Nursing & Healthcare News
Meet Kimberly Long of the ACNL
Talking with the CEO of the Association of California Nurse Leaders
With this issue we’re launching a new Working Nurse series spotlighting influential nursing organizations.
About the ACNL
Founded in 1978, the Association of California Nurse Leaders (ACNL) has the mission of preparing nurses “to transform self, others, and systems.”
The ACNL offers a variety of resources and programs, ranging from scholarships to mentorship opportunities to seminars, with more programs coming in the near future.
Working Nurse recently spoke with ACNL Chief Executive Officer Kimberly C. Long, RN, MSN, FNP, DHA, FACHE, about her role and current priorities.
The CEO Role
The ACNL has an elected board of directors, who in turn elect the CEO. Long was elected in 2023 for a two-year term, and is running for another term again this year.
As CEO, she says her role is “to oversee office operations, provide leadership to the board on governance, act as liaison for nurse leaders in California, and ensure execution of the strategic plan and business strategies.”
Long wants to make sure there are clearly documented procedures and policies for each program and role in place. This includes her own job. “I have created a CEO orientation process and accompanying booklet that outlines the activities required, key documents to be filed annually, where to file them, and with whom,” Long explains.
Another priority is to expand the organization’s revenues while streamlining expenses to provide a greater financial reserve. The goal, she says, is to ensure that “all key activities to sustain the organization are ‘hardwired,’” making the ACNL even stronger as it moves forward.
Preparing Nurses
We asked Long what she sees as the biggest challenges currently facing nurse leaders in California.
“The major thing,” she says, “is that we, nurses, are not in charge of our profession. We are still subject to others who are not trained as nurses, determining nursing practice. This must change. We have also created advanced practice roles, but have not ensured that there is a place for those roles in healthcare.”
What does the ACNL offer nurses in the face of those challenges? Long says the organization strives to prepare nurses for leadership through education, mentorship and “networking with nurse pioneers and the movers and shakers in California nursing.”
AARON SEVERSON is the associate editor of Working Nurse.
In this Article: ACNL, Leadership and Management
