Health care professionals talking in hospital hallway decorative

NHS Advisory Board

Collaboration for Success: Health Care Leaders & Faculty

The advisory board serves as a brain trust for leaders and key decision makers within the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. Composed of leading health care strategists and influencers, the board provides insight into current and emerging trends, market needs, decision-making evidence, and workforce competencies.

Our mission

The mission of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences is to educate health care and nursing leaders to address increasingly complex needs in their sector. To accomplish this, the school provides competency-based educational offerings delivered by expert faculty using advanced learning technologies. Our goal is to enable our graduates to collaborate interprofessionally to improve patient, system, and population outcomes.

Capella University is also a founding strategic partner of the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC), which is committed to building healthier communities through the service of nurses on boards throughout the country.

Capella faculty working with the advisory board

The advisory board provides industry and practice-relevant insight to school leaders and faculty to enact on the mission of the school to meet the needs found within the health care sector. Capella leaders and faculty, collaborate with board members to ensure curricula effectively build the competencies needed in today’s complex health care environment.

In addition, the interactions between the board and Capella leadership and faculty ensure Capella’s programs are professionally relevant and provide the flexibility needed for learners to succeed in their educational programs, and have a positive impact on both patient outcomes and the health of their communities at large.

Board Members

Julie Clockston, DSW, LCSW, Cert Ed

Assistant Professor, SW DEI Co-Coordinator
Metropolitan State University of Denver

Dr. Julie Clockston is a Solopreneur Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who has worked in intellectual and developmental disabilities since 1996. Dr. Clockston earned her AAS in Early Childhood Education and Management in 96 at the Community College of Denver, her Real Estate Certificate in 01 at the Community College of Aurora, her Post-Masters Certificate in College Teaching and Online Instructional Design in 2016, and her Doctor of Social Work degree in Social Work from Capella University in 2019.

Dr. Clockston is the owner and lead therapist of Julie Clockston Counseling LLC and Co-Founder of SOAR Colorado, an organization dedicated to enhancing individuals living with developmental/intellectual disabilities.

Dr. Clockston is an accomplished visionary author of “Sistah Hooded: Stories of Strength and Resilience on the Doctoral Journey” and a student support advocate. Dr. Clockston is a pracademic who works as an Assistant Professor at the Metropolitan State University of Denver in the Social Work Department, where she is the DEI Co-Coordinator, BIPOC and Neurodiverse and Disability Student Support, Faculty and Staff Pedagogy, and Diversity facilitator, DEI University staff senate consultant and a member of The Colorado Child Welfare Scholars Consortium as a Faculty Representative.

Dr. Clockston is a part-time Assistant Professor at Smith College of Social Work and a Doctoral Mentor. She is the former President of the Board of Directors of The Association for Successful Parenting (TASP)19-22, an international organization committed to enhancing families' lives when parents have learning difficulties. Furthermore, she is the former President of NASW Colorado 19-22.

Of all these wonderful endeavors, the most cherished accomplishment is being a mom to her four children.

Paula Coe DNP, MSN, RN, NEA-BC

Vice President of Nursing Education and Professional Practice
Allegheny Health Network

Paula Coe is the Vice President of Nursing Education and Professional Practice at Allegheny Health Network in Pittsburgh, PA within 9 acute care hospitals as well as the ambulatory care within the Allegheny clinic. She directs and integrates a culture of nursing excellence by developing and leading the annual planning process of the nursing education and professional practice strategic plan; identifying critical issues and strategic opportunities in nursing, and developing strategic recommendation to leadership on how to optimize growth and development of the Division of Nursing. She promotes the knowledge of nursing across the system through planning, organizing, directing, leading and evaluating nursing programs that support professional and leadership development, education, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, Magnet recognition, and nurse retention.

She has presented locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally on the professional practice of nursing, learning and development as well as on the topic of care delivery models. She has served as adjunct faculty for Millersville University teaching both undergraduate courses in nursing leadership as well as in the DNP Program. She was nominated and selected as finalist for the Nightingale Awards of PA in the category of Nursing Research and serves on the Board of Trustees for the Nightingale Foundation Board and is Chair of the Program Committee.

Paula has contributed to the nursing profession holding leadership roles in several professional nursing organizations. She was the 10th President of the International Transplant Nurses Society and was honored to receive lifetime membership for her contributions during her tenure. She has served as President of the South Central Organization of Nurse Leaders, President of the Pennsylvania Organization of Nurse Leaders as well as a three-year term as the Region 2 board member for the American Organization for Nursing Leadership. She serves on many local university and college nursing advisory boards, providing input and feedback for curriculum and outcomes for these programs.

Paula lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and two English Mastiffs. She has two boys who are collegiate athletes and enjoys, cooking, baking, reading a good book and watching her boys at their sports activities.

Jeanne Gibson, MSN

Senior Director
UnitedHealth Group Center for Clinician Advancement

Jeanne Gibson is a clinician leader whose goal is to inspire others to develop and apply their interests and knowledge as she has serving in various roles during her 23-year tenure at UnitedHealth Group. She is currently a Senior Director at the UnitedHealth Group Center for Clinician Advancement, creating strategies and promoting initiatives to help clinicians realize their career goals while collaborating and leading efforts to improve health care through the Quadruple Aim. 

Jeanne obtained her Masters in Nursing degree from Capella in 2019 and has a background in six sigma and experience in leading quality improvement efforts as well as community building, recognition and learning and development programs for clinicians. She believes expert critical thinking, interprofessional teaming, innovative thinking and evidence-based practice are the unique qualities of clinicians that enable them to improve the health care system for consumers, providers, payers and their colleagues.

Jeanne lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband and pets who keep her physically active and entertained.

Kimberly Harper MS, RN, FAAN

Chief Executive Officer
Indiana Center for Nursing

With nearly 40 years of healthcare experience, Kimberly Harper currently serves as chief executive officer (CEO) of the Indiana Center for Nursing, an organization that unites state-wide nursing education and practice leaders to effect change through one voice to ensure a high-quality nursing workforce that meets the needs of Indiana's healthcare consumers. In her CEO role, she also serves as the Nursing Co-Lead for the Indiana Action Coalition, which serves to implement the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine's Future of Nursing Report. In addition, Kimberly now serves as Chair Emeritus of the Board of Directors of the national Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC), which unites over 25 national nursing organizations toward the goal of improving the healthcare of our nation through the service of 10,000 nurses on boards by 2020.

Kimberly's background includes serving as executive director for Nursing 2000; vice president for Public Affairs and the Foundation for Wishard Health Services (now Eskenazi Health) in Indianapolis, Ind.; holding senior leadership positions in nursing, marketing, and human resources, and executive vice president roles in academic medicine at Indiana University; and holding nursing practice and faculty positions at Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind.

She has been active in many professional organizations, assuming leadership roles with the NOBC, the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers, and the National Association for Health Care Recruitment. She is a National Association of Public Hospitals fellow and has served on the boards of numerous nursing-related foundations, organizations, and committees, including the Governor's Task Force for Healthcare Education, Pipeline, and Training for Indiana. Kimberly also serves on the advisory boards of numerous schools of nursing across Indiana, is a guest lecturer, and holds an adjunct faculty role with Case Western University.

A regular speaker at the state, national and international level, Kimberly has received numerous awards, including the 2017 Distinguished Alum of the University of Southern Indiana, the Nursing Professionalism and Practice Award for her "Outstanding Professional Contributions and Excellence in the Practice, Science and Art of Nursing" by the Indiana State Nurses Association. the President's Achievement Award Commencement Address at the University of Southern Indiana, and has been inducted as a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing.

Brandy Hershberger, DNP, RN, MSN, CEN 

Chief Nursing Officer, Vice President
UPMC Centers for Nursing Excellence & Academic Affairs

Dr. Brandy Hershberger has 19 years as a high-performing healthcare professional with expertise in building/optimizing organizational processes, metrics, teams and departmental collaboration to maximize overall results with Press Ganey Scores, excellence in patient care, patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and the patient/family experience.

She was the Chief Nursing Officer at Fawcett Memorial Hospital (253 bed facility) located in Port Charlotte, FL where she managed overall patient care/day to day operations throughout the hospital and opened a 20-bed private inpatient unit along with two new state of the art Cardiac Cath Labs.   Prior to Fawcett Memorial Hospital, Brandy was the Chief Nursing Officer at Palms of Pasadena Hospital (307 bed facility) located in St. Petersburg, FL where she also oversaw operations (including pharmacy, radiology, lab, wound care services, company care/employee health and cardiac services). She also assisted with opening new Advanced Care for Elderly Unit (ACE) unit.   

Brandy also has over 12 years of prior UPMC experience including: UPMC EAST/UPMC McKeesport, Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer; UPMC Bedford, Clinical Director Surgical and Emergency Services; UPMC Children’s Hospital, Emergency Room Staff Nurse; UPMC Altoona, Clinical Manager Emergency Room/Staff Nurse and UPMC Lee Hospital, Nurse Extern/PCT.  

Brandy received her Doctorate of Nursing Practice (with honors) from Chatham University, her MSN in Nursing Administration from University of Pittsburgh, and her BSN (Cum Laude) from Mount Aloysius College.  Brandy is a Certified Emergency Nurse and a member and mentor of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and an Emergency Nurses Association Member.   

Christopher Scott Holliday, PhD, MPH

Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation
Center for Disease Control (CDC)

Christopher S. Holliday, PhD, MPH, MA, FACHE is a senior leader with twenty-five years of executive management experience in population and public health, primary healthcare, and in non-profit settings at the national, state and local levels. He provides leadership in evidence-based practices to prevent chronic disease and helps shape policies, systems, and environments that support and promote health, equity and well-being.

Dr. Holliday is currently the Director of the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT) in CDC’s National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he provides leadership and strategic direction to the science and programs conducted in DDT to prevent type 2 diabetes, prevent diabetes complications, reduce health disparities, and improve the health of all people with diabetes.

Before joining CDC in 2021, Dr. Holliday was with the American Medical Association (AMA), where he served as Director, Population Health and Clinical-Community Linkages, Improving Health Outcomes. He led a multi-disciplinary team in efforts to develop and implement national, clinical and public health strategies for improving health outcomes for high-impact chronic medical conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. He worked with physicians and care teams, practices and health systems, and the communities they serve to devise multi-level, research-informed interventions that promote clinical-community linkages to improve health outcomes. He led AMA’s landmark engagement with YMCA of the USA, under a Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation demonstration grant that facilitated Medicare coverage for the National Diabetes Prevention Program (National DPP) lifestyle change program.

Throughout his career, Dr. Holliday has been a passionate advocate for health equity, focused on improving outcomes for populations disproportionately impacted by chronic and mental health conditions, addressing root cause social and structural determinants of health, including access to care. He has numerous peer-reviewed publications focusing on chronic disease prevention and its disproportionate impact on special populations. Before joining CDC and the AMA, Dr. Holliday was Director of the Adler School of Professional Psychology’s National Center of Excellence on the Social Determinants of Mental Health and served as the chief executive officer for a national organization promoting access to care for the uninsured and underinsured. For a dozen years before that, he held progressive leadership positions in the Georgia Department of Public Health, heading chronic disease prevention and health promotion initiatives.

Dr. Holliday is trained as a community psychologist and research scientist with over a decade of experience in community-based participatory research and empowerment evaluation methodologies. His primary areas of academic research include sustainable community engagement, coalition-building and collective impact strategies to prevent disease and reduce health disparities. After beginning his academic career at Northwestern University (BA, Psychology), Dr. Holliday received an MPH in Health Policy and Management at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and trained as a community psychologist and applied research scientist, earning an MA and a PhD in community psychology at Georgia State University. He is board-certified in healthcare management as a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

He resides in Oak Park, IL, with his wife, British Holliday, a banking attorney.  They have two children, daughter Sheridan who is 16, and son Scott who is 13.

Anitra Johnson, DHSc, MSN, FNAP

Captain
United States Public Health Service

With a passion for public service, Dr. Johnson has extensive experience working across various disciplines in the military, the federal government, and the private sector to shape health policy, promote health, and increase research concerning the pertinent issues affecting our Nation. Dr. Johnson’s diverse background has allowed her to impact nursing and public health in the United States and abroad.

Her professional goal as a clinician focuses on health equity and utilizing interdisciplinary collaborative practice to continue to break down barriers and close the gaps. She has worked to tackle emerging public health issues and eliminate health disparities through policy development and academia over the past 20 years.

Dr. Johnson graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Coppin State University, a Master of Science in Nursing with a focus on public health from the University of South Alabama, and a Doctor in Health Sciences focusing on global health from A.T. Still University. She also completed the Certificate in Teaching in Nursing and Health Professions at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.

Dr. Johnson recently relocated to Texas from Maryland with her son. She enjoys mentoring, coaching, traveling, roller skating, baking, and completing the dreams and adventures from the mom-and-son bucket list she created with her son.

Cynthia Latney, DHA (c), MSN, RN, NE-BC

Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive
OhioHealth

Cynthia Latney is an experienced, recognized nurse leader. She joined OhioHealth in June 2021 as the Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Executive. In her role, Cynthia is responsible for organizing, planning, directing, and evaluating all nursing functions and patient care services for OhioHealth. She works with nursing leaders and other clinical partners to drive consistency in care and ensure an exceptional patient experience. Her diverse experience as a seasoned healthcare executive serves her well as an advocate on behalf of nurses and patients. Also, it provides a unique perspective in leading change, expanding programming, improving clinical outcomes, building diverse and highly functioning teams.

Prior to joining OhioHealth, Cynthia served as Senior Vice President of Nursing Business Operations for Jefferson Health, an academic health system with ambulatory sites serving southern New Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia area. Cynthia previously held multiple leadership roles at Centura Health in Denver, including regional chief nursing officer, chief nursing executive and chief transformation officer, as well as various leadership positions at Hospital Corporation of America in Aurora, Colorado.

Cynthia spent much of her early career in cardiovascular surgery critical care nursing. She is a certified nurse executive. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the State University of New York at Buffalo and a Master of Science in Nursing Healthcare Administration from the University of Phoenix, where she is currently a candidate for a Doctor of Health Administration.

She has presented locally and regionally on financial management in healthcare, patient care models and interprofessional care, evidenced-based approaches to patient safety, quality, and nursing leadership. Cynthia was named one of the 60+ hospital and health system CNO to know by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2017.

Kristin Morris, EdD

CEO
Genesis Consulting Services, LLC

Dr. Kristin Morris is the Owner and Principal Consultant of Genesis Consulting Services, LLC. She is a Performance Improvement Strategist, Global Facilitator, Learning & Development and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) Practitioner. As a transformational leader, she has over 18 years of experience in identifying performance improvement solutions with corporate, non-profit, and private/government organizations.

Dr. Morris stands out for her unique ability to establish trust, build strong foundational working relationships with clients, and is skilled in effectively identifying growth & learning opportunities as well as building customizable and measurable solutions that exceed organizational objectives and that works best for each client to improve employee performance/development. Most recently, Dr. Morris serves as a researcher working in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Human Services where her role is to conduct situational analysis, identify opportunities for equitable resources, programs, and development implementation strategies throughout the behavioral health division.

Kristin holds a Bachelors and MEd in Human Resource Development and Adult Education from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and an EdD from Capella University, specializing in Performance Improvement Leadership. Her passion is working to develop others as well as making them feel valued for who they are and understanding what they need to achieve their goals. She was awarded the 2023 Alumni Award of Excellence from the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and a 2023 Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal Women in Business Honoree. Out of everything she’s accomplished thus far in her journey, Dr. Morris is a proud wife and mother to four beautiful children.

Ruth Fisher Pollard, MS, MBA

Managing Partner
Pinnacle Solutions

Ruth Pollard is a Managing Partner with Pinnacle Solutions, a cybertechnology and healthcare firm. In this role, Ruth consults on strategic planning, partnership building and sustainability, and community engagement and advocacy for health care and human services organizations.

With more than 20 years of leadership experience, Ruth recently completed a five-year tenure with Ascension—one of the largest nonprofit health systems in the United States— serving as vice president and chief strategy officer of Providence Health System in Washington, D.C., and an executive-in-residence to the District of Columbia Hospital Association (DCHA).

In this role, Ruth led the development of a long-term strategic plan to transform healthcare workforce through a targeted workforce development program. The program’s aim is to close the skills gap for District of Columbia residents pursuing careers in health and   provide rewarding opportunities in the industry while being both transformative and sustainable. As the former vice president and chief strategy officer of Providence Health System, Ruth’s work focused on transformation of the local market through collaborative and strategic relationships and partnerships. Ruth, as part of the executive team, led the conceptual planning for the health village concept in Washington, D.C., in response to community need.

Extending her impact, Ruth has a faculty appointment in the department of health systems administration at the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Sciences as an adjunct instructor. Ruth is on the forefront of conversations about systems thinking and planning, health and policy alignment, and community engagement and impact.

Prior to her tenure with Ascension, Ruth worked in government relations and advocacy with Children’s National Health System for 10 years. During her tenure, Ruth served as the inaugural chair of the DC Healthy Communities Collaborative—an alliance of hospitals/health systems and federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) to improve community health through collective accountability—leading the first comprehensive and collective community health needs assessment (CHNA) and corresponding community health improvement plan (CHIP). Ruth is the co-vice chair of Volunteers of America Chesapeake and Carolinas Board of Directors, a faith-based ministry serving vulnerable populations through housing and other social services.

Pamela Rudisill, DNP, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, FAAN

Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer
Community Health Systems

Pamela Rudisill is Senior Vice President and Chief Nursing Officer at Community Health Systems (CHS). In her role, she supports nurses with quality and safety resources as they deliver patient care across more than 80 affiliated hospitals in 16 states.

Pam serves as the board emeritus for NOBC. Her other memberships include the AONL, where she served a term as president in 2010; American Academy of Nursing being inducted as a Fellow in 2011. She has published extensively in nursing literature and has spoken at national health care seminars throughout the United States. Pamela has earned certification as a Board-Certified Nursing Administrator Advanced (NEA-BC) through ANCC.  Pamela received her Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Duke University. In 2019, Pamela was an inductee as a Fellow in the inaugural class of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (FAONL). 

Jennifer Shepherd, DNP, MHA, RN-BC, NEA-BC, CHPN, CCRN-K

Director, Nursing Education and Product Management
American Nurses Association

Dr. Jennifer Shepherd is a Registered Nurse leader with an extensive and progressive background across diverse settings including community-based and acute care health systems as well as not-for-profit and for-profit healthcare organizations. Jennifer has served as a member of clinical leadership in roles dedicated to professional development and analytics; leading teams to cultivate and implement innovative strategies, ensuring achievement of organizational goals.

She currently serves as Director, Nurse Content and Continuing Education for the American Nurses Association. She previously served in clinical education roles for MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Capital Caring Health, Community Health Accreditation Partner, Nurse.com, HealthStream, CEBroker/EverCheck.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jennifer went back to the bedside as a staff nurse, providing support and delivering high level acute care to hospice patients and families in the inpatient setting. Her experience in academia includes a role as adjunct faculty for George Mason University in the Department of Nursing and Health Sciences, where she teaches pediatrics and maternal child health.

Jennifer is certified by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) in nursing professional development and as a nurse executive, advanced, in hospice and palliative care by the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association (HPNA), and in pediatric critical care by the American Association of Critical Care Nursing (AACN). She previously served on the Virginia Nurses Association Board as Commissioner of Workforce Issues and currently holds a position on Capella’s School of Nursing and Health Sciences Advisory Board. Jennifer holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a Master of Science in Nursing, a Master’s in Healthcare Administration, and recently completed her Doctor of Nursing Practice with Capella University. Her DNP capstone work, COVID-19 and Hospice Care: Self Care and the Effect on Compassion fatigue and Patient Outcomes, focused on the link and challenges between compassion fatigue, self-care, and quality outcomes among hospice clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Debra A. Toney, PhD, RN, FAAN

Vice President, Quality Management
Nevada Health Centers

Dr. Debra A. Toney is the Vice President of Quality Management, at Nevada Health Centers in Las Vegas, Nevada, the State’s largest federally qualified health center with 18 locations.  She is responsible for ensuring high quality and cost-effective care throughout Nevada Health Centers medical, dental, behavioral health service lines. 

In addition, Dr. Toney works diligently on behalf of the nursing and health professions and has a long history of public and community service. She has held board and officer positions for several national organizations. Dr. Toney is the president of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations and a former president of the National Black Nurses Association.  She is a co-lead for ANA’s National Commission to Address Racism in Nursing.  In both her professional and volunteer roles, she has been devoted to delivering and improving health care in under-served communities.   

Wesley D. Willis, Psy.D, MSW, LCSW-R, BSN, RN-BC, CCM

President/CEO/Founder
RHIO Wellnes

Wesley began his career with an Associates in Applied Science (AAS) with major in Nursing obtained from Central Alabama Community College in 2000.  He went on to earn a Bachelors of Social Work (BSW) from Alabama State University (ASU) in 2002 and a Masters of Social Work (MSW) from the University of Alabama in 2003.  Upon completion of his MSW, he moved to NYC to create a career bridging his Nursing & Social Work education.

The first part of his career was focused on administration and case management.  He obtained his Doctorate in Psychology (Psy.D) in 2009 from Argosy University at Arlington and Bachelors of Science in Nursing from Herbert H. Lehman College in 2011.  

Wesley is Board Certified in Medical-Surgical Nursing by the Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses; Case Management by The Commission for Case Manager Certification; Critical Care Nursing by American Association of Critical-Care Nurses; and is a Board Certified Diplomat (BCD) in Clinical Psychotherapy by the American Board of Examiners (ABE).  He is licensed as a Registered Nurse, Clinical Social Work and Psychology in multiple jurisdictions.  

Wesley was the 2013 recipient of the New York Black Nurses (NYBNA), Nurse of the Year Award; and New York City Assemblywoman Inez Dickens – Community Service Award.  He currently serves on the Board of Directors for American Association of Men in Nursing (AAMN).  He has served on the Board of Trustees for over 7 years at Harriet Tubman Charter Schools in Bronx, New York and the Board of Directors for the New York State Society for Clinical Social Workers (NYSSCSW).  

In 2010, Wesley founded RHIO Wellness…Reflective Healing & Inspiring Outcomes that he currently manages.  He is the Co-Founder of “Safe Hands,” an NGO in Nairobi, Kenya, working to address the mental health and wellness of children and adults throughout Africa.

Joyce Young, PhD, RN, CENP

Vice President, System Nursing Operations
Trinity Health System

Joyce Young began her career with Trinity Health in 1983. She has served in Trinity chief nursing officer/senior executive roles since 2000 and prior to this in various leadership executive roles/positions. Currently, Joyce serves as the Trinity Health Vice President System Nursing Operations with responsibility for the development and implementation of clinical and functional integration strategies that improve the performance, professional practice/and development, academic partnerships/advancement, and service delivery outcomes across the Trinity Health enterprise. Trinity Health System (enterprise) spans 22 states with 92 hospital ministries and 109 continuing care systems, nationally.

Joyce received her original nursing degree (diploma) in 1984 from Saint Joseph Mercy School of Nursing; her BSN from Morningside University in 1996; her Master's degree from University of South Dakota in 1996; and her PhD from the Capella University in 2012. She is a Wharton nurse executive program fellow (2007) and holds professional certification in executive nursing practice (CENP) from the American Organization of Nurse Leaders. 

Joyce brings to health system operations greater than 27 years of experience at the executive leadership level, and 37+ years of hospital experience overall. And as a life-long learner, Joyce brings passion to academics and professional development. She has professionally presented in multiple state and national venues on topics related to healthcare leadership; future nursing planning; nursing legislation/and advocacy, and innovation. 

She currently is a board member and legislative liaison for the Michigan Organization of Nurse Leaders; a Lippincott Board member; member of the American Organization of Nurse Leaders (AONL) Political Action Council; an AONL faculty member for the CENP prep course; member of the American College of Healthcare Executives, and a member of the Zeta Sigma Honor Scholastic Society. 

Joyce has authored on similar topic areas in numerous publication mediums including legislatively-driven state and national position papers, as well as nursing outcome research. Current research engagements include a quantitative predictive correlation design studying nurse manager span of control on various outcome measures and a qualitative interpretive descriptive study seeking to understand the lived experience of early career nurses during the era of COVID-19.

Capella School of Nursing and Health Sciences Leadership

Lisa Kreeger, PhD, RN

Dean, School of Nursing and Health Sciences

Dr. Lisa Kreeger held a number of positions at Capella before assuming the role of dean of the School of Nursing and Health Sciences. She began in School of Business and Technology as a member of the Institutional Review Board before joining the School of Nursing and Health Science as a faculty member, program chair, and dean. 

Kreeger brings a combination of academic and health care industry experience building from her roots as a clinical nurse. Her career includes consulting and management positions with large international corporations where she focused on change, strategy, innovation, and leadership excellence and faculty and academic leadership positions at a large private university and an online university.  Kreeger holds a BSN from DePaul university, an MSN from Drexel University, an MBA from Seattle University, and a PhD with a focus on leadership and change in organizations from Antioch University.

Adele Webb, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP

Over the last 25 years, Dr. Webb has worked worldwide to build nurse capacity for treatment of communicable and noncommunicable diseases. She has received extensive funding for her international work and has published her findings in several refereed journals. She’s also contributed to World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, testified to the Institute of Medicine and given testimony to the White House on nursing workforce issues. A much-sought-after speaker on international nursing care, Dr. Webb continues to collaborate with the WHO, as well as the World NCD Congress.

For her work, Dr. Webb has received the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care Lifetime Achievement Award, the Nicholas Andrew Cummings Award for Excellence in Interprofessional Practice from the National Academies of Practice and fellowships from the International Council of Nurses, the Global Health National Academies of Practice, and the American Academy of Nursing.

After waiting until she was 29 to pursue her undergraduate degree, Dr. Webb went on to earn a BSN from the University of Akron, an MSN from Ohio State University, and a PhD in nursing from Wayne State University.

Constance St. Germain, EdD, JD

President and Provost
Capella University

Dr. Constance St. Germain serves as president and provost for Capella University. She joined Capella University in 2017 as its chief academic officer and senior vice president of academic affairs. In 2019 she was appointed provost and in 2023 became president.

Prior to joining Capella, she was the executive dean for the College of Humanities and Sciences at University of Phoenix. While there, Dr. St. Germain positioned the college as an incubator for continued growth and development to transform students into socially aware, critically thinking global citizens.

In addition to her academic career, Dr. St. Germain is a U.S. Army veteran and served as a major in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Corps. While on active duty, she held assignments as an attorney at military posts including the 82D Airborne Division and XVIII Airborne Corps Fort Bragg, NC.

She holds a Doctor of Education in higher education and organizational change from Benedictine University; a Juris Doctor from the University of Baltimore School of Law; and a Bachelor of Arts from George Mason University. She is admitted to practice as an attorney in Vermont, Virginia, and Maryland, as well as several federal courts. St. Germain’s research focus is on women and leadership.

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