Meet the Nominating Committee
AORN members may ask the Nominating Committee questions via email.
Karen White, RN, MBA, CNOR - Chair
Karen Yvette White has 22 years of nursing experience, with 17 of those years in Perioperative nursing. She received a BSN degree in Nursing from the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida and an MBA in Health Care Administration from Our Lady of the Lakes University in San Antonio, Texas. Karen works for Harris County Hospital District as the Nursing Director of Ambulatory Specialty Center, Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital in Houston, Texas.
She is currently the Treasure for AORN Greater Houston Chapter, and has served in variety of roles such as Co-chair AORN GH Gala 2005-2007; President 2005; President elect. 2004; Board member2003; Perioperative Advancement Committee chair, 1994; member of National On Call Task force for AORN 2005-2007. Karen is a member of the Ambulatory Specialty Assembly and she is a member of Houston Organization of Nurse Executives (HONE).
Karen co-authored an article for the AORN Journal on Chronic Pain, wrote two articles for New Perspective Magazine on Eliminate Wrong Site, Wrong Patient, Wrong Procedure Surgery and the Latest Universal Protocol established for Preventing Wrong Site, Wrong Patient and Wrong Procedure Surgery. She was a speaker at Pre-Congress in Orlando, Florida 2007,"On-Call is it safe or unsafe."
Karen states, "My goals from high school have changed throughout the years from wanting to become an Interior decorator to becoming a nurse. Being a nurse has been a rewarding experience, I've had the opportunity to work in different areas of nursing such as Pediatrics, neonatal, school nursing, OR educator, Cardiovascular operating room nursing and Nursing Administration. As a nursing Director, I believe our biggest challenges facing Health Care today are creating a future, changing a culture, and developing healthcare workers and leaders for this new high tech world. And our charge is to sustain excellence in patient care, grow the next healthcare generation and bridge the continuity of care and service we provide by developing partnerships with our patients and our physicians.
Jane Alcock, RN, BSN, CNOR
Jane Alcock is the RN Manager-Perioperative Services, Louisiana State University/Walter Olin Moss Regional Medical Center, Lake Charles, Louisiana. She earned her bachelor of science degree in nursing from McNeese State University, Lake Charles, Louisiana. Jane has been a perioperative nurse for 35 years and a member of AORN for 20 years. She is a member of AORN of Southwest Louisiana, the Louisiana Council of AORN Chapters, and the Leadership Specialty Assembly.
Jane was honored by the American Heart Association and the Walter Olin Moss Regional Medical Center for her efforts during Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. She served as the liaison for the South and North Carolina State Council project and colleagues who made significant monetary donations for two devastated Cameron Parish schools.
Highlight's of Alcock's service to AORN include: member of the Emergency Management Task Force, member of the Environmental Task Force, Chair of the Membership Committee, a national membership advisor, a state membership coordinator, and a member of the Scholarship Committee. Jane also was the Volunteer Coordinator for the 52nd AORN Congress in New Orleans. She is a published author in the AORN Journal, Perioperative Management Resources Time Management Module, and the Materials Management periodical.
Jane is a member of Sigma Theta Tau International, Louisiana Women Leaders Task Force, and a community fund-raiser for the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and the Children's Miracle Network. She has served as a preceptor and was recently appointed to McNeese State University's College of Nursing Alumni Board.
Callie Craig, RN, BSN, CNOR
Craig's professional experience includes orthopedic, neurology medical-surgical nursing, perioperative neurology, ENT, and plastics nursing. Her current role is team manager and perioperative clinical educator at INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center in Oklahoma City. She received her BSN from the University of Arkansas and is currently pursuing her MSN from the University of Oklahoma.
Craig is a member of the INTEGRIS Baptist Medical Center magnet steering committee, infection control committee, nursing excellence council, and physician-nurse liaison committee. She is also the co-chair of the INTEGRIS nurse recruitment team.
Craig is the vice-president of the Central Oklahoma Chapter of AORN and serves on the AORN National Membership Committee. She received the 2006 Nursing Impact on Public Policy Award from the Oklahoma Nurses Association and has presented numerous programs and posters on evidence-based practice in the operating room. Craig currently serves on Lippincott, Williams, and Wilkins' editorial board for OR Nurse 2007.
Donna Ford, RN-BC, MSN, CNOR
I have practiced perioperative nursing for twenty years in the Department of Surgical Services at Mayo Clinic. For seven years, I worked as a staff registered nurse in the specialty sections of General/Colonrectal/Gynecology/Transplant/Vascular/Thoracic Surgery. For the past fourteen years, I have been a clinical educator in the Mayo Clinic Department of Surgical Services. For nine years, my experience as clinical educator included responsibilities for staff education for all specialties in the department of over 100 operating rooms. This involved being based at locations in two different hospitals. In the last five years, I have been assigned as clinical educator for the surgical specialties of General-Colonrectal-Urology and Transplant Surgery. In addition to possessing expertise in perioperative nursing practice, I have experience in staff recruitment and retention strategies and promoting health careers and perioperative nursing with high school students, college students and nursing students.
I was appointed to the Practice Issues Task Force 1 in March 2004 and have worked with the other task force members to research multiple implantable electronic devices. We have developed a guidance statement to AORN members at Congress in 2005. I also served on the 2005 AORN Congress Education Planning Committee.
Kevin Metzing, RN, CNOR
Kevin is originally from New York City, but moved down to the sunbelt about 18 years ago. He now works as the administrative assistant nurse manager in the main OR at Florida Hospital in Orlando, FL and is a member of the Kidney Transplant Team. He has been a member of AORN since 1991 and serves as treasurer for Action Center of Central Florida, FCORN and Florida
Nursing Association District 8 . He served as the Chair of the Congress Education Planning Committee, Congress Volunteer Coordinator in 2007, and is a member of the Leadership SA.
Mary Jo Steiert, RN, BSN, CNOR - Advisor
Currently Manager Perioperative Services at The Medical Center of Aurora/Centennial Medical Plaza a HealthONE/HCA facility in Aurora, Colorado.
She has previously worked as GYN coordinator in the OR at Sky Ridge Med Center and Swedish Medical Center in the Denver area. She was also a coordinator in a clinical practice specializing in reproductive endocrinology. During her career in perioperative nursing she has been a staff nurse, educator, manager, and director working in a variety of settings from a small community hospital to a large metro facility.
A CNOR since 1980, she has served as a member and secretary on the AORN Board of Directors. Steiert was the 2007-08 AORN President.