Founders and Emeritus Series: Where Are They Now? Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN

I am deeply grateful to all nurses who serve on boards because they are stepping up to make an impactful difference. Just as I describe nursing’s role in public policy, serving on a board is a nursing intervention at the societal level. I am fully committed to bringing more nurses into board service and supporting them to contribute significantly to the health of individuals, families and communities through their governance roles.

As a founder of the Nurses on Boards Coalition (NOBC), I am proud of our history and progress and will enthusiastically join my colleagues in emerging mentoring programs.

History of Involvement in NOBC

My two-decade history of involvement in NOBC has been more than rewarding as we all witness its successful progress. As the Chief Strategist of the Center to Champion Nursing in America (CCNA),an initiative of AARP Foundation, AARP, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation), one of my first responsibilities in 2007 was to increase the number of nurses on boards. Our strategic plan called for exploring the driving and restraining forces we needed to address to make this happen. To help us do that, we formed our Champion Nursing Coalition (CNC) of partners who supported this goal. When we kicked off the Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action to implement the recommendations of the 2010 Institute of Medicine report on the Future of Nursing: Leading Change, Advancing Health, we engaged the CNC and formed Action Coalitions (ACs) of nurse leaders and “non-nurse” champions in every state. For two years, we convened regional meetings with highly- motivated members of these groups and found the number one recommendation across the nation was to bring nursing organizations together to prioritize getting nurses on boards.

And that is what we did. With my colleagues Pat Polansky, Jennifer Peed and Winifred Quinn, we “incubated” NOBC! Officially established in 2014, NOBC’s goal was to get 10,000 nurses on boards by 2020, which was later changed to 2025 due to the pandemic and further coalition development. My Robert Wood Johnson Foundation partner in all campaign initiatives, Sue Hassmiller enthusiastically supported CCNA’s challenging role in convening the nursing organizations and staffing the deliberations over the course of the year. In 2015, CCNA drew funds from its annual budget to provide a grant to the American Nurses Foundation to further develop NOBC into an independent organization. I am proud to say that, in addition to Alicia George’s appointment to the NOBC, I advocated for two ACs to be members: the co-lead of one of our largest and most active Action Coalitionss (Cole Edmonson) and the co-lead of Indiana who was also active in the National Forum of State Nursing Workforce Centers (Kim Harper). All three remain steadfast NOBC leaders and advocates. I thank my CCNA, RWJF, and NOBC colleagues for more than meeting our goals and for charging forward with gusto.

Personal History of Board Service

Board service has been an extremely important part of my career trajectory and offered vehicles to have impact. I have served on more than fifteen decision-making boards since my 30s at the local, state, national and international levels, not including numerous national/federal, state and organization advisory committees, commissions, and panels. I chaired several boards and served from 3 to 20+ years on these boards. Like other nurses with these experiences, I was often the only nurse at the table.

In all these cases, I was strongly attracted to the mission of each organization and the potential to collaborate and network with new contacts who often had very diverse backgrounds and perspectives from mine. They enriched my world view and offered me the opportunity to influence theirs as well, all in the name of advancing the mission of the organizations together. In the process, I learned the language of other disciplines involved (finance) and unexpectedly built my own reputation/brand.

I owe these experiences to mentors and colleagues, and to my policy roles over time. I always give credit to my membership in the American Nurses Association/New Jersey State Nurses Association (NJSNA). It was the NJSNA Executive Director, Barbara Wright, who recommended me for my first hospital board and the Mercer County Mental Health Board very early in my career. Colleagues recommended me for three other hospital boards, the Leapfrog Group and two journal boards. My policy roles brought opportunities for board appointments to the NJ Board of Nursing, the Visiting Nurse Association of Trenton, the National Alliance for Caregiving, the Long-Term Care Quality Alliance, and the National Academy for State Health Policy to name a few.

Today I am serving as the first nurse/first woman Chair of the Board of Directors of RWJBarnabas Health, the largest academic health center in New Jersey. This is undoubtedly the most challenging board position of my career. With fourteen hospitals, 45,000 employees (NJ’s largest employer), and partnership with Rutgers University, the governance of this system is highly complex. Having served as the chair of the Quality Committee for 10 years and Vice Chair for 3 years, the system leadership and the board members credit me with steering the system toward significant quality and safety gains. This position also gave me the influence to have the CEO create a system-wide initiative to include family caregivers in the care of our patients and include that initiative in his annual goals. I am now turning my attention to our behavioral health service line.

I am also honored to serve as a visiting professor in the Betty Irene Moore Fellowship for Nurse Leaders and Innovators. With sixty amazing fellows, I lead their exploration of public policy, provide expertise on joining boards, and provide mentorship on a cohort and individual basis. I am learning so much from these talented leaders who come from many different areas of practice, research, and education. I am receiving more than I give.

Lessons Learned and Advice

Throughout this journey, I have learned that nurses have essential skills and many opportunities to apply them at the board level. We bring the voices of others, especially the voices of our patients and their families. We are trusted for our expertise and our ethical behaviors. We are organized, we have advanced communication skills, especially in listening, and we bring real world experience. We are accustomed to being very prepared for any task we assume. We know how to ask strategic questions. And we have great ideas to bring to the table.

My advice is to seek board appointments or at least prepare for that option in the future when you can do it. Do your homework. Identify an organization that espouses a mission that aligns with your goals and the purpose you would find in being part of this governance. Find out who already serves on those boards, and who you might know who knows them. Network. Know how you can add value. Because you will. I promise.

Looking Ahead

I believe that NOBC is paving the way for a true escalation in the numbers of nurses serving on boards and their growing impact on the health of the nation. The future of nurse leadership in governance is secure. I offer my help to continue to make that promise a reality.

Susan C. Reinhard, RN, PhD, FAAN