Leadership Letter July 2025: Board Accountability: A Pillar of Impactful Leadership

Dear Colleagues,

Board accountability is a cornerstone of impactful leadership. As the healthcare landscape grows more complex, ensuring that nurses are meaningfully engaged in governance roles is essential to achieving equitable, person-centered outcomes. Serving on the NOBC Executive Committee as Board Secretary has been a deeply rewarding opportunity to help advance our shared goal: increasing the number of nurses on boards and other decision-making bodies, where their insights are instrumental to shaping healthier communities.

Through my work with the Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN), I have witnessed the transformative power of nurses’ voices in the boardroom. But my service on other boards—both within and beyond healthcare—has reinforced the reality that nurses’ perspectives are indispensable wherever policies are made and lives are impacted. From hospital boards to educational foundations and workforce councils, nurses bring firsthand experience, a deep understanding of systems, and an unwavering commitment to ethics, access, and accountability. Their presence ensures that decisions are not only strategic but grounded in the realities of patient care and community well-being.

Accountability in board leadership is not merely about fiduciary responsibility—it’s about moral courage and stewardship. It means asking hard questions, aligning action with mission, and remaining responsive to those we serve. NOBC’s vision and commitment to nurse leadership inspire me every day, and I’m honored to contribute to this work. Together, we are not just increasing nurse representation—we are modeling what values-driven, inclusive governance truly looks like.

Rick García, Ph.D., RN, CCM, FAAOHN, FNYAM, FAADN

Chief Executive Officer

Organization for Associate Degree Nursing (OADN)

and The OADN Foundation

Secretary, Executive Committee

Nurses on Boards Coalition