AONL Announces New President-Elect and Board Directors

The American Organization for Nursing Leadership membership elected Ena Williams, PhD, RN, as the 2024 president-elect of the AONL Board of Directors. Williams will assume the presidency Jan. 1, 2026, leading the national membership organization whose strategic focus is excellence in nursing leadership. 

Williams currently serves as the senior vice president and chief nursing officer at Yale New Haven Hospital in Connecticut, a 1,541 bed three-time ANCC Magnet ® designated, Level I trauma, academic medical center.  

She also leads several systemwide initiatives, such as nursing leadership development programs in partnership with the Yale School of Management.

Williams serves on the Joint Commission Board of Commissioners, the American Nurses Association Foundation Board of Trustees and the Connecticut Hospital Association Board of Trustees. She also serves on the American Hospital Association Committee for Clinical Leadership, the Gateway Community College Foundation, the University of Bridgeport Nursing Advisory Board and the University of Connecticut School of Nursing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee.  

A recipient of numerous awards, Williams was honored with the ConnCAT Healthcare Leadership Award, the Gateway Community College (New Haven) Hometown Hero Award, the National Black Nurses Association’s Trailblazer Award and greater New Haven NAACP’s Cornell Scott Health Leadership Award. 

Williams graduated with a diploma in nursing from the University Hospital of the West Indies. She earned her bachelor’s degree from Western Governors University, Millcreek, Utah, her Master of Science in Management and Master of Business Administration from Albertus Magnus College, New Haven, Conn., and her Doctor of Philosophy in Management and Leadership from Walden University, Minneapolis. Williams holds a certification in executive nursing practice through the AONL Credentialing Center. She is a graduate of the GE Health Management Nurse Executive Fellowship and is currently a Johnson and Johnson Nurse Innovation Fellow.  

Also elected to the AONL Board of Directors, serving three-year terms beginning Jan. 1, 2024, are the following: 

• Diane Regan, MSN, RN, associate chief nursing officer, Tufts Medicine Lowell General Hospital, Mass. 
• Tina Mammone, PhD, RN, chief nurse executive, Virginia Commonwealth University Health System, Richmond
• Joel Moore, MSN, RN, chief nursing officer, Genesis Health System, Davenport, Iowa 
• Rosanne Raso, DNP, RN, editor-in-chief, Nursing Management, Wolters Kluwer