Adele Foerster, MSN, RN, CPNP-PC/AC is PNCB’s Chief Credentialing Officer. She oversees exam development including job task and role research for all four PNCB certifications, currently held by over 50,000 RNs and CPNPs. She is also responsible for a variety of CE products that strengthen lifelong learning for pediatric nursing professionals. A 1977 graduate of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Nursing and the University of Maryland, she served as an Army Nurse in pediatric settings until 1998 including roles in management and education. After completing a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Post-Master’s Certificate from Johns Hopkins University in 2000, she worked full time in a local emergency department in Maryland until joining PNCB in 2010. Over the past three decades, she has enjoyed a variety of nursing experiences including pediatric home care, research data collection at Baltimore’s Shock Trauma Units, nursing staff development, and teaching in the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Uniformed Services University. She has past affiliation with the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) and has served as leadership with the Maryland Chesapeake Chapter of NAPNAP.

Tamara Martinez-Anderson has spent her 20-year career in higher education as an admissions professional. Early in her career, as an assistant dean at Gonzaga University School of Law she was involved in developing processes that moved the review of law school applications from a metrics-heavy emphasis to one that valued a holistic review of a candidate’s experiences, personal attributes, and professional competencies.

In her current role as the Director of Admissions at the University of Nevada, Reno, School of Medicine (UNR Med), Martinez-Anderson oversees pipeline development initiatives aimed at creating a more diverse and prepared applicant pool. She directs a highly holistic review process built on a rubric that evaluates each candidate on ten essential competencies based upon the institutional mission and values at UNR Med. In addition, she is responsible for the delivery of over 330 Multi-Mini Interviews each year and unconscious bias training for over 200 MMI interviewers and all members of the admission staff and committee.

Martinez-Anderson has served as a consultant with the AACN and has been part of the team delivering Holistic Admissions Review Workshops.

Karen S. Kesten, DNP, APRN, FAAN, CCNS, CNE, CCRN-K, is director of Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects and is an associate professor of nursing in the Acute and Chronic Care Community. She is licensed as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, a certified Acute and Critical Care Clinical Nurse Specialist and a Certified Nurse Educator. Dr. Kesten most recently served as the Director of Faculty Initiatives at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing and as the liaison for the work of the APRN Clinical Training Task Force, the AACN Competency-based Education for Doctoral Prepared APRN Work Group, the Implementation of the DNP Task Force and the Task Force on Defining the Scholarship of Academic Nursing. She also designed and implemented innovative and engaging learning experiences for members of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing to include faculty development conferences, webinars, toolkits, community collaboration and leadership development programs. Academically, Dr. Kesten was an associate professor at Georgetown University and was the program director for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist program. She played a critical role in the design, development, and launch of the graduate distance learning programs and the DNP program at Georgetown University. Dr. Kesten currently serves as Immediate-past Chair on the Board of Directors for the Certification Corporation for the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. Dr. Kesten’s research and publications focus on advanced nursing practice, competency-based education and innovative educational methods.

JoAnne Konick-McMahan is a Certification Practice Specialist with AACN Certification Corporation. She works with volunteer subject matter experts and psychometricians to maintain the validity and reliability of APRN and specialty certification exams through rigorous studies of practice. The results of the studies of practice are the foundation for certification exams for acute care nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists as well as progressive and critical care nurses.

JoAnne has worked in direct care and clinical education in progressive and critical care units as well as providing transitional care. She is certified as a progressive care nurse or PCCN. JoAnne’s graduate degree focus was nursing education and she has taught in graduate and undergraduate nursing programs. JoAnne is the AACN Certification Corporation’s representative on the APRN LACE network and she enjoys answering questions about certification and the APRN Consensus Model. She appreciates the mentors in clinical practice, education and certification who have provided guidance and wisdom.

JoAnne telecommutes from Pennsylvania and loves hiking the mountain trails and gardening.

Carolyn Chow, M.A. strategized and led fair and defensible holistic admissions processes for all degree programs at the University of Washington School of Nursing from 1999 to 2018 as the Director of Admissions and Student Diversity. She oversaw student outreach and recruiting from K-12 through prospective students wishing to pursue their BSN, MS, DNP, PhD Degrees and Graduate Certificates in Advanced Practice Nursing.

In leading UW’s admissions, outreach, and enrollment efforts, Carolyn ensured that the School of Nursing was among the most diverse Schools on the UW campus. She is passionate about equity and inclusion efforts and served as the SoN’s representative to the UW Diversity Council, was an active member of the SoN Diversity Committee from 1999-2018 (chair from 2005-2006), and the Graduate Opportunities and Minority Achievement Program Advisory Board. Carolyn advised and mentored the student-led organizations including SoN Queers & Allies and SoN Diversity Awareness Group. She was also the co-founder and director of UW Nurse Camp, the SoN’s premier high school pipeline and mentorship program for underrepresented and first-generation high school students interested in nursing. She also co-founded of the Western Washington Chapter of National Association of Hispanic Nurses. She has been an active leader in the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) Leadership Network Graduate Nursing Admissions Professionals (GNAP).

Carolyn currently resides in Ithaca, NY and serves as an AACN Holistic Admissions in Academic Nursing consultant. She brings a wealth of expertise regarding holistic admissions review practices in schools of nursing

Joelle Fathi is an Adult Primary Care Nurse Practitioner and Certified Tobacco Treatment Specialist who has dedicated the majority of her clinical career to oncology, including integral roles in thoracic surgery, pulmonary medicine, and lung cancer screening. She is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Biobehavioral Nursing and Health Informatics at the University of Washington School of Nursing, has spent over 20 years providing direct patient care, and serves at local, national, and global levels as an expert and advocate in tobacco control.

Dr. Fathi is committed to preventing cancer and chronic disease while optimizing health outcomes through comprehensive patient education and innovation through technology. She has served as the Program Director of telehealth clinics, Director of Nursing Practice and Health Policy for the Washington State Nurses Association and is a member of the Washington State Telehealth Collaborative. Dr. Fathi is the lead or co-author of numerous publications including, Nurses Advancing Telehealth Services in the Era of Healthcare Reform.