Jennifer Mensik Kennedy, Ph.D., M.B.A., RN, NEA-BC, FAAN (she/her)

  • Clinical Assistant Professor, School of Nursing

Biography

A sought-after presenter and prolific author, Jennifer S. Mensik Kennedy, PhD, MBA, RN, NEA-BC, FAAN, serves as the 38th president of the American Nurses Association. In this national leadership role, Mensik Kennedy boldly advocates for the nation’s 5.5 million RNs. In 2023, she was named by Modern Healthcare as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.

Mensik Kennedy is a sought-after presenter and prolific author based on her insights about and experience involving key nursing issues. Her books include Lead, Drive, and Thrive in the System, 2nd edition, and The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Innovative Staffing, 2nd edition. She co-authored Lead like a Nurse, A Nurse’s Step-By-Step Guide to Transitioning to the Professional Nurse Role, and The Power of Ten, 2nd edition, and contributed a chapter to The Career Handoff: A Healthcare Leader’s Guide to Knowledge & Wisdom Transfer across Generations.

Prior to her presidency, Mensik Kennedy held key leadership positions within the nursing profession, including serving the American Nurses Association as Treasurer, Second Vice President, and Director-at-Large. She also served as President of the Arizona Nurses Association from 2007 to2010. Additionally, Mensik Kennedy held the role of governor of nursing practice for the Western Institute of Nursing in 2010-2014.

Mensik Kennedy earned a PhD from the University of Arizona College of Nursing with a focus on health systems and a minor in public administration from the Eller College of Management. She holds an MBA from the University of Phoenix and a BSN from Washington State University. Mensik Kennedy also earned an ADN from Wenatchee Valley College-North. Prior to assuming the presidency of American Nurses Association, she was an associate clinical professor at the Oregon Health and Science University School of Nursing.

Mensik Kennedy was inducted in 2014 as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She has been recognized as Alumna of the Year by both University of Arizona College of Nursing and Washington State University College of Nursing.

 

Education and training

  • Degrees

    • A.D.N., 1997, Wenatchee Valley College
    • B.S.N., 1999, Washington State University
    • M.B.A., 2001, University of Phoenix
    • Ph.D., 2006, University of Arizona

  • Certifications

    • NEA-BC, ANCC

Memberships and associations:

  • President, American Nurses Association January 2023-December 2024
  • Member, AONL
  • Member, American Nurses Association and Oregon Nurses Association

Areas of interest

  • Health Systems, Leadership, Advocacy, Professional Practice

Honors and awards

  • 2023 Modern Healthcare's 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare
  • 2022 Alumnus of the Year, Washington State University, College of Nursing
  • 2018 Award of Excellence from Awards for Publication Excellence (APEX) Social media - Best Single Blog Post category for blog post “New York Governor Signs BSN in 10 into Law for Nurses”
  • 2017 American Journal of Nursing Book Award 3rd Place award in leadership and management category The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Innovative Staffing, 2nd ed.
  • 2017 Doody’s Book Review Perfect Score 100 – 5 stars The Nurse Manager’s Guide to Innovative Staffing, 2nd ed.
  • 2016 Leadership Award Arizona Organization of Nurse Executives
  • 2014 Fellow (FAAN) Induction as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing
  • 2010 Alumnus of the Year Award University of Arizona College of Nursing
  • 2006 Mary Opal Wolanin Outstanding Dissertation Award University of Arizona College of Nursing

Publications

Selected publications

  • Mensik Kennedy, J. (2023 In Press).  Lead, Drive, and Thrive in the System, 2nd ed. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association.  
  • Mensik Kennedy, J., Leitch, J., Ross, J., & Truong, T. (2022). Innovative Billing Practices for RNs and Social Work Under the Oregon Medicaid Structure: Billing for Services without a Provider. Nurse Leader, 20(5), 485-489 
  • Mensik Kennedy, J., & Eldredge, D. (2021). Decreasing Nurse Leader Work Role Overload Through Flexible Work Interventions. Nurse Leader, 19(5), 474-478. 
  • Izumi, S., Noble, B. N., Candrian, C. B., Tjia, J., Bordley, J., Mensik, J., & Furuno, J. P. (2020). Health care worker perceptions of gaps and opportunities to improve hospital-to-hospice transitions. Journal of palliative medicine, 23(7), 900-906. 
  • Mensik Kennedy, J. S., Nielsen, A., & Leitch, J. (2020). Learnings From an Academic Medical Center in Hiring New RN Graduates Successfully into Hospital Care Management. Nurse Leader, 18(2), 135-138. 
  • Mensik, J., Leebov, W., & Steinbinder, A. (2019). Survey Development: Caregivers Help Define a Tool to Measure Cultures of Care. Journal of Nursing Administration, (49)3, 138-142. 
  • Mensik, J, Martin., D., Trinoff, C., Clark, C., Johnson, K. (2017). Spotlight on Leadership: Successfully embedding a professional practice model across a system. Journal of Nursing Administration, 47(9), 421-425. 
  • Gullate, M., Allen, C.S., ...Mensik, J., Okonye, J.A., Salmon, N. (2019). Improving end of life communication using technology assisted continuing education with interprofessional teams. Journal for Nurses in Professional Development, 35(1), 25-31. 
  • Franken, A., Sebbens, D., Mensik, J. (2019). Pediatric delirium: Early identification of barriers to optimize success of screening and prevention.  Journal of Pediatric Health Care, 33(3), 228-233
  • Adams, J., Mensik, J., Reid Ponte, P., Somerville, J. (2018). Lead like a nurse: Leadership in every healthcare setting. Silver Spring, MD: American Nurses Association. 

Publications