Ann Oertwich, PhD, RN has been a Registered Nurse in Nebraska for over 35 years in roles including patient education & discharge planning, serving as a consultant as a wound, ostomy, continence specialist, managing home health & hospice, serving as a lobbyist and executive officer of Nebraska Nurses Assn, Board member of the Nebraska Board of Nursing, faculty member at both public and private schools of nursing, and executive officer for the Board of Nursing. Dr. Oertwich has published, conducted research, started, maintained and closed a home care agency, had her own consulting business, and taught in both public and private sectors. Ann loves nursing and the flexibility and mobility it provides for women and men who care for others!

Dana Koziol received an MSN in leadership from Nebraska Wesleyan University. She is currently a faculty in the undergraduate traditional BSN program and ABSN program at Creighton University College of Nursing. Dana has been a registered nurse since 2009 working in inpatient mental health settings with geriatric, adult, and pediatric mental health patients. She has also been involved in several levels of leadership through hospital shared governance and participated in supervisory roles in hospital settings. Dana is currently a student at the University of Kansas Medical Center in the Post-Master’s Doctor of Nursing Practice- Leadership program. Her teaching and future research interests include; leadership development, moral distress in nurses and nurse managers, and care delivery models.

Dr. Shelly Luger received a Doctor of Nursing Practice in organizational leadership and a Certificate in Health Professions Education from the University of Kansas. Shelly is an assistant professor at Creighton University College of Nursing. She teaches several graduate nursing leadership courses and practicums. She is an evidence- based practice mentor and is passionate about using evidence to support leadership in nursing. Dr. Luger is board certified as a nurse executive advanced leader. Additionally, she is preparing for national certification as a leadership coach. Dr. Luger is currently the track lead for the graduate Nursing Administration and Leadership MSN & DNP tracks at Creighton University. Shelly has held several leadership positions in nursing and nursing education. She participated in a health policy residency program supported by the Department of Health and Human Services, Agency on Healthcare Research and Quality and the United States Preventative Services Task Force. Additionally, she has orchestrated student cultural immersion and service-learning opportunities on the Rosebud Reservation. Her project interests include empowering nurse leaders to tell their stories, nurse leader burnout, leadership simulation experiences, developing leadership skills in new graduate nurses, complexity science and systems leadership in free and charitable clinics.

Barbie Long is a registered nurse serving as the Director of Community Healthcare and Hospice since 2016. Home Health and Hospice is her passion and one of the reasons she chose nursing as a career. Barbie started her career in nursing as an LPN later in life, receiving her LPN diploma in 2009 and officially began her nursing career at McCook Community Hospital. She received her Associate of Science Degree in 2011 from MCC while continuing her education to become an RN. She quickly obtained her Associates of Applied Science for her RN degree from Colby Community College in 2013 and started her career in Home Health and Hospice as an RN case manager. Barbie took a bit of detour into the quality world of healthcare in 2015 and during that time she obtained her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in 2016 from Bellevue University. All of which led her back to home health and hospice as director. Ms. Long is an active member of both the home health and hospice state associations. She previously served on the board for Nebraska Association for Home Healthcare and Hospice (NAHHCH) for three years and is currently serving as one of the Legislative Key Contact Coordinators for NAHHCH. Barbie has a passion advocating for not only home health and hospice, but for her fellow nurses and the overall healthcare industry.

Molly Herzberg, Vice President of Patient Care Services, CNO – Molly joined Community Hospital in 2001 as a surgery staff nurse. She was promoted to the Director of Surgical Services in 2006 where she focused on the operating room, endoscopy, PACU, and pain management. In March 2019 she became the Vice President of Patient Care Services, CNO at Community Hospital. She obtained her BSN from Grand View College in Des Moines, Iowa and her Masters in Nursing Executive from Methodist College Omaha, Nebraska.

Dona J. Kudron RN is the Director of Patient Experience and Co-Coordinator for the Nurse Apprenticeship Program at Columbus Community Hospital. Dona graduated with her Master of Science in Nursing at the University of Phoenix. Her role within CCH requires pivotal compliance and safety guidance. In addition, she provides leadership by increasing knowledge in the Nurse Apprenticeship Program through interaction with coaches and apprentices.

Tawny Sandifer, RN, MSN, NEA-BC is the Vice President of Patient Care Services and Chief Nursing Officer at Columbus Community Hospital. She has 30 years of nursing experience, of which 17 have been in nursing leadership at the Vice President level. Tawny has a passion for building and leading engaged teams. She is an inclusive and strategic leader focused on aligning people and strategies to improve individual and organizational performance.

Jennifer Flynn, CPHRM, is Vice President of Risk Management for Nurses Service Organization in the Healthcare Division of Aon’s Affinity Insurance Services, Inc. Specializing in risk management and having worked in the healthcare insurance business for over 22 years, Jennifer is dedicated to educating nurses and health care professionals on professional liability risks and offers strategies to mitigate those risks by supporting patient safety principles and developing quality management programs. In addition to being a frequent national speaker on healthcare risk and liability, Jennifer is also a published author on various risk management topics. Jennifer is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Risk Management and is a licensed Property & Casualty agent. She earned a BA in Psychology from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania.

Katherine Bravo is a certified Pediatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and has been a Nurse Educator for 18 years. During her time in the academic setting, she has had the opportunity to work with and educate undergraduates in areas ranging from Pediatrics to Professional Transitions to Policy. Katherine coordinated UNMC’s five-campus cohort of Accelerated BSN students for over a decade and now serves as Director of the UNMC BSN Program. She has worked closely with faculty and students to develop and implement enhancements to our BSN program. In 2023 Katherine led a group of faculty in a process to identify an appropriate Clinical Judgement model that would most closely serve our UNMC CON missions. Katherine also has a specialized certification in Design Thinking through Stanford University’s Office of Executive Education, which has prepared her to address diverse problems and create empathy-based solutions focused on human needs.

Dr. Alyson Hanish is an Assistant Professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. She received a BSN, MSN, and PhD in nursing degrees from the University of Iowa. Dr. Hanish completed a predoctoral fellowship funded by the National Institutes of Health, Graduate Partnerships Program. Her pre-doctoral research was completed in the NIH intramural labs at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development within the Program on Developmental Endocrinology and Genetics. Her dissertation research focused on the sleep-related phenotype associated with a rare genetic disorder, PAX6 haploinsufficiency. The predoctoral fellowship included training in pineal measurement using magnetic resonance imaging, melatonin enzyme-linked immunoabsorbance assays, sleep questionnaires, sleep diaries, actigraphy, and polysomnography. She completed her postdoctoral training at the University of Nebraska Medical Center through the LEND (Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities) postdoctoral program at the Munroe Meyer Institute for Genetics and Rehabilitation, receiving a certificate in advanced leadership in autism and neurodevelopmental disabilities. Dr. Hanish’s current research focuses on the neurobiology of sleep and sleep/wake disturbances in populations at-risk for sleep problems, such as children and adolescents diagnosed with autism and ADHD. Dr. Hanish is PI of an NIH-funded study titled: A SMART Design to Improve Sleep Disturbance in Adolescents with Neurodevelopmental Disorders. Her research goals include further exploration of the interaction between sleep-related phenotypes, biology, and genetics in children, adolescents, and young adults at-risk for sleep disturbances. Her long-term goals are to translate evidence-based sleep interventions from research to clinical practice and public health initiatives. Dr. Hanish also serves as program director of a Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) titled a Nebraska Collaborative Investment in Nurses: Resiliency, Retention & Well-being. This HRSA grant is a three-year (2022-2024), $2.2 million grant to work with partners across Nebraska to develop and deploy resources that will promote resiliency and behavioral health in the nursing workforce, and future nursing workforce.

Ann Oertwich, PhD, RN has been a Registered Nurse in Nebraska for over 35 years in roles including patient education & discharge planning, serving as a consultant as a wound, ostomy, continence specialist, managing home health & hospice, serving as a lobbyist and executive officer of Nebraska Nurses Assn, Board member of the Nebraska Board of Nursing, faculty member at both public and private schools of nursing, and executive officer for the Board of Nursing. Dr. Oertwich has published, conducted research, started, maintained and closed a home care agency, had her own consulting business, and taught in both public and private sectors. Ann loves nursing and the flexibility and mobility it provides for women and men who care for others!