Leadership

Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, 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 as 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.

Loressa Cole, DNP, MBA, RN, FAAN, NEA-BC, is Chief Executive Officer of the American Nurses Association (ANA) Enterprise, which consists of the ANA membership organization representing the nation’s 4.3 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. Prior to assuming this role in 2018, Dr. Cole was the Executive Director and Executive Vice President of the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Dr. Cole is an accomplished health care leader with more than 30 years of nursing and management experience. Before joining the ANA Enterprise, she served as Chief Nursing Executive of several Virginia hospitals within the HCA Health System, where she directed system-wide clinical operations, partnering with other C-suite leaders on strategic and tactical planning and execution.

Active in many professional organizations, Dr. Cole served as President of the Virginia Nurses Association from 2012 until 2014. She has presented at a wide range of conferences, both domestically and internationally on a variety of leadership and health care topics. She earned her DNP at Case Western Reserve University, her Master's in Business Administration (MBA) at Averett University, and her BSN at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is ANCC board-certified as a nurse executive, advanced, and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

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. 

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. 

MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CCM

Senior Vice President, Chief Nursing Officer

Humana

In her role as Chief Nursing Officer, Kathy oversees Humana’s strategy of improving the experience of Humana’s community of nearly ten thousand nurses, care managers, and social workers, and promoting a culture that engages, values, and inspires clinical professionals while impacting health outcomes. Focus areas include clinical quality and innovation, clinician growth and development, and clinician engagement and recognition. She also leads initiatives to support the health and well-being of Humana’s clinical communities leveraging partnerships across Humana, as well as external partnerships such as the ANA Healthy Nurse Healthy Nation initiative and the IHI Joy in Work Collaborative. Kathy collaborates with other leaders of the Humana Home Solutions strategy to best support member health by advancing capabilities in the home.

Prior, Kathy served in various senior leadership roles at the company, including as Vice President and Chief of Operations at Humana At Home, where she led clinical operations including Care Management Services for Humana members as well as private pay clients, homecare operations including licensed and certified home health agencies. She was a founding member of the Humana At Home Innovation Team, which developed a consumer-centered health experience initiative focused on envisioning the future of health care delivery in the home.

Prior to Humana, Kathy was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of SeniorBridge, a national Care Management and Homecare company acquired by Humana in 2012. Kathy has more than 30 years of experience in nursing, with a concentration in geriatrics, home care, managed care, and care management. Kathy holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Seton Hall University, a Master of Science in Nursing Management and Executive Leadership from Sacred Heart University, where she received the Dean’s Leadership Award, and is currently pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, also at Sacred Heart University. Kathy is a Registered Nurse, and holds board certifications as Nurse Executive, Advanced, and Case Management Nursing Honor Society. Kathy is a member of the Board of Directors for SeniorBridge, as well as serving on the Board of Trustees for the American Nurses Foundation. She is a member of The American Nurses Association; Sigma Theta Tau, the nursing honor society; The Case Management Society of America, The American Organization of Nurse Leaders, and The American Association of Managed Care Nurses.

Kate Judge has more than 25 years of professional experience in the areas of fundraising, charity management, and communications. Her development work has supported education, healthcare, and human service missions in domestic and international organizations.

She most recently was co-principal of End/Start Consulting, where she worked on projects that focused on the assessment and reorganization of major and annual gift programs, board development and training, and the creation of campaign materials and branding concepts.

Before this, Kate served as Assistant Dean at University of Pennsylvania’s School of Veterinary Medicine, where she led fundraising for the school’s $125m capital campaign. While at the University of Pennsylvania she also directed development at the university’s top-ranked School of Nursing for eight years – with both Dean Norma Lang (past Foundation Chair) and Dean Claire Fagin (ANA  Hall of Fame inductee) – where she played a key role in creating one of the nation’s largest nursing scholarship programs.

She has also directed development and communications at the American Red Cross, Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter, and consulted with the national Red Cross organization on affiliate/national coordinated fundraising.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and Economics (Beloit College) Kate has focused particular attention in her work on the link between fundraising and finance within organizations. Her commitment to the non-profit sector as a volunteer has included board service with social service and religious organizations in the Philadelphia community.