NCSBN Names New CEO

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - Jun 29, 2015) - The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN^®) Board of Directors (BOD), www.ncsbn.org, has named David Benton, RGN, RMN, BSc, M Phil, PhD, FFNF, FRCN, to succeed retiring CEO Kathy Apple. Benton assume duties as CEO on Oct. 1, 2015.

Benton is currently CEO of the International Council of Nurses (ICN), a post he has held since 2008. Immediately prior to that appointment he served as an ICN consultant in nursing and health policy specializing in regulation, licensing and education. He has also served on the Editorial Advisory Board for the NCSBN Journal of Nursing Regulation since its launch in 2010.

Benton has held senior leadership roles for more than 25 years across a range of organizations including working as executive director of nursing at a health authority in London; as a senior civil servant in Northern and Yorkshire Region in England; as chief executive of a nurse regulatory body in Scotland; and as nurse director of a University Trust Health System.

Benton has a PhD Summa Cum Laude from the University of Complutense in Madrid, Spain. His area of research was an international comparative analysis of the regulation of nursing practice. He qualified as a general and mental health nurse at the then Highland College of Nursing and Midwifery in Inverness, Scotland.

"We are extremely pleased to have David join us as CEO," comments Shirley A. Brekken, MS, RN, President of the NCSBN BOD. "His wide range of leadership experience coupled with post-graduate work in nursing research developing evidence for regulation, and further study in comparative analysis of influence in public policy will support and enhance the mission and vision of NCSBN."

He counts among his various awards and honors the inaugural Nursing Standard Leadership award in 1993 and the Fellowship of the Florence Nightingale Foundation in 2001 and was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Nursing in 2003 for his contribution to health and nursing policy.

Additionally, Benton has held several visiting appointments and is currently a visiting professor of nursing policy at the University of Dundee in Scotland.

Founded March 15, 1978, as an independent not-for-profit organization, NCSBN was created to lessen the burdens of state governments and bring together boards of nursing (BONs) to act and counsel together on matters of common interest. NCSBN's membership is comprised of the BONs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories -- American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. There are also 21 associate members that are either nursing regulatory bodies or empowered regulatory authorities from other countries or territories.

NCSBN Member Boards protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses. These BONs regulate more than 4.5 million licensed nurses.

Mission: NCSBN provides education, service and research through collaborative leadership to promote evidence-based regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.

National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc.
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