Jean Putnam, the System Chief Nurse Executive for Baptist Health South Florida in Miami, Florida is responsible for the practice of over 8,000 nurses and 2,000 nursing support caregivers in an integrated health system of 12 hospitals, 200+ outpatient sites of care, and 500+ advanced practice nurses. Prior to that Jean was the Network Chief Nursing Officer for Community Health Network in Indianapolis, Indiana. Jean’s legacies include creating a culture of being the “Best Place to Practice Nursing” by achieving very high nurse engagement scores, as well as 99th percentile 1st year retention of new nurses. She is considered an expert in workforce planning, building pipelines for future nurses, and securing millions of dollars in grant funding for innovation and use of technology in nursing. She believes in the power (and responsibility) of nurses to change the world. She commits time to re-imagining nursing health policy and revolutionizing the way nurses practice in numerous settings. Her innovative spirit has led to several grants and awards, including the Patient Experience Innovator of the Year Award from the Millennium Alliance, the President’s Award and Pillar Award for Excellence in Nursing Leadership Award from the Indiana State Nurses Association, the Distinguished Alumni Award from Purdue University, and the Excellence in Leadership Award from Executive Women in Healthcare.

Dr. Natalie Bermudez has been a registered nurse for 25 years and currently serves as a Nurse Scientist at Baptist Health, a large healthcare system in South Florida. She has worked as a staff nurse in various clinical settings, such as neuro-stepdown, orthopedics, and telemetry, but spent a large portion of her nursing career as a clinical nurse educator primarily at Bethesda Hospital East. Dr. Bermudez’s academic background includes an ASN degree earned from Miami-Dade College in 2000 followed earning the remainder of her nursing-focused degrees from Florida Atlantic University; a BSN in 2004, an MSN in 2009, and a PhD in 2020. Dr. Bermudez has been a member of the AACN Palm Beach County Chapter (PBCC) in 2010 (drafted by Marty Turk ) and has served as Board Member in 2011-2012, Chapter President-Elect in 2012-2013, Chapter President in 2013-2014, and AACN Region 7 Chapter Advisor from 2016-2019. She is currently a member of AACN Palm Beach County Chapter’s Professional Practice Committee, specifically serving as an EBP-Research consultant. Dr. Bermudez has presented at local and national venues on a variety of clinical topics, as well as several professional nursing topics, such as authentic leadership, healthy work environment, compassion fatigue/compassion satisfaction, research- EBP seminars, moral comfort/moral distress, and horizontal violence/bullying.

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Bonnette Villalba Webb is an internationally educated nurse from the Philippines, bringing 35 years of dedicated experience as a Registered Nurse and a commitment to clinical excellence. A Progressive Care Certified Nurse (PCCN) and Legal Nurse Consultant, she holds an MSN in Healthcare Quality and Patient Safety. Her extensive career encompasses diverse roles in acute care, including Leadership, Education, and Clinical Account Management in the Nurse Travel Industry. Currently, Bonnette serves as the Quality Manager at Lakeside Medical Center and an Adjunct Clinical Instructor at Palm Beach State College. A fervent leader and mentor, she is deeply involved with the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), where she is a National Ambassador and a Board of Director for the AACN Palm Beach County Chapter, having previously served as Chapter Past President and, recently, the Chapter Advisory Team for Region 7, Florida. She is also an active member of the American Nurses Association and the Florida Nurses Association, and a proud member of the Sigma Honor Society, underscoring her commitment to fostering nursing excellence. She co-authored a peer-reviewed publication with the NSU, Florida Distance Learning Association, The Future of Nursing Leadership: Incorporating e-learned Artificial Intelligence (AI) Pathways with Precautionary Focus on Patient-Centered Care, which was awarded the NSU, FDLA, Best Conference Paper for 2025. Bonnette further advocates for transformative growth and leadership development as a Certified Speaker Coach and DISC Behavioral Assessment Trainer/Consultant with the John Maxwell Certified Leadership Team. Driven by her mantra, “One Nurse at a Time”, she is passionate about leading and mentoring nurses, actively shaping the future generation of the nursing profession.

Jennifer Paciletti is an advanced heart failure nurse practitioner for HCA Florida JFK Hospital. She holds a Master’s of Science degrees in both nursing education and adult gerontology. She helped to develop the advanced heart failure and durable LVAD program in 2015 at JFK and works as the inpatient APP managing many high-risk cardiac patients with acute MI, cardiogenic shock, acute heart failure, and advanced therapy patients. She has over 25 years of experience in critical care, cardiothoracic surgery, clinical education and advanced heart failure. Her passion is to educate other healthcare professionals about heart failure, cardiogenic shock and mechanical circulatory support devices.

Kendra graduated from University of Texas in Arlington in 1985 with her BSN. She successfully completed and graduated from Parkland Memorial Hospital’s Critical Care and Trauma Internship. She has worked in the Surgery/Trauma, Thoracic and Neurosurgical ICU at Parkland Memorial Hospital as a staff nurse and nurse educator. Kendra has been a manager on a trauma floor and the Director of Critical Care at Zale Lipshy University Hospital in Dallas. She has her Master’s of Nursing from Texas Women’s University as a Clinical Nurse Specialist and has worked as a CNS in the Surgical Trauma ICU. Kendra is currently the Director of the Marcus Neuroscience Institute of the Neuroscience Programs which is associated with Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Kendra has presented seminars throughout the United States, Canada and Oman. She has also published multiple chapters and books including Adult CCRN Review, 2nd ed. Trauma Certification Review book 2nd ed., and CNRN Review Book published by Springer. Kendra has been known to be engaging and supportive to nurses desiring certification.

Sari Viitaniemi MSN, RN, CCRN, TCRN has over 25 years of trauma nursing experience. She has worked in various roles in the Level 1 Trauma Center and currently serves as the Clinical Nurse Leader for Trauma and Neuro Services, as well as the nurse manager for the Trauma Resuscitation Team. Sari is an active volunteer with the national and local AACN. She is a member of the PBCAACN Professional Practice Committee and serves as the Symposium committee director. Sari has led several evidence-based nursing practice projects and enjoys teaching nurses about scientific inquiry in the nursing field.

Ms. Paciletti is a Florida Atlantic University alumni who resides in West Palm Beach. Ms. Paciletti graduated nursing school with her BSN in 2022 and also with an undergraduate certificate in research. Ms. Paciletti began her nursing career working in a highly acute MSICU and CVICU right after obtaining her RN license. She collaborates with multidisciplinary teams in this setting to advocate for our most critically ill patients. She has worked at HCA Florida JFK hospital for 2 years to date. Ms. Paciletti is also a member of AACN National and Local Palm Beach chapter and now too serves as an Ambassador for the Palm Beach County AACN Chapter.

Michaela has been a nurse for over 12 years in critical care. She is CCRN and SCRN certified and has been a very active member of the AACN-PBC county for the past 10 years, serving as ambassador, board member, treasurer, and past president in 2022-2023. She has a passion for education, process improvement and leadership and is currently the Director of Staff Development at Wellington Regional Medical Center. She loves sharing knowledge and preparing nurses with tools to succeed in the difficult and ever-changing landscape of healthcare. However, her greatest achievement has been being a mother to three beautiful children, Logan 6, Ava 4, and Emma 7 months old.

Pua Cooper is a seasoned nurse with over 34 years of leadership & clinical experience. She currently serves as the Corporate AVP for Baptist Health South Florida where she is responsible for Quality, Accreditation, Patient Safety, & Clinical Informatics. She holds a Master’s of Science in Nursing (MSN) with a specialty in Nursing Informatics and is a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and Certified Digital Healthcare Executive (CDH-E). She is an active member and fellow of the Health Information Management System Society (HIMSS). She has served on the South Florida Chapter’s Board of Directors in various capacities over the last 9 years. In 2020, she was recognized as the HIMSS National Chapter Leader of the Year recognizing significant leadership and contributions to HIMSS Chapters as the chapter’s President. She has spoken at various local and national conferences on how to leverage technology to improve organizational performance and clinical practice. When not working, she is the proud mother of 3 thirteen-year-old girls and can be most often found at their soccer field & dance studio.