Nebraska Nurses Foundation Board & Staff
Sara Seemann
President & Nurse Member
It is a privilege to serve as President of the Nebraska Nurses Foundation (NNF). The NNF serves as a valuable entity in the overall mission of benefiting and supporting the nursing profession throughout the state. We have a great group of individuals serving on the NNF Board of Directors whose primary responsibilities include establishing the fund management structure for assets archived by Districts of the Nebraska Nurses Association. Another Board responsibility is investigating and establishing the processes for funding nursing scholarships in collaboration with the Nebraska Nurses Association. I’m an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse – Clinical Nurse Specialist serving the Emergency Department(s) at Bryan Medical Center in Lincoln, NE. One of best parts about being an APRN-CNS is the opportunity to provide leadership in the development of comprehensive clinical practice standards, programs and services benefiting the patients, their families and the clinicians. I have been active in the Nebraska Nurses Association since moving to Nebraska in 1996.
Anna Mackevicius
1st Vice President & Nurse Member
Anna Mackevicius is a familiar face to nursing in Nebraska, serving as NNA President from 2016 – 2018 and in various other leadership roles over many years. We are thrilled to bring Anna’s leadership experience, strong communication skills and expert project management to the Board. Her “inside perspective” on MSD/NNA/MIG operations will be “helpful as the Nebraska Nurses Foundation considers future partnerships and collaborative efforts.” Her employment involves the management of multi-million-dollar contracts with federal agencies including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid and the Veterans Affairs. As a Project Management Professional, she handles tasks and projects – both ongoing and one-time occurrences – with consideration of time, resources, constraints, and scope. This perspective will be helpful as NNF pursues available grants to promote its mission, and to support NNA/NNF collaboration to create stable, relevant, and sustainable organizations. Anna continues as the Vice President role for the Board.
Teresa Anderson
2nd Vice President, Secretary & Nurse Member
Teresa (Terry), EdD, MSN, NE-BC is passionate about nursing and proud to be a Nebraska Nurse! As a nursing leader, she has been actively involved in both the ANA and NNA for over 40 years. She worked for the ANA and ANCC as a Magnet Program® consultant for over 12 years prior to establishing her own consultation practice. In addition to her nursing excellence work, Dr. Anderson also serves as the Chief Nursing Officer of Nobl Health, a digital rounding company, and in 2020 founded Oculi Data, a national comparative database for nursing sensitive indicators. After several years as chair and member of NNA committees, Terry served as NNA President-Elect in 2011 and subsequently President from 2012 – 2016. She was recognized as the UNMC College of Nursing Distinguished Alumnus in 2016 and currently serves on the UNMC Alumni Association Board. She facilitated the incorporation of the NNF as a 501(c)3 non-profit and is passionate about the work that the NNF can do to advance nursing practice and education through scholarships and grants.
Justin Gripp
Treasurer and Community Member
Justin Gripp joins the Foundation as a Community Member and assumes the role of NNF Treasurer. Justin has a Doctor of Pharmacy and MBA from Creighton University. He is serving on the Foundation Board to help Nebraska’s nurses in furthering their education and professional development. Justin works as a senior applications specialist for Optum Advisory Services, remotely supporting hospital systems with their Epic EHR needs. Previously, Justin was a pharmacy operations supervisor at Madonna Rehabilitation Hospitals in Lincoln, informatics pharmacist at Bryan Health, and pharmacist at Crete Area Medical Center. Since 2013, Justin has served on the Nebraska Pharmacists Association Legislative Committee and is interested in the legislative process and its impact on the delivery of healthcare in our state. Justin is married to Susan, a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner DNP serving Omaha and Lincoln. They have one daughter together.
Dan Rock
Community Member
Dan Rock loves nurses and knows how important they are. His wife is a Certified Diabetes Educator nurse at Nebraska Medicine. His aunt, an emergency department nurse, died in an ambulance-truck collision; two other aunts, his mother-in-law, and sister-in-law are also nurses. Last, but certainly not least, his mom was an extraordinary OB nurse at Bergan Mercy. Dan is a lawyer in Omaha helping families with wills and personal injury matters and represents health care facilities in employment matters including immigration. Dan is serving on the Foundation Board to help the nurses of Nebraska any way he can serving on the Foundation Board to help the nurses of Nebraska any way he can.
Barb Petersen
Nurse Member
Barb Petersen is an RN, Nurse Practitioner with more than 25 years’ experience. Barb has her Masters of Science in Nursing (MSN) and APRN with ANCC certification in the area of Family Practice from Clarkson University. She is currently enrolled in the Doctorate of Nursing Program in the area of Nursing Administration at Creighton University. Barb is the Chief Quality Officer at Great Plains Health in North Platte, Nebraska where she has direct oversight of quality, trauma, stroke, sexual assault SANE/SART, patient experience, the Malcolm Baldrige Journey and Studer initiatives. She serves on the Legislative Advocacy and Representation Committee (LARC) for the NNA Region 1 representative, on the Lincoln County Rape and Domestic Abuse (RDAP) Board of Directors, the Great Plains Health Board of Directors, on the Clinical Review Committee at the North Platte Surgery Center and most recently was asked to be on the Rocky Mountain Performance Excellence (RMPEx) Board of Directors for the regional Baldrige Excellence journey.
Maggie Baumann
Nurse Member
Maggie Baumann is a native to the Omaha area and has a strong desire for implementing positive change within the nursing profession. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Nebraska Medicine Center – Omaha and started her nursing career at Nebraska Medicine on the Cardiac Progressive Care Unit. Throughout her nursing career she developed a passion in nursing education and transitioned into the role of a Clinical Education Coordinator at Nebraska Medicine and served as a clinical adjunct instructor at College of Saint Mary. She obtained her Master of Science in Nursing as a Family Nurse Practitioner from Clarkson College in 2017 and then completed her Adult Gerontology/Acute Care Post-Master’s certificate in 2021. She currently works as a Nurse Practitioner within the Acute Care Surgery department at Nebraska Medicine.
Heather Jensen
Nurse Member
Heather Jensen brings clinical nursing excellence and rural/regional experience to the NNF Board. Her practice in North Platte, Nebraska has included multi-professional collaborative participation in administrative committees, curriculum management, and implementation of progressive staff engagement models. She appreciates the “focus of staff feedback” and has resolved to “make education an experience of staff growth and engagement.” Heather received her BSN from Fort Hays State University and currently serves as a House Supervisor at Great Plains Health.
Katie Messner
NNA Liaison, NPDC & Nurse Member
Katie has been an active member of NNA since 2010 and currently serves on the Nursing Professional Development Committee which she has chaired in the past. Through that position, she is an ad hoc member of the NNF Board serving as the liaison between the two corporations. Katie has a BSN, MSN and Post-Masters from the University of Nebraska Medical Center – Kearney, working as a Clinical Instructor on the Kearney campus, primarily working with the accelerated nursing program. Katie also works 1 day a week as a Nurse Practitioner at Elite Health and Wellness. Katie is passionate about “furthering the nursing profession as a whole” and enjoys the broad perspective of serving on both boards.
Kim Houtwed
NNA Executive Director
Kim has served as the Executive Director of the Nebraska Nurses Association since 2019. Kim has a MBA from Nebraska Wesleyan and a BSN from Iowa Wesleyan. She brings considerable clinical and management experience to her position and serves as an Ex Officio non-voting member of the NNF Board.
Jill Kliethermes
Foundation Manager (Contracted)
Jill serves as the Executive Director of the ANA Midwest Multistate Division and CEO of the Missouri Nurses Association (MONA). Jill also supports the Kansas State Nurses Association and the Missouri Nurses Association Foundations as manager of their programs and brings tremendous experience to her position as manager of the NNF.
Karen Harris
Accountant/Financials (Contracted)
Karen is a 30-year accounting professional who has worked with non-profit programs on a city, state, and federal level.