2024 Board Election Candidates

The candidates that have been selected for the 2024-2025 Board of Directors election are listed below, along with their position statements. This year, members are electing one President-Elect, one Secretary and two Directors.

The 2024-2025 election is now closed. 

Quick Links:
Click below to view candidate statements.

President Elect Candidates

 

Matt Lowe, MDiv, MSN, APRN, FNP-C, ONC

As the candidate for NAON’s President Elect for 2024 I wanted to express my reasons for pursuing the nomination. Providing leadership is the primary reason I wanted to run. More specifically servant leadership is the primary reason. It has been the keystone of my understanding of leadership from my career prior to becoming a nurse as a Presbyterian minister and through my nursing career. It was the reason I volunteered to serve on CAT my first year as a new member. It was also why I chose to run for a director position on the Executive Board. That idea of servant leadership has been significantly expanded in my role as a Director for the NAON Executive Board for going on 4 years now. Through my participation on the Board and on the Finance Committee I have gained valuable experience in knowing how NAON functions both as a member organization and as a business. It has also given me opportunity to serve our membership through listening to concerns of current and past members as I led the Membership Taskforce, serve as a liaison to the NAON Foundation and meet with members, both new and long term, at our annual congress.

The second reason is our success as an association. My experience as a business owner helps me care intensely about the financial side of our organization as well as the level of service and value we are providing to our members. This was one of the factors that moved me to chair the Membership Taskforce so that we, as a member driven professional nursing organization, can know how to better serve our members and provide them increasing value. If NAON is to continue to be the voice of orthopaedic nursing, we must be able to transition with the changes faced by every member organization. That includes engaging new members, retaining current members, and expanding the opportunities for our members to be involved in the work of the organization. It also means leveraging our organization to be innovative and inclusive. This means that we must hold both an innovative approach to our organization and its growth while at the same time providing our members with equity and justice.

The third is honest assessment of how we are doing as leaders. The organizations that make significant impact consistently ask how well they are serving their customers, employees, and leaders and what value they are providing. All other aspects of leadership flow from that primary purpose of “others first”. I have experienced leadership of that ilk modeled that for me in my journey of nursing from a ortho unit patient care tech/secretary through staff and charge nurse to nurse educator for a multi facility hospital system. Many past and present NAON members and leaders showed me what it meant to lead as a servant in this association.

As President Elect, my responsibility will be to serve our members and empower them to engage in NAON’s mission and vision and to experience being valued and receiving significant value in their membership.

Secretary Candidates

 

 

Paulina Andujo, BSN, RN, ONC

I am in a unique position that I can relate to all generations. (Yes, I’ve even gotten into Gen Z’s TikTok.)  I value all of the experiences and knowledge of those NAON nurses that have been in orthopaedic nursing longer than me. I know what it is like to be a new nurse and needing guidance and having knowledge passed down to me that can’t be found in books. We need to tap into the wisdom of our experienced nurses and make it available for our less experienced nurses through Congress in addition to a digital platform. I have watched nurses turn to google and YouTube as resources. If NAON has an app that nurses and hospitals can download, that would ensure we have evidence-based information and resources at their fingertips.

Access to the app would come with membership to NAON and can include in app purchases for certification practice questions. Hospitals or other facilities could pay a membership fee to have access to this information for their staff. My goal as a board member is to bridge the gap between our experienced and less experienced members. As well as to increase membership and member engagement.

Director Candidates

 

Lyndee Leavitt, BSN, RN, ONC

When I became an Orthopedic Nurse, I wasn’t going to stay. I was going to move onto somewhere flashier like the ER or ICU. But I fell in love with Orthopedics and have been there for eight years. Whenever someone asked where I worked and heard my proud reply of Orthopedics, you could see the disappointment in their eyes because they were looking for the typical ER, Cardiovascular, or ICU response. I knew I did great work, but they just didn’t understand. At my first Congress, sitting in the opening session, I looked around at the hundreds of Orthopedic Nurses surrounding me and felt something special. These nurses were just as committed to quality and excellence within Orthopedics as I was, and I loved that. I came back from my first Congress inspired because I found “my people”. I have served on the Board of Directors for the last three years and have met so many wonderful people and I cherish each and every interaction- even though I'm horrible at remembering your names! I am grateful for the opportunity to serve and I look forward to helping NAON grow even stronger in the future!!

 

Cynthia Lewis, DNP, APN-BC, ONP-C

As a registered nurse at 19, I was fortunate to be mentored by numerous nurses from various generations with differing concepts of what a nurse should and could be. As the youngest nurse in the hospital, no one would listen to my opinions on nursing practices, because I was the kid-nurse. So, I kept my head down, worked, listened, observed, continued my education, and most importantly, I learned the value of being a team member. Then one day, I looked up and realized that I was the experienced nurse, and my ideas about what a nurse should and could be were taken seriously. After years of bottling up my ideas on how to better care for our patients, and each other as nurses, I have plenty to share. I do not subscribe to the way things have “always been done.” A colleague once told me that “you only think outside the box.” While I knew that this was not meant as a compliment, it was at that time that I realized that I do not perceive a box. I see nursing practice as a living entity that is constantly growing and expanding to better serve patients and communities. The profession of nursing is not something that can ever be confined.

Starting my career at a young age has fostered a greater understanding of the difficulties encountered by nurses just entering practice.  Nursing students and young nurses need to experience first-hand the comradery and passion for professional growth that embodies everything that is NAON. Through partnering with nursing schools and offering students opportunities to actively participate in professional activities, I believe we can positively impact the number of nurses going into orthopaedics, mentor young nurses, and help foster a nurturing workplace culture for nurses. As chair of the NAON educational committee, it is my goal to meet each nurse where they are in their career and offer educational experiences for both new and experienced nurses that improves patient care, fosters professional growth, and generates a sense of pride in being an orthopaedic nurse.

I have years of experience in orthopaedics and completed a doctorate degree program that encompassed clinical education, research translation, and administration. Although I am equipped with academic competencies, clinical skills, and a strong evidentiary foundation as a leader should be--this is not what earns me my seat at the leader’s table. What truly makes me a leader is during the workflow of my day, every decision that I make is based on improving the welfare of my patients, community, and or the nursing profession. My time as the quiet “kid-nurse” was a journey of learning that has taught me both what I want and do not want to be as a nurse, as a person, and as a leader.  I define leadership as service-- not only to our patients, but to each other.