. Smith has been an item writer for the adult-geriatric clinical nurse specialist exam, and serves on the content expert panel for the adult-geriatric clinical nurse specialist exam. His past clinical experiences have included emergency care, correctional, academic, and administrative nursing. He is a new addition to the commission on certification and believes strongly in the value of board certification. Certification is the primary way we demonstrate professional competence in a specialty, not only to nursing but to the broader community; it elevates safety and quality of professional nursing practice for all.

Robert (Bob) serves as the appointed Public Member to the Commission on Certification. Bob is currently employed as a Systems Engineer with the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. He has an intrinsic interest in certification; as a retired naval officer, throughout over 30 years of my professional life, both my assignments and promotions were determined by achieving a series of certifications from midshipman underway through engineering officer of the watch and culminating in the comprehensive written exam and oral board which lead to my selection as a commanding officer of a warship. As commanding officer, Bob was both a product and a practitioner of this certification process -- the ultimate quality assurance for the competency of my crew, both officer and enlisted. This experience left him with an appreciation and an enduring interest in the role of certification within high reliability organizations like those of the military, aviation, nuclear energy, and healthcare.

Bob feels that no challenge today is more critical than universal access to quality, affordable healthcare. It is a challenge not only to the personal well-being of each individual, but to the well-being of our national and global economy, and by extension our national and global security.

Nursing Professional Development – Research Specialist
Education, Professional Development & Research Department
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System

Jen Bonamer works as a Nursing Professional Development – Research Specialist at Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota Florida. She leads the nursing research and evidence-based practice programs and is actively focused on supporting healthy work environments and clinician well-being. Jen received her BSN from the University of Florida (Gainesville) and practiced for ten years in pediatrics (general practice and hematology/oncology/bone marrow transplant). She completed the University of South Florida’s (Tampa) Nursing BS to PhD program with her master’s of science degree (nursing education) and PhD (nursing). She is certified in both nursing professional development and advanced holistic nursing. Jen is an active member in the American Nurses Association – Enterprise (ANAE) Research Advisory Council and an independent contractor of peer review services for the Magnet program.

Dean and Professor Emeritus
Loyola University Chicago Niehoff School of Nursing

Sheila A. Haas PhD, RN, FAAN is Dean and Professor Emeritus of the Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing at Loyola University Chicago. Dr. Haas holds an MSN from Loyola University Chicago and a Doctorate from the University of Illinois at Chicago where the focus of her research was productivity, clinical ladder systems and patient acuity systems. Dr. Haas developed the Nursing Administration major, the Health Systems Management non-nursing undergraduate degree program and the dual degree MSN/MBA at Loyola University Chicago. She also held a joint appointment to the Loyola University Chicago Graduate School of Business.

Dr. Haas taught translational research, health policy and outcomes performance management courses in the graduate program (MSN, DNP and PhD), as well as the MBA program. She does research, publication and consulting in the areas of translational research and evidence-based practice, clinical adders, work redesign and evaluation, differentiated practice, and nursing intensity systems. She has facilitated the development of prototypical intensity systems in several health care organizations. Dr. Haas's research done with Loyola colleagues on the role of the nurse professional in ambulatory care has been used to delineate competencies and to help conceptualize the American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing (AAACN) conceptual framework and core curriculum. With 2 other AAACN Presidents, Dr. Beth Ann Swan and Traci Haynes, she has done a translational research project supported by AAACN designed to develop dimensions and competencies for care coordination and transitional management by registered nurses in ambulatory care working with complex chronically ill patients. This project is summarized in the Nursing Economics (Haas, Swan, and Haynes, 2013) article and has been presented nationally and internationally. The dimensions and competencies led to the development of the Care Coordination and Transition Management Core Curriculum (Haas, Swan and Haynes, 2013) edited text. A Logic Model (Haas and Swan) was also developed to guide the writing of this text by expert nurse volunteers. This text can be used by registered nurses to prepare for the RN-Care Coordination and Transition Management (RN­ CCTM) Role and demonstrate knowledge, skills, and attitudes through successful completion of a certification exam. Dr. Haas has developed and published a methodology for tracking nursing contributions to patient outcomes (Haas and Swan, 2014) and developing staffing models for interprofessional teams in ambulatory settings (Haas, Vlasses, and Havey, 2016).

Dr. Haas served on the Research Committees of AAACN and the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). She also served as an AAACN Board member and President. She is past president of the National Federation of Specialty Nursing Organizations where she worked with the Board of Nursing Organizational Liaison Forum of ANA to design an innovative organization to represent the common goals and needs of specialty nursing. In 2009, Dr. Haas was recognized as the Illinois Outstanding Nurse Leader. Dr. Haas served on the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Board of Directors for 8.5 years, also the Board of Pharmacy Specialties' and the Nursing Economic$ Editorial Board.

Most recently, she received the Margaretta Madden Styles President's Award from the ANCC Board President at the 2016 National Magnet Conference and was appointed to the ANCC Research Council.

Associate Nurse Executive, Nursing Excellence
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Cathy Ivory, PhD, RN-BC, NEA-BC, FAAN, Associate Nurse Executive, oversees the Office of Nursing Excellence for the Vanderbilt Health System. Through collaboration across all VUMC and Vanderbilt University entities, The Office of Nursing Excellence is responsible for professional, evidence-based nursing practice, VUMC’s shared governance and Magnet activities, and all aspects of inquiry that translates evidence into practice and improves quality, safety, patient experience, and the delivery of cost effective care across settings. Dr. Ivory facilitates nursing research activities and connects nurse investigators with collaborators across the broader research enterprise at Vanderbilt.

Dr. Ivory has more than 25 years of experience as a staff nurse, clinical specialist, system-level nursing administrator, educator, and health services researcher. Dr. Ivory’s clinical focus is perinatal nursing and she served as the 2014 President of the Association of Women’s Health, OB and Neonatal Nurses (AWHONN), representing more than 300,000 nurses who care for women and newborns. She also holds two ANCC board certifications, one as an informatics nurse (RN-BC) and one as an advanced nurse executive (NEA-BC). She was inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing in 2017.

Dr. Ivory holds a BSN, an MSN in nursing administration/healthcare informatics, and a PhD in nursing science. Her research interests include implementation science and using data generated by nurses to quantify their role in patient care, patient safety, and patient outcomes. She is passionate about the nursing profession, nursing informatics, evidence-based nursing practice, and research.

Director of Research, Office of Continuing Professional Development
Associate Professor, Department of Innovation in Medical Education
Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa

Dr. Simon Kitto is a medical sociologist who has been working in health professions education research, sociology of surgery, and health services since 2002. His main research interests are studying how structural, historical, and socio-cultural variables shape interprofessional clinical practice, educational settings, and activities. This involves studying issues related to identity/role expectation and formation, competency acquisition/performance, and profession-based evidence/knowledge production. He is currently a Visiting Professor (2023-2025) at LKCMedicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore acting in the role of Assistant Dean (Medical Humanities), and as a co-director of the Medical Education Research and Scholarship Unit.

In recent years, he has focused on engaging in critical research and scholarly activities within Knowledge Translation (KT), Patient Safety (PS), Quality Improvement (QI), and Continuing Education (CE) interventions, with an interprofessional focus. His current research program, his work has been distilled into two essential and inter-related components: 1) the study of the construction and practice of the strategic integration of KT, PS, QI, and CE; and 2) the ways in which interprofessional teamwork in the Intensive Care Unit is constructed and the effect it has on relationships between providers, institutions, and patients. Dr Kitto has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions since 2017.

Professor, Family Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
Senior Advisor to the President and CEO, American Board of Family Medicine
Medical Education and Quality Improvement Consultant and Coach Associate, Wentz/Miller Global Services

Dr. Price is Senior Advisor to the President, American Board of Family Medicine. He is also Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Dr. Price spent 29 years in the Kaiser Permanente (KP) system in several roles, including Director of Medical Education for the Colorado Region and the (national) Permanente Federation; physician investigator with the KP Colorado Institute of Health Research; Co-director of the Kaiser Colorado Center for Health Education, Dissemination and Implementation research; Clinical Lead for Kaiser National Mental Health Guidelines; member of the Kaiser National Guideline Directors Group, and Chair of Family Medicine for the Colorado Permanente Medical Group. He served on the ABFM Board of Directors from 2003 – 2008, where he chaired the R&D and Maintenance of Certification committees and was Board Chair from 2007-2008. He is a former Senior Vice-President at the American Board of Medical Specialties. He is a past Director of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education, a past-president of the Colorado Academy of Family Physicians, past chair of the AAMC Group on Educational Affairs section on Continuing Education and Improvement, and currently serves on the AAMC Integrating Quality Initiative steering committee. He is widely published and has spoken nationally and internationally and published in areas ranging from continuing medical education/professional development, quality and practice improvement, mental health, and evidence-based medicine.

Dr. Price received his M.D. degree from Rutgers Medical School in 1985 and completed his Family Medicine Residency and chief residency at JFK Medical Center, Edison, NJ, in 1988. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Alliance for Continuing Education in the Health Professions, and the Society of Continuing Medical Education (SACME) and the recipient of the 2018 SACME Distinguished Service in CME Award.

Professor Emerita of Nursing
Marquette University College of Nursing

Dr. Weiss is Professor Emerita of Nursing at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and Master of Science in Nursing and Doctor of Nursing Science degrees from the University of San Diego. Prior to joining the faculty of Marquette University, she held positions as clinical nurse specialist and nurse researcher in women’s services for a large healthcare system.

Dr. Weiss continues to be an active nurse researcher and research consultant. Her program of research focuses on the contribution acute care nurses make to patient outcomes. Much of her work has focused on discharge preparation, assessment of discharge readiness, and post-discharge outcomes across the range of patients discharged from acute care hospitals. Her funded research studied the impact of nurse staffing on quality and cost measures of the discharge transition from hospital to home. Dr. Weiss was the Principal Investigator for the READI multi-site study, commissioned by ANCC and conducted at 33 Magnet hospitals, that investigated implementation of discharge readiness assessment as a standard nursing practice for hospital discharge. Other related research focuses on nurse staffing, continuity of care, and nurse characteristics such as education and certification that contribute to nurse performance in achieving patient outcomes. Her goal is to document the critical role and value hospital nurses bring to patient care and outcomes during and after hospitalization.

Instrument development has been an important aspect of her work on discharge readiness. Dr. Weiss has developed and tested research scales to measure quality of discharge teaching, discharge readiness, and post-discharge coping difficulty. She has conducted tool validation studies in adult-medical surgical patients, parents of hospitalized children, and postpartum mothers. These scales have been translated into more than 15 languages and are being used extensively in clinical practice and research. Dr. Weiss collaborates frequently with researchers worldwide on the science of discharge preparation. She has published extensively with US and international colleagues.

Professor of Nursing and Public Health
Department of Systems, Populations and Leadership
Department of Health Management and Policy
University of Michigan School of Nursing and School of Public Health

Dr. Yakusheva is an economist with research interests in health economics and health services research. Yakusheva's area of expertise is econometric methods for causal inference, data architecture, and secondary analyses of big data. The primary focus of Yakusheva’s research is the study of economic value of nursing/nurses. Yakusheva pioneered the development of a new method for outcomes-based clinician value-added measurement using the electronic medical records. With this work, Yakusheva was able to measure, for the first time, the value-added contributions of individual nurses to patient outcomes. This work has won her national recognition earning her the Best of AcademyHealth Research Meeting Award in 2014 and a Nomination in 2018. Yakusheva is currently a PI on a AHRQ funded R01 measuring the continuity of interprofessional ICU care and an ANF/ANCC funded research grant measuring the value-added contribution of specialty nurse certifications to nurse performance and patient outcomes.

Yakusheva is a team scientist who has contributed methodological expertise to many interdisciplinary projects including hospital readmissions, primary care providers, obesity, pregnancy and birth, and peer effects on health behaviors and outcomes

Yakusheva holds a PhD in economics, an MS in economic policy, and a BS in applied mathematics.

Executive Director, Office of Quality, Safety, Informatics, & Practice and the Inaugural MGH Endowed Scholar in Nursing Practice, Nursing & Patient Care Services, Massachusetts General Hospital

Dr. Snydeman’s expertise and leadership are dedicated to delivering safe, evidenced-based, high quality patient care through the continuous improvement of practice and positive outcomes with a focused commitment to the safety and well-being of the workforce. As the executive director of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Patient Care Services Office of Quality, Safety, Informatics, & Practice I provide oversight for quality and safety programs, improvement initiatives and outcomes associated with quality nursing care (falls, pressure injuries, central line blood stream infections, catheter associated urinary tract infections, and assaults on nursing personnel). I oversee a team of nine quality and informatics specialists and have a formal, non-direct reporting relationship with 75 unit based clinical nurse specialist and nurse practice specialists.

During the unprecedented COVID-19 era I led and supported a full implementation of Circle Up Huddles in all PCS inpatient areas, implementation of hospital-wide Proning Teams (recognized by Johnson & Johnson as a top ten innovation), pressure injury research, qualitative research on the experiences of bedside nurses and respiratory therapists, and implementation of resiliency and wellbeing strategies. In collaboration with RGI analytics, we have developed an algorithm using live streaming electronic health record data to alert nurses on their iphones to changes in patient’s fall risk and the associated interventions needed to prevent falls. Preliminary statistical findings are promising.

I have over forty years of progressive nursing leadership experience. My background in nursing leadership and critical care nursing led to my dissertation work using a quasi-experimental pre/post-test design with intervention and control groups to measure the impact of a theory based adverse event nurse peer review program on safety culture and the recovery of medical errors in the critical care setting. A linear mixed model analysis suggested that critical care nurses who participated in the program had a more critical view of safety culture and work environment, along with increased accountability and responsibility for their role in using strategies to keep patients safe. Further interdisciplinary safety research is underway.

Advanced Heart Failure & Transplant Nurse Practitioner, Duke University Hospital

As a doctor of nursing practice with a specialty in heart failure, transplant and mechanical support, my research is focused on improving patient outcomes through the development and implementation of best practices for the care of advanced heart failure patients. My clinical activities are centered on reducing healthcare inequities and improving Health Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) throughout the disease trajectory by optimizing interdisciplinary management and transitional care. Additionally, I have worked on database creation for both clinical and academic purposes as well as leveraging information technology to promote clinical practice standardization, minimize medical errors, and reduce cost of care.

Lastly, I have assisted in the establishment of centers of excellence by building the organizational, clinical, and educational infrastructures to deliver integrative, efficient, and specialized care to the Amyloidosis and Sarcoidosis populations. Furthermore, I have participated as a keynote speaker at national and international medical symposiums and have served as editor in chief and writer of textbooks. During my tenure as an Assistant Professor at Georgetown University School of Medicine, my research focused on the implementation of translational and organizational research to address specific issues in clinical practice and patient care delivery. Additionally, my work in the utilization of Inotropic support in rare cardiomyopathies was recognized as innovative in the field. By providing evidence and simple clinical approaches, this body of work has changed the standards of care for rare cardiomyopathy patients and will continue to provide assistance in relevant medical settings well into the future. I have served in the capacity of Principal Investigator, Co-Investigator, task leader, and technical consultant on projects supported by the government, industry and internal funding sources. In addition, I have successfully collaborated in randomized clinical trial conduction (e.g. patient screening, enrollment, and monitoring), and produced peer-reviewed publications.

Professional Development Specialist, Denver Health
Adjunct Professor, University of Colorado, College of Nursing
Adjunct Faculty, Colorado Christian University

Kathy Casey, PhD, RN, NPD-BC, is nationally and internationally known for her Casey-Fink Survey design work supporting graduate nurse role transition, nurse retention, and readiness for professional practice.

Kathy is certified in Nursing Professional Development, and currently serves as a Professional Development Specialist at Denver Health, in Denver, Colorado. She is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Colorado College of Nursing and Adjunct Faculty teaching EBP and Research at Colorado Christian University. Kathy is a lead appraiser for the American Nurses Credentialing Center Practice Transition Accreditation Program (PTAP).

In March 2023, Kathy received the Association for Nursing Professional Development's Marlene Kramer Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions and research on survey development for use in education and practice programs. In October 2023, Kathy will be inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Kathy received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Pacific Lutheran University, her Master's Degree in Nursing Administration from the University of Colorado, College of Nursing, and her Doctorate in Nursing Education from the University of Northern Colorado, School of Nursing.

Dr. Kortney James is a PhD prepared nurse and Associate Health Policy Researcher at RAND Corporation. Her research focuses on improving access to quality reproductive health services to minoritized populations. Dr. James is also the Associate Editor of the Nursing for Women's Health Journal, a role in which she is committed to recruiting and supporting manuscripts and research that reflect diverse perspectives and identities. Dr. James recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the National Clinician Scholars Program, a continuation of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles. During her postdoctoral fellowship Dr. James has published several manuscripts in high impact journals. Select publications include "NIH funding: Hone efforts to tackle structural racism" featured in Nature and "Factors associated with postpartum maternal functioning in Black women," featured in Journal of Clinical Medicine. Thus far, Dr. James has been awarded $230,000 to support her research related to Black perinatal mental health. She received $30,000 from the Iris Cantor UCLA Women's Health Center to support her mixed methods study that aims to identify and understand culturally and racially relevant influences on their journey to healing from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. Dr. James also received $200,000 from the American Nurses Foundation to implement an educational intervention to support ambulatory care nurses and other healthcare staff to care for Black pregnant and postpartum people’s mental health needs with culturally relevant resources.

Dr. James has a wide range of clinical experience in acute inpatient care, primary care, and public health. Dr. James is a pediatric nurse practitioner with over a decade of experience in acute newborn care and pediatric primary care. Dr. James has extensive experience in perinatal care due to her time as a registered nurse in the highest volume birthing hospital in the country with an average of around 25,000 births a year (and counting). Dr. James has also held an executive leadership position in the Office of Nursing, Maternal Child Health, and Infectious Disease divisions at the Georgia Department of Public Health in Atlanta, GA.

Ultimately, Dr. James' mission is to co-create solutions with Black women and people capable of pregnancy to achieve health equity.