Tonka Williams

Tonka Williams, MHA, MSN, RN, CMSRN, serves a one-year term as president-elect of the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) Board of Directors. She was a director on the AACN Certification Corporation board from July 1, 2024, through June 30, 2025, and completed a three-year term as a director on the AACN board from July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2024. Williams held a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board from July 1, 2023, through June 30, 2024. She also served as treasurer on the AACN board from July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023.

Williams is senior nursing director for practice and innovation at MedStar Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., where she leads strategic efforts to advance patient care through clinical excellence, innovation and interprofessional collaboration. She oversees a diverse team of nursing practice experts and plays a pivotal role in developing and implementing strategies to drive performance improvement and close quality gaps across the organization. As a collaborative partner with the quality and nursing teams, Williams leads initiatives focused on nurse-sensitive indicators, leveraging evidence-based practices and interdisciplinary alignment to strengthen patient outcomes.

Her AACN volunteer activities include service on the AACN – AACN Certification Corporation Nominating Committee (July 2019-June 2020), Beacon award reviewer (2017-2019), podium presenter on “Beacon: Why It Matters” (NTI 2017), reviewer for Circle of Excellence chapter awards (2018, 2017) and a reviewer on the Evidence-based Poster Abstract Review Panel (2018, 2017). She has been a member of the Greater Richmond Area Chapter since 2012.

Additional affiliations include membership in DNPs of Color, Virginia Nurses Association, American Nurses Association, American Organization for Nursing Leadership and the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses.

Among her awards, Williams received the 2024 CMSRN of Distinction Award from the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses. She was named Virginia March of Dimes’ Nurse of the Year for Nursing Administration in 2018, and received the RN Excellence in Transformational Leadership award during VCU Health’s Week of the Nurse event in 2017.

Williams earned a Master of Health Administration at Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer, North Carolina, a Master of Science in Nursing from James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro. She is also a graduate of The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute and the Nursing Leadership Institute of Virginia.