Laura Caramanica, RN, PhD, CENP, FACHE, has been elected president-elect of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE). Caramanica currently serves as the executive director of the Institute for Nursing Excellence at Westchester Medical Center, Valhalla, N.Y., where she also held the position of senior vice president/chief nursing officer from 2007-2010.
Selected through a voting process of AONE’s 7,300 members, Caramanica will serve as president-elect for a one-year term beginning January 1, 2011. She will become AONE president and serve a one-year term beginning January 1, 2012.
“I am thrilled and honored to serve as AONE president-elect during this challenging period in health care,” said Caramanica. “I anticipate a great, but demanding year working with the AONE board, staff and members to advance AONE’s initiatives and champion the voice of nursing leadership in health care.”
Caramanica has been a registered nurse for over 28 years and an AONE member for more than 20 years. She served two terms on the Region 1 AONE Board of Directors from 2004-2008 and currently serves on the AONE Council on Graduate Education for Administration in Nursing (CGEAN) Task Force and the AONE Geriatrics Task Force. Caramanica was a board member and past president of the Organization of Nurse Executives, Connecticut (ONE-CT) and is a former chair of the Connecticut Hospital Association Nurse Executive Committee. She also served two terms as an officer and board member of the Connecticut Nurses Association.
Caramanica is a faculty member of Walden University and Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, CT and holds the title of assistant professor of medicine at New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY. She received a doctorate of philosophy (PhD) in education administration from the University of Connecticut, master’s degree (MEd) from Teacher’s College, Columbia University, bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) from the University of Bridgeport, Bridgeport, CT, and diploma in nursing from Hartford Hospital School of Nursing, Hartford, CT. She has been inducted into the international honor society for nursing—Sigma Theta Tau--and is a recipient of its Excellence in Nursing Administration award. She also received the Connecticut Nurses Association’s Diamond Jubilee Doris Armstrong Award for Outstanding Contribution to Nursing Administration in 2002. Caramanica is a widely-published author and has given numerous presentations on leadership topics such as shared governance, evidence-based practice, clinical nurse leaders, and quality and performance improvement.
Also elected to the AONE Board of Directors by the AONE membership are the following: Region 5 - Mary-Anne Ponti, RN, MS, MBA, CNAA-BC, Chief Operating Officer/Chief Nurse Executive Northern Michigan Regional Health System, Petoskey, Michigan. Region 7 - Joan Shinkus Clark, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, FACHE, FAAN Senior Vice President and System Chief Nurse Executive Texas Health Resources,  Arlington, Texas. Region 9 - Linda Burnes Bolton, DrPH, RN, FAAN Vice President, Nursing and Chief Nursing Officer Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California.