AONL Announces New President-Elect, Treasurer and Board Directors

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL) membership elected Deborah Zimmermann, DNP, RN, chief clinical officer and principal of Leaders in Care, as the 2022 president-elect of the AONL Board of Directors. Zimmermann will assume the presidency Jan. 1, 2024, leading the national membership organization whose strategic focus is excellence in nursing leadership.

Zimmermann served in the United States Army Nurse Corps, practiced as a nurse practitioner and spent 25 years as a nurse executive in New York and Virginia. Most recently, she was the chief nursing officer and vice president of patient care services at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System and associate dean of clinical programs at the VCU School of Nursing in Richmond, Va.

Zimmermann is a member of the AONL Board of Directors, chairs the AONL Foundation Board of Directors, co-chairs the AACN-AONL Academic Practice Council and is a member of the DAISY Foundation Board of Directors. Previously, she served as chair of American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on the Magnet Recognition Program and as president of the New York Organization of Nurse Executives Board of Directors. Zimmermann holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree from St. John Fisher College in Rochester, New York. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.

The AONL membership elected Simmy King, DNP, RN-BC, chief nursing informatics and education officer at Children’s National Health System in Washington, D.C., to serve a three-year term as treasurer. In her current role, she is accountable for the development and strategic implementation of information systems, technology and education to advance safe interprofessional clinical practice.

Also elected to the AONL Board of Directors, serving two-year and three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2022, are the following:

• Patricia Noga, PhD, RN, vice president, clinical affairs, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association, Burlington
• Claire Zangerle, DNP, RN, chief nurse executive, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh
• Brandy Matthews, DNP, RN, chief nursing officer, UK HealthCare, Lexington, Ky.
• Shannon Fucik, MBA, RN, senior nursing director, emergency services, trauma, critical care transport and patient logistics, Children's Mercy Kansas City (Missouri)
• Charles Larsen, MSN-L, MBA, RN, clinical operations regional lead, Central Logic, Phoenix