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.

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.

Colleen Leners is the Director of Policy at the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) in Washington, D.C. AACN serves as the voice of academic nursing, encompassing education, research, and practice. Dr. Leners was selected as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Fellow in the office of Senator John Thune (R-SD) of the Senate Finance Committee. Colleen serves on the Case Western Reserve Alumni Board and many committees for the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). She has maintained an active family nurse practitioner practice for over 26 years and has served our country in the United States Army Nurse Corps. She has many notable achievements both civilian and military and was inducted as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and in American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Dr. Leners was awarded the Bronze Star for her service overseas.

Dr. Leners served as a Traumatic Brian Injury Program manager, created a nurse-managed primary care clinic for Wounded Warriors at Navy Medical Center San Diego (C5). She has also been a registered nurse and nurse practitioner for nearly four decades.

She received her DNP in Leadership from Case Western Reserve University, MSN FNP from University of San Diego and her BSN from California State University Dominguez Hills.