Amanda Bettencourt, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, becomes president of world’s largest specialty nursing organization
ALISO VIEJO, Calif. — July 14, 2022 — The American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN), the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, announces its board of directors for fiscal year 2023, with terms effective July 1, 2022.
Amanda Bettencourt, PhD, APRN, CCRN-K, ACCNS-P, is the new president of the AACN board of directors. She is an assistant professor in the Department of Family and Community Health at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing. As an educator, researcher and pediatric clinical nurse specialist, her focus is on achieving the best possible outcomes for acutely and critically ill children.
“The future of nursing and healthcare is unknown, and the COVID-19 pandemic has brought a newfound urgency for us to work together to find solutions to both long- standing issues and new challenges,” Bettencourt said. “Starting now, we step forward with a renewed sense of purpose, a commitment to action and a focus on a better tomorrow.”
Theresa Davis, PhD, RN, NE-BC, CHTP, FAAN, begins a one-year term as president- elect. Davis is assistant vice president of nursing at the High Reliability Center for Inova Health System, Falls Church, Virginia. Before this role, she served as clinical operations director of Inova’s enVision teleICU from its launch in 2004 to 2021.
Current board member Rebekah Marsh, BSN, RN, CCRN, begins a one-year term as secretary and her third year as a director. She is a clinical nurse educator for acute care/telemetry at Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington Medicine, Seattle.
Tonka Williams, MHA, BSN, RN, CMSRN, a current board member, begins a one- year term as treasurer and her second year as a director. She is nursing director of Medicine and Nursing Nutrition Support at VCU Health, Richmond, Virginia, where she oversees the acute/progressive care nursing medicine units, an ambulatory incarcerated medicine clinic and the nursing nutrition support team.
Joining the board as directors are Nicole Fontenot, DNP, APRN, ACNP-BC, CCNS, CCRN-K; Tiffany Mullen, MSN, RN, ACCNS-P, CCRN; and Kirsten Skillings, MA, APRN, CCRN-K, CCNS. They each serve a three-year term.
Fontenot is manager of nursing science at Houston Methodist Academic Institute, where she leads a team of nurse scientists who guide and mentor nurses throughout their own nursing science journeys.
As a clinical nurse specialist at Children’s Mercy, Kansas City, Missouri, Mullen focuses on improving outcomes for patients, nurses and the organization.
Skillings is director of inpatient cardiology at CentraCare St. Cloud Hospital’s Heart and Vascular Center in Minnesota.
Returning to the AACN board with Dana Woods, MBA, AACN chief executive officer, are the following directors:
- Joseph Falise, MSN, RN, CCRN-CSC, director of nursing for critical care and progressive care at University of Miami Hospital and Clinics, Miami
- Veronica Gurule, MSN, BSN, RN, CCRN, associate director of critical care, North Texas Division (HCA Healthcare)
- Alvin Jeffery, PhD, RN, CCRN-K, FNP-BC, assistant professor of nursing and biomedical informatics at Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee
- Paula Levett, MS, RN, CCRN-K, nursing practice leader in the pediatric ICU at University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital in Iowa City. She also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board.
- Janet Mulroy, DNP, MSN, ACNP, CCNS, CCRN, an acute care nurse practitioner at Threlkeld, Threlkeld & Omer Infectious Disease Associates, in Memphis, Tennessee. She also serves a concurrent one-year term on the AACN Certification Corporation board.
- Katie Schatz, MSN, ARNP, ACHPN, sepsis program coordinator and palliative care nurse practitioner at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center and Holy Family Hospital, both in Spokane, Washington
About the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses: For more than 50 years, the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) has been dedicated to acute and critical care nursing excellence. The organization’s vision is to create a healthcare system driven by the needs of patients and their families in which acute and critical care nurses make their optimal contribution. AACN is the world’s largest specialty nursing organization, with more than 130,000 members and over 200 chapters in the United States.