Donna M. Herrin Griffith, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, CENP, FACHE, FAAN, FAONL
Donna Herrin Griffith is an executive leader with over 30 years experience in nursing and healthcare administration where she specialized in healthcare/hospital operations, workforce and leader development, and succession planning. She also is a well-established academician having served in various faculty and consultant positions at several institutions. For UAB, she has served as Executive-in Residence for the UAB Health Services Administration (HSA) Programs and Assistant Professor for Human Resources Management. She continues to share her industry and academic expertise as Course Faculty.
Ms. Griffith started her career as a registered nurse and progressed to leadership positions including Senior Vice President of Operations, Chief Nurse Executive, Chief Patient Care/Nursing Officer and Workforce Development Executive. Her experience and knowledge as leader and mentor have been recognized through various honors and awards including Fellow status in three premier organizations. She has served as national President/Board Chair of the American Organization of Nurse Executives (AONE) – now AONL, the American Organization for Nursing Leadership.
Throughout her career, Donna has served/is serving on committees and/or boards for ACHE, the American Hospital Association; Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; Sigma Theta Tau, International Honor Society; and American Nurses Association, for which she consulted and served as an appraiser for its Credentialing Center’s Magnet Recognition Program. She is certified as a Healthcare Executive by the American College of Healthcare Executives and as a Nurse Executive Advanced, Board Certified (NEA-BC) by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and holds a master’s degree in Health Systems & Nursing Administration from Vanderbilt University.
Donna has also worked as a health care consultant in healthcare operations and academic settings and as an advisor for executive search firms where she worked with organizations during retained executive search projects. Consulting projects have included operations assessments, Magnet© readiness, academic program evaluation, staffing analysis and a project to plan, build and open an academic medical center in the Middle East (Doha, Qatar). Areas of expertise include system operations, human resources and development, performance improvement efforts, development and implementation of quality and safety programs, incorporating Lean methodologies and implementation of electronic EMR systems.
Donna served 20 years on the Editorial Board of The Journal of Nursing Administration (JONA). She has been published in dozens of journals and continues to present nationally and abroad, conduct e-learning programs, and serve on expert panels. Her reviews and evaluations name her a “though leader”, “strategist”, and “innovator for nursing and health care leadership”.