Credentials: PhD, MBA, MSN, RN
Place of Employment: CSUSB
Which Nursing Organizations are you currently a member of: ANA, ANAC, AONL, ACNL, CGEAN, HIMSS
Board(s) currently serving on: CMS-sponsored committee on Interoperability, PACIO
Tell us about your journey to the boardroom. What inspired you to seek a leadership position?
This is my service to the profession: PACIO (Post-Acute Care Interoperability) Invited Contributor, a CMS-sponsored committee led by MITRE, 2019-present. Who is bringing the “voice of nursing” to the interoperability standards we are writing? If accepted by HL7, who is going to market those ideas?
What are you doing to ensure you continue to grow and develop as a leader?
I have a practice that is both reflective and deliberate. Reading reflectively (e.g. Zucked by Roger McNamee) along with continued discourse in various professional societies, esp HIMSS is everything!
What impact have you had serving on a board? Example?
Actually is too soon to tell but I am being appointed a Chair of a Workgroup where it will be important to assure all intraprofessional voices, not only nursing, are heard.
What advice would you give someone going into a board leadership position for the first time?
Earn it. Obtain advanced degrees with credibility (don’t buy them). Come up through the ranks, knowing your domain with both depth and breadth. Till you have that, don’t consider board service.
What are a few resources you would recommend to someone looking to gain insight into becoming a better leader and eventually obtaining a board position?
Anything from www.nursingworld.org and anything from the HIMSS (Health Information Management Systems Society) websites esp. resources.
Why do you feel it is important for nurses to serve on boards?
Who will bring the holism awarded to us to safekeep on behalf of our patients/consumers, if we don’t?!
What do you think is the most significant barrier to nurses serving on boards?
Time and money (there’s always both spent on this journey!)
