President Amy Cotton, MSN, APRN-BC, FNGNA acotton@ngna.org Bio		Vice President Nanci McLeskey, MCG, MDiv, RN-BC, FNGNA Salt Lake City, UT nanci.mcleskey@hsc.utah.edu
	Past President Susan Carlson, MSN, RN, ACNS-BC, GNP-BC, FNGNA San Antonio, TX susan.carlson2@va.gov Bio		Secretary Caryl Mayo, MS, RN, FNGNA Cincinnati, OH caryl.mayo@uc.edu Bio
	Treasurer Jean M. Gaines, RN, Ph.D. Catonsville, MD jean.gaines@erickson.com Bio		Director-at-Large Melodee Harris, Ph.D., APN, GNP-BC T2mharris@aol.com
	Director-at-Large Joanne Alderman, MSN,RN,BC,APRN, FNGNA Tulsa, OK joanne.alderman@osumc.net		Director-at-Large Elizabeth "Ibby" Tanner, Ph.D., RN, FNGNA Baltimore, MD etanner3@son.jhmi.edu Bio
	Director-at-Large Kathy Long, BSN, RN, BC, FNGNA klong@wfubmc.edu

Biographies

Amy is a dually certified Gerontological and Family Nurse Practitioner as well as the Director of Operations for Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems Continuum of Care in Bangor, Maine. Her clinical areas of interest are dementia assessment, evidence-based practice in older adult health care and eliminating errors/promoting safe health care with older adult populations. Amy has been an NGNA member since 1994 and served locally and nationally, as the founding President of the Eastern Maine Chapter of NGNA chartered in 2002 and as the NGNA Board Treasurer from 2004 – 2008. Amy was awarded the Sigma Theta Tau International, Honor Society of Nursing’s inaugural Geriatric Nursing Leadership in 2009. Amy is a graduate of the University of Maine, the University of Southern Maine and currently is a doctoral candidate at the University of Maine in Orono. She has lived in an inter-general home for the last 12 years with her parents and family. She attributes her real world knowledge of aging to this profound privilege and life changing experience. Amy’s personal credo is “To value aging is to improve lives.”



Susan L. Carlson, MSN, RN, GNP-BC, ACNS-BC, FNGNA
Past-President 2011-2012

Susan is a certified GNP and Adult CNS and is employed in the neurology department of the South Texas Veterans Healthcare System in San Antonio, Texas. Her clinical areas of interest are movement disorders, seizures, frailty, and falls reduction. She has previously held leadership positions in staff development, palliative care, and home health. Susan has been a NGNA member since 2003 and served on the NGNA Board as Director at Large from 2005 – 2007. She was inducted as a NGNA Fellow in 2009. Susan is the founding president of the Southwest Texas Chapter of NGNA and currently chairs the program planning committee. Susan is a graduate of the University Texas Medical Branch, The Catholic University of American, the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and Fayetteville Technical Institute. Her personal motto is to learn something new each day.

Nanci is a board certified geronotological nurse and is employed as a geriatric nurse educator at the University of Utah School of Medicine Division of Geriatrics. Additionally, in her spare time she is an adjunct faculty member at the College of Nursing at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, UT. She graduated with a BSN from Columbia University School of Nursing (NYC), received a Master in Clinical Gerontology and a Master in Divinity from Baylor University (TX), a Teaching Nursing Post Master’s Certificate from the College of Nursing at University of Utah, completed a Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) Unit and is an ELNEC - Geriatrics trainer (End of Life Nursing Consortium). Her areas of interest include teaching healthcare professionals and nursing students on the topics of end of life issues, geriatric assessment, fall prevention, dementia and spirituality. Nanci has been an NGNA member since 1998, was IL chapter president from 2004-2006, co-chaired the NGNA education committee 2006-2008, became an NGNA Fellow in 2008 and is serving her 2nd consecutive term as Vice-president. Sitting over her desk are two quotes that are near and dear to her. The first one from Thomas, WH which reads “If we want to improve life for everybody in our society, one of the very best places to begin is to change how we think about, care for, and honor our elders.” The second is by Thomas Chandler “To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.”

Caryl is a tenured faculty member at University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. Her clinical areas of interest are geriatrics, cardiovascular, and orthopedic nursing. She has extensive experience in acute and long term care. She has held positions of nursing leadership and management in acute care and within professional nursing organizations. Caryl has been an active member of NGNA since 2003. Elected to the Board as Member at Large in 2007-2009 and then Secretary 2009 -2011. She was most recently re-elected Secretary. In 2009, Caryl was inducted as an NGNA Fellow. She has been continuously involved in the leadership of her local chapter: Greater Cincinnati Gerontological Nursing Association. Caryl and a colleague from UC Blue Ash College are active in a monthly blood pressure screening they organize at their local parish. A 1979 graduate of Russell Sage College in Troy, NY this New Englander feels blessed as she and her husband of 24 years along with three college-aged daughters have recently welcomed her 85yo mother into their home.

Jean is a gerontological researcher currently working for a non-profit foundation. Her main research focus is on wellness, active aging, and maintaining function as one ages. Locally, Jean is active in the MD/DC Chapter of NGNA and the Maryland Gerontological Society. She presents her research nationally at the Gerontological Society of America, the American Geriatric Society, American Public Health Association, and the annual conference for NGNA. Jean also presents her research results to local Elderhostel students. Jean attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Bowie State University in Maryland, and earned her doctorate from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing.

Elizabeth “Ibby” Tanner, PhD, RN is an Associate Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing with a joint appointment in the School of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine and Geronotology and Center on Aging and Health (COAH). She is a clinical nurse specialist and gerontologist who teaches gerontological nursing at the undergraduate, master’s and doctoral levels, practices as a geriatric care manager and conducts community-based research with a focus on at-risk older adults and interventions to maintain and promote health and independence, particularly in home and community settings. Her research has also included the study of a geriatric transitional care model and the impact on outcomes of hospitalized frail older adults. Dr. Tanner has contributed to the AACN/HIGN Recommended Baccalaureate Competencies and Curricular Guidelines for the Nursing Care of Older Adults, and has worked on gerontological nursing curriculum and encouraged student interest in the field of gerontological nursing for 2 decades. She advocates for services for older adults, serving as a member of the Commission on Aging for Baltimore City and board of directions for a low-income housing complex. She also provides consultation on evidence-based care guidelines for older adults and/or research in China, Germany and Australia.