The CCI DAISY Nurse Leader Award for Extraordinary Nurses

Stephanie M Jeckel
MSN, RN, CNOR, CSSM

Stephanie Jeckel has demonstrated outstanding leadership in perioperative nursing through their tireless efforts to improve surgical practice, educate others, and advocate for safety and excellence.

One specific example of her impact is her leadership in implementing the AORN Center of Excellence program for the Prevention of Retained Surgical Items at her facility. Through this initiative, she led cross-disciplinary collaboration with nurses, anesthesia, and surgeons, elevating safety protocols and fostering a culture of accountability.

Her commitment to excellence has also been evident in her role designing education modules for CNOR recertification, directly supporting CCI’s mission to promote certification and lifelong learning. Additionally, her volunteer work, including mentoring students and serving on a surgical technologist engagement committee, shows her dedication to growing the perioperative community.

Stephanie Jeckel’s leadership has not only improved outcomes in her own OR but also inspired professional growth and safer practices across multiple organizations and individuals.

Stephanie Jeckel is a champion of continuous professional development and certification excellence in perioperative nursing. When she first joined their OR team, only the manager and she held the CNOR credential. Through persistent encouragement, mentorship, and by creating a culture that values certification, she has successfully inspired the majority of eligible nurses to either obtain or schedule their CNOR exam.

She provides resources, study support, and celebrates their achievements, helping to normalize certification as a standard of excellence rather than an exception. Beyond supporting others, she leads by example. She earned her MSN in Nursing Education while working full-time and is now pursuing their DNP in Leadership. Her academic progression demonstrates her belief in lifelong learning and motivates their team to grow professionally.

Through education, mentorship, and personal achievement, Stephanie is elevating the standard of practice in their department and promoting a shared commitment to clinical excellence and professional growth.

Stephanie is a role model of trust, mutual respect, and ethical behavior in every aspect of their leadership. She leads by example, showing up consistently, listening without judgment, and making decisions rooted in fairness and transparency. Her approachable nature and calm presence create a safe space for nurses to voice concerns, ask questions, and grow professionally.

Multiple nurses have personally told her that they have been inspired by her, whether to pursue certification, step into leadership roles, or simply believe in their own abilities. These moments reflect the deep respect her team holds for her and the impact she has on their professional identity.

Stephanie’s integrity, encouragement, and commitment to doing what is right, especially when no one is watching, make her not just a leader but a mentor who genuinely shapes the next generation of perioperative nurses.

She once cared for a patient with autism who was understandably nervous about an upcoming procedure. During their conversation, the patient mentioned their dream of going to space one day. Recognizing an opportunity to ease their anxiety, she used the patient’s passion for space as a way to make the OR environment more relatable and less intimidating.

As she explained the process, she compared the cold OR room to the chilly environment of space, reassuring the patient that they would provide warm blankets, which they referred to as their “space suit,” to keep them comfortable. She also described the SCD sleeves as “spacesuits,” explaining that when they activated and gently squeezed, it was like the “rocket blasters” pushing them off the moon.

This creative, empathetic approach not only calmed the patient but also helped them feel connected to something they loved. Her thoughtful, patient-centered care showcased her ability to adapt her approach to meet the individual needs of her patients, using empathy, creativity, and comfort to ensure a positive experience.

Stephanie consistently encourages critical thinking and problem-solving within her team by creating an environment where continuous learning is prioritized. She promotes this by leading initiatives like the development of CNOR recertification education modules, which challenge staff to reflect on best practices and apply evidence-based solutions to real-world OR scenarios.

Additionally, through structured feedback and mentoring, she empowers individuals to question their approach to patient care, identify areas for improvement, and implement thoughtful, evidence-backed solutions. By fostering a culture of inquiry and professional growth, she exemplifies CCI’s vision of building a community of certificants and lifelong learners.

Her leadership ensures that certification is not just an achievement but a catalyst for ongoing development, with CCI as a trusted partner in their journey toward clinical excellence.

Renee Hildebrand
MSN, CSSM, CNOR, RNFA

Renee Hildebrand’s dedication to advancing perioperative nursing practice shines through her consistent volunteerism with CCI, particularly in the education department. Her commitment goes beyond simply answering the call for help—Renee actively seeks out ways to contribute and elevate the field. As the Director of Perioperative Services, she deeply understands the critical role that certification plays in upholding high standards of patient care. This understanding drives her passion for education and professional development within the surgical community.

Renee has been instrumental in the certified surgical services management exam preparation program, not only volunteering as an instructor but also expanding the program’s scope. She brought in additional subject matter experts to enrich the curriculum, ensuring that participants gain comprehensive insights. Furthermore, Renee took the initiative to record presentations, creating valuable on-demand resources for exam preparation. Her efforts have significantly enhanced the accessibility and quality of educational offerings at CCI, leaving a lasting impact on the delivery of perioperative nursing care.

Since becoming my Director of Perioperative Services in 2010, Renee Hildebrand has been an inspiring role model who actively promotes professional growth and certification excellence. She champions certification for all department members, not just nurses, and provides opportunities for staff to attend professional conferences. Renee’s leadership reflects a deep commitment to lifelong learning, ensuring that the entire team stays current with best practices and maintains the highest standards of patient care. Her dedication to continuous professional development fosters a culture of excellence and empowers staff to achieve their full potential.

Renee Hildebrand exemplifies the qualities of trust, mutual respect, and ethical behavior in her daily practice, earning the staff’s admiration for her integrity. Team members feel secure approaching her for guidance, confident that her advice aligns with the highest ethical standards of patient care. Renee prioritizes “caring for the caregiver,” consistently ensuring that the team feels supported in their roles. Her belief that a team is only as strong as the support provided by its leadership drives her professional approach, fostering an environment where staff feel valued and empowered to deliver exceptional patient care.

Renee Hildebrand personifies compassionate nursing care and empathy through her volunteer work with the perioperative prelicensure nursing elective at Edgewood College in Madison, Wisconsin. Every semester, she presents on leadership, teamwork, and collaboration in the perioperative setting, guiding students who often feel overwhelmed and underprepared due to limited exposure to the specialty. Renee’s approach goes beyond teaching; she genuinely connects with students, meeting them where they are in their nursing journey. Her compassionate nature shines as she creates an inclusive environment, encouraging students to share their experiences and openly ask questions, even those unrelated to perioperative nursing. By doing so, Renee helps build their confidence and reassures them that they are capable of achieving their career goals, embodying the true essence of caring in action.

Renee Hildebrand’s dedication to advancing the profession extends well beyond advocating for certification. Across the various facilities where she has worked, Renee actively encourages educators to engage in professional development activities, including not just certification but also the Certificate of Mastery for perioperative educators offered by CCI. She supports her educators, team leads, and staff in expanding their knowledge, fostering a culture of critical thinking and problem-solving that aligns with CCI’s vision. By empowering individuals to be lifelong learners and reinforcing the importance of continuous growth, Renee positions CCI as a valued partner in achieving excellence in healthcare, promoting a community where learning and professional development are integral to daily practice.

Elaine Geroski
MSN, CNOR, CSSM(E)

Elaine led CCI through growth and changes over the past several years. She stepped up to fill gaps to help bridge transitions to be smooth for staff and clients. She took the lead in the selection process for the new CEO, ensuring that all governance and staff, as well as partners, had their voices counted in the decision. Elaine has done all this with dignity, respect, and grace.

I met Elaine several years back while volunteering for the CSSM test development group. We became fast friends, but more importantly, she was so passionate about certification and developing well-rounded OR staff. Through the years Elaine has continued to volunteer with CCI and will conclude her term as President in March. She has brought the organization through a difficult time and has done it with grace. On her professional side, Elaine has worked tirelessly to teach surgical technicians and nurses alike. She continues to be a strong proponent of certification and patient safety. I am grateful to have volunteered with such an outstanding leader.

Through her remarkable service on various CCI working groups, committees, the Board of Directors, and as a Board Officer since 2018, Ms. Elaine Geroski is a role model for volunteerism and leadership across the perioperative nursing community. A nurse’s nurse, she is an extraordinary leader and recognized advocate for a vision of collaboration and sharing that has made the perioperative community stronger over the last few years. Elaine demonstrates relentless commitment, unparalleled collaboration, and a posture of humility that is enhanced by her unbounded enthusiasm for bettering individuals and teams while always serving as an advocate and champion for her patients and their safety.

Ms. Elaine Geroski holds multiple credentials, professional and academic, in nursing and leadership, role models continuous professional development, and certification excellence through her engagement, insight, and leadership across a full spectrum of CCI, AORN, and local affiliations. Elaine has proven herself a relentless advocate and tireless mentor to CCI staff, volunteers, and the perioperative community through her sound judgment and leadership during challenges and opportunities afforded to the organization, its partners, and stakeholders.

Elaine has proven her unwavering commitment to her profession, the organization, and this community as she delivered excellence in collaboration and problem-solving while “steering the ship” as CCI President for an unprecedented third year. While tackling numerous sensitive business and personnel matters during the previous calendar year, she personified leadership while being accessible, available, and responsive. On a multitude of occasions, she set aside other significant responsibilities to prioritize the health of the organization, staff, and volunteers while always acting in the best interests of the organization and perioperative community.

Elaine dedicated numerous hours weekly, sometimes on a nearly full-time basis, ensuring the continuity of the organization and the success of the CCI team as Board President. She role-modeled the attributes of trust, respect, and ethical behavior while leading with humility and a posture of continuous collegiality during even the most challenging of circumstances.

Elaine is a national advocate for nursing, caring, and patient safety while tirelessly promoting and enhancing the role and image of perioperative nurses and our esteemed profession. She has served as an advocate within the organization, a diplomate advocating for a united voice and impact across the perioperative nursing community, and a role model for the role of nurse leaders seeking national impact.

Ms. Elaine Geroski betters everyone who comes in contact with her, and she betters every process with which she engages.

Josh Wymer
MSPM, MA, MSN, RN, CNOR, RN-BC, NEA-BC, CHCIO, CDH-E, FACHE, FAAN

I have known Josh Wymer since he first volunteered with CCI as a CNOR Coach and his efforts with the True North Committee and Certification Council Working Group. Josh’s contributions strengthened both the True North and CNOR Strong initiatives. As a CNOR Coach, he promoted professional development, clinical competence, and specialty certification across the country. With CNOR Strong, he led committee efforts to promote perioperative credentialing as a critical driver of professional development and clinical practice while highlighting facilities promoting the perioperative practice and credentialing excellence across their teams.

With Josh’s work as the first Chair of the Recertification Committee, I had an opportunity to work weekly and sometimes daily with Josh over two years as we recruited and trained volunteers to build CCI’s first points-based recertification library. His effort was vital to recruiting many motivated and contributing members who reshaped current clinical development resources to be more available, relevant, and reliable. Josh produced points activities totaling more than 1/3 of the total 1000-point recertification portfolio and had an immeasurable impact on the current and future recertification pathway for all CNOR nurses. These efforts increased the value of CCI’s credential and improved the ease of auditing the quality of perioperative education and clinical activities offered by the organization. It was a privilege to see him move up to the Board of Directors and benefit from his contributions which have included CCI Ambassador resources promoting the role of CCI and credentialing in perioperative clinical excellence.

Josh also led the development of the organization’s recognition program for staff, volunteers, and community partners serving the perioperative community and promoting perioperative best practices. His initiative developed collaboration with multiple national organizations that have greatly bolstered the support and recognition of the entire staff and volunteer perioperative nurses as well. Josh is widely recognized across the organization and the perioperative community as an enthusiastic champion of the profession and best practices. He is a role model for engagement and contributions that make all of us better, and he regularly invests his own time in individual perioperative nurses and community organizations in an effort to help them grow and be more effective in the delivery of safe patient care and better patient outcomes.

Josh walks the talk with many credentials and is a fellow of a couple of the most prestigious professional advocacy organizations in healthcare. His passion for excellence in perioperative nursing has taken him into other fields, but he has not lost sight of the bedside nurse and the patients who benefit when those nurses are engaged, recognized, supported, and championed. He is always accessible to the staff and volunteers and regularly participates in mentorship programs across the perioperative nursing and broader healthcare community. He is also a champion for developing others and includes junior nurses and those newest to the profession in presentation, writing, and recognition opportunities. Josh is uniquely gifted to recognize and value many perspectives, and he has made CCI’s staff and volunteers better through his collaboration and collective approach to decision-making and leadership. His endless energy, support of others in even the most trying circumstances, and desire to make himself and all of us better is the reason I am nominating him as someone who represents the very best in the qualities of a DAISY Nurse Leader.

Dawn Whiteside
MSN-Ed, RN, CNOR, NPD-BC, RNFA

The mission of CCI is to promote continuous professional development which drives safe quality patient care. We aspire to grow a community of certificants and lifelong learners for whom CCI is a catalyst and integral partner.

Dawn Whiteside has continually stressed teamwork and partnership in carrying out her complex duties in working with a diversity of partner organizations to fulfill the mission of CCI. She epitomizes lifelong learning in both her career and in establishing programs for our stakeholders. I can cite numerous examples of Dawn’s achievements in fulfilling the mission of CCI.

Dawn is an industry thought leader in nursing professional development. She played a key role in the collaboration with the Association for Nursing Professional Development (ANPD) to develop the portfolio-based credential NPDA-BC. She has led our efforts to expand our credentialing offerings in developing the Perioperative Educator (COM) Certificate of Mastery and the Perioperative Preceptor COM. These credentials will address long-term issues for perioperative nursing in providing specialist education and training based on current best evidence. To address perioperative staffing shortfalls and long-term recruiting issues she serves as adjunct faculty for the Edgewood College School of Nursing in Madison Wisconsin. Her efforts were integral in developing the NRS 480: Special Topics in Nursing and Health Care Pre-Licensure Perioperative Services Training Program. She is also a DNP student at this same college and exemplifies her personal commitment to lifelong learning.

Dawn’s technological prowess and willingness to learn have been instrumental in the startup of the CCI Learning Management System (LMS) a key component of the CCI Continuous Professional Development system supporting recertification for 6 credentials and 40000+ certificants. This LMS was built by the nursing team led by Dawn and she serves as the CCI super-user. This system provided credit for over 18000 learning activities in 2021: doubling the volume of 2020. She collaborates with the Recertification Committee to provide a system hosting more than 1000 points of no-cost professional development learning activities. In her LMS work, she has mentored and collaborated with the Credentialing Team to foster highly effective teamwork.

In addition to her primary duties, Dawn serves as a board member with ABNSC the accrediting body for many of our credentials. She has also worked closely with our partners SBMG and Beyond Clean to guide their development of microcredential/COM programs which have contributed to increased revenue for the organization. Her highly polished teamwork and communication skills have been instrumental in the startup and early success of these innovative programs. Dawn’s infectious enthusiasm and highly developed teambuilding skills have been instrumental in the recent growth of CCI and our credentialing offerings. She has done as much as any staff member to foster accountability amongst the staff and in maintaining a keen focus on the mission and vision of the organization.

Tabitha Kinlaw
MBA, MSN, RN, NPD-BC, CNOR, ONC

Through her remarkable service on various Board committees and as a Board Officer during 2020, Ms. Tabitha Kinlaw has proven an exemplary advocate for a shared vision, unbounded enthusiasm to achieve better patient outcomes through support to the perioperative community, and promoting exemplary perioperative nursing practice as a nationally recognized perioperative nurse educator.

Ms. Tabitha Kinlaw holds multiple credentials and role models continuous professional development and certification excellence through her engagement on several national boards and committees. Tabitha is universally acknowledged and appreciated as a mentor to CCI staff, volunteers, and the perioperative community through her sound judgment and leadership during challenges and opportunities afforded with the 2020 COVID experience. Tabitha delivered unwavering and invaluable assistance in guiding CCI staff through numerous sensitive business and personnel matters during the previous calendar year. She personifies being accessible, available, and responsive to the needs of CCI staff, volunteers, and the perioperative community. On multiple occasions, she dropped her other significant responsibilities to prioritize the health of CCI staff/volunteers and welfare of the organization and perioperative community. Tabitha dedicated numerous hours on a weekly basis ensuring the success of the CCI team as Board President and tirelessly contributed to item writing and other supportive efforts. Through the attributes of trust, mutual respect, and ethical behavior, Tabitha maintained a posture of continuous collegiality even in the most stressful and trying of conversations, including contentious moments that would test even the most caring and compassionate professional.

Tabitha tirelessly promotes and enhances the image of perioperative nursing and the nursing profession within CCI, across the perioperative nursing community, and to the whole of the nursing profession through national engagement with multiple organizations. Ms. Tabitha Kinlaw personifies the qualities of a true DAISY Nurse Leader.