PHILADELPHIA—CGFNS International, Inc., has expanded its public policy expertise and strengthened its assessment capabilities with the addition of Retired Rear Admiral (RADM) and Assistant Surgeon General Kerry Paige Nesseler, MS, RN, FAAN and Janine Hawley, MS to its leadership team.
Ms. Nesseler will serve as CGFNS’ Strategic Public Policy Advisor, having previously served as Director of the Office of Global Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) since 2006.
In this new role, Ms. Nesseler will monitor the public policy developments of international governmental and global organizations—including the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the International Organization for Migration, the International Council of Nurses, and others—and advise CGFNS’ strategy and initiatives related to global health policymaking.
Serving as Director of Global Assessment Services, Ms. Hawley will lead CGFNS’ assessment team in the management, development, and delivery of all CGFNS’ examination programs and services, including certification and competency-based assessments. Ms. Hawley will also be responsible for developing and implementing a research agenda to advance CGFNS’ global reach in assessment and certification.
“I’m honored to welcome Ms. Nesseler and Ms. Hawley to CGFNS,” said Franklin A. Shaffer, EdD, RN, FAAN, FFNMRCSI, President and CEO of CGFNS International. “The extensive knowledge and experience they each possess in their respective fields will be invaluable to growing CGFNS’ reputation as the foremost authority on health professional credentialing and mobility in a changing world.”
As HRSA’s Director of the Office of Global Health, Ms. Nesseler developed strategies to promote health diplomacy, coordinated the agency’s international health policy development, and served as a trusted consultant to the HHS Secretary’ Office of Global Affairs, other HHS agencies, and transnational organizations such as the United Nations and World Health Organization. From 2009-2013, Ms. Nesseler served as Chief Nursing Officer for the United States Public Health Service, providing nursing affairs leadership to the Office of the Surgeon General and advising the U.S. nursing community on issues such as care delivery, recruitment, retention and career development.
Previously, Ms. Nesseler was the first woman and first nurse to serve as Associate Administrator for HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions where funds from Congress are competitively granted to primary care medical, nursing, and allied health professional academic institutions throughout the U.S. She also served as Deputy Associate Administrator for Programs and Senior Nurse Consultant for HRSA’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau, a Nurse Epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Senior Project Officer/Nurse Consultant for HRSA’s Bureau of Primary Health Care in Atlanta, and Maternal Child Health Clinical Nurse Specialist with the Indian Health Service.
Ms. Nesseler received a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Hawaii at Manoa and holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of San Francisco.
Ms. Hawley joins CGFNS after 20 years at the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME), most recently serving as Director of Licensure Programs, where she was responsible for the design and oversight of operations for a portfolio of assessments used to inform licensing decisions for health professions in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, and South Africa.
Ms. Hawley began her career working as an analyst providing psychometric analyses for assessments used for professional licensure and certification across the healthcare industry. Ms. Hawley later moved into assessment program management, where she remained an Assessment Officer until being promoted to Director. In this role, Ms. Hawley was responsible for managing assessments for physicians and other health professions across their academic and professional careers, ranging from formative assessments taken during education and training to examinations and assessments used for licensure.
Ms. Hawley is an accomplished scholar and author of numerous highly cited articles on health professional in-training, certification, and licensure in leading peer-reviewed journals. She is frequently invited to present at annual meetings of health profession regulatory boards and at health profession association meetings around the country.
Ms. Hawley holds a Master of Science in Experimental Psychology from Villanova University in Villanova, PA, received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Denison University in Granville, OH, and holds a certificate in Instructional Design Foundations and Applications from the University of Illinois.
About CGFNS International, Inc.
Founded in 1977 and based in Philadelphia, CGFNS International is an immigration-neutral not-for-profit organization proudly serving as the world’s largest credentials evaluation organization for the nursing and allied health professions. CGFNS International is an NGO in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and is a member of the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO).
