Jeannine Rivet National Leadership Award

Alita-Geri Carter is a seasoned nurse practitioner with more than a decade of experience in health care advocacy and leadership - spanning health care, business, and within her community. During her work with the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Alita-Geri has directed key programmatic work and managed millions of dollars in federal funds. As the Founder and CEO of The Commission for Health, LLC, she empowers both health care providers and health care consumers through training and educational services. Alita-Geri is also the founder of the non-profit On the MOVE Academy, Inc. an educational program designed to provide leadership development for middle and high school-age students to prepare them for a future career in healthcare.

Ayomidamope (Ayo) Adebiyi, MSN, APRN, FNP-BC, COHC, CEN presently serves as an occupational health nurse practitioner through Work Health Solutions and the University of California, Merced where she led the startup of the occupational health compliance program for research laboratories. Ayo is the founder of Care for the Unreached, a non-profit community health outreach service for mothers and infants in Nigeria. She earned her Masters of Science in Nursing, Advanced Practice Nurse Practitioner Program, at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

Maritza Lara, MS, RN, PHN is the interim Executive Director at Health Improvement Partnership of Santa Cruz County. Maritza was selected for the award for her leadership during the pandemic and her commitment to improving the structure that deliver health services to low-income communities.

She used her award funds to patriciate in programs at Yale University School of Management (Women's Leadership Program) and Stanford Graduate School of Business (The Brains and Guts of Decision Making).

Carli Zegers, PhD, APRN-NP, FNP-BC, serves as Assistant Professor at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, School of Nursing and Health Studies as well as a Nurse Practitioner at Truman Medical Center in the Emergency Department. Carli earned her PhD in Nursing and Family Nurse Practitioner from the University of Nebraska and her Bachelor of Science in Nursing as well as a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science from Creighton University.

Andrea Smith, DNP, MBA, CRNP, FNP-BC is a nurse leader at the University of Maryland Medical Center (UMMC) where she serves as the Director of Clinical Effectiveness leads interprofessional teams in the execution of specific strategic initiatives to improve safety, quality and operational performance at UMMC’s two campuses. Dr. Smith has served as President of the American Academy of Emergency Nurse Practitioners (AAENP), AAENP’s Northeast Regional Director as well as a Board Liaison on the American College of Emergency Physicians Workforce Task Force. She earned her Master of Business Administration, Doctorate of Nursing Practice, and Master of Science, Family Nurse Practitioner all from the University of Maryland.