Dr. Leaver comes to AACN with a distinct and diversified background including excellence in nursing education, administration, research and practice, and advanced practice, aimed to lead improvement in healthcare outcomes for individual, family, and community. She has demonstrated success as a nurse scientist with Manet Recognition, diversity in nursing research design, grant funding, and both on-ground and onsite implementation of innovative technology in nursing education. She also has remarkable success impacting the intersection of integrative healthcare, cultural competency, and technology applied to optimize potential of nursing education, practice, research, and administration.

Alexa Tehansky has a Master’s of Science degree in Information Technology and Program Management from the University of Maryland, University College. Alexa started working for AACN in October 2008 under grant program New Careers in Nursing (NCIN). NCIN was funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) with a focus on promoting diversity in accelerated nursing programs by developing pipeline initiatives, mentoring, professional development and leadership opportunities. Alexa’s work administering the grant and facilitating operations for the scholars helped many future nurses by providing several years of funding via scholarships to more than 3,500 students at 130 nursing schools.

In January 2017, Alexa transitioned to a new role at AACN to work on a wide range of faculty initiatives to increase engagement through the development of leadership programs, producing Webinars, launching AACN Connect - a collaboration community/discussion forum, maintaining education modules, assisting with several awards, and coordinating the redevelopment and launch of the AACN Leads portfolio of programs