Leadership Lunch Series

Friday, September 18th, 2026, 12:00-1:30 PM ET

The Myth of the Solitary Leader: The Impact of Mentoring on a Leadership Journey

No leader succeeds alone; the most impactful leaders are shaped by the mentors, colleagues, and communities that support them along the way. Drawing from her recently published memoir Overcoming, Dr. Karen Daley will share how mentoring relationships, professional partnerships, and collective action shaped her journey as a nurse leader—from bedside practice to national advocacy to promote passage of new state and federal laws that updated OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogens Standard following a preventable sharps injury she experienced. Through personal stories and leadership insights, participants will be challenged to consider how they can both seek and provide mentorship to strengthen the future of nursing leadership.

Karen Daley, Ph.D., RN, FAAN

Dr. Karen Daley is a nurse leader whose remarkable career spans more than fifty years. In November of 2025, she published Overcoming, a personal memoir in which she shared stories of numerous personal and professional challenges which she overcame to become an influential and respected healthcare leader. Daley spent more than 25 years in clinical practice at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston until January of 1999 when she left due to a needlestick injury resulting in her infection with both HIV and hepatitis C. In recognition of the integral role she played in the passage of federal legislation to update the 1991 OSHA Bloodborne Pathogens Standard, Daley was among those invited to the Oval Office to witness President Clinton sign the “Needlestick Safety Prevention Act” into law on November 6, 2000. In 2006, she was inducted as a Fellow into the American Academy of Nursing and, most recently, Daley served from 2010 to 2014 as the president of the American Nurses Association, the nation’s largest nursing organization representing the interests of the nation’s 3.5 million registered nurses. In 2011, Daley was listed among Modern Healthcare’s “100 Most Influential People in Health Care” and, in 2013, was selected by Modern Healthcare as one of the “Top 25 Women in Healthcare.” She has been honored for her excellence in practice and outstanding leadership and, in recognition of her global public health advocacy, has been awarded two honorary Doctor of Humane Letters. She is currently a member of the Board of Trustees of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston and the Barnstable Land Trust, a non-profit focused on land conservation on Cape Cod.

Friday, October 16th, 2026, 12:00-1:30 PM ET

Emotional and Relational Intelligence: How to Manage Yourself and Your Relationships Well

The most effective leaders combine strength in how they manage themselves with warmth in how they connect with others. In this practical and engaging session, Del Gilbert will explore the principles of emotional and relational intelligence, sharing strategies to help nurse leaders respond rather than react, build stronger relationships, adapt to different personal styles, and increase their leadership influence. Participants will leave with actionable tools they can immediately apply to become a person of warmth and strength in service of leadership impact.

Del Gilbert, MBA

Del Gilbert is the founder of Accelerating Excellence, where he speaks, trains and consults on building high-performance in people and organizations. Del has held many leadership positions in his career, including Chief Learning Officer and Director of Organizational and Service Excellence at St. Joseph Healthcare for 15 years. While at St. Joseph, employee engagement ranked in the upper 20% nationally. In addition, all 6 service lines were ranked in the upper 33% in Patient Satisfaction. He is a Certified Master Trainer and Certified Leadership Coach, and he authored the book, The 7 Senses of Employee Engagement: How to Be the Best Boss Your Employees Ever Had

Friday, November 20th, 2026, 12:00-1:30 PM ET

Roots of Inequity: Leveraging Nursing History to Shape Contemporary Equitable Practice

Advancing a more equitable future for nursing requires understanding the systemic inequities and structural barriers rooted in the profession's history. Through a critical examination of nursing's past, participants will explore how foundational frameworks have contributed to systemic biases and persistent healthcare disparities, and leave with a deeper understanding of how nurse leaders can help shape a more equitable future for the profession and for patients.

Ashley Graham-Perel, Ed.D., RN, NPD-BC, MEDSURG-BC, CNE, FAAN

Dr. Ashley Graham-Perel is a nursing historian, assistant professor, and Dean of the Office of Community Engagement and Global Initiatives at Columbia University School of Nursing. She understands the vital importance of nurturing the nursing profession and advocates for academia and healthcare to join forces and address the issues that impede creating the diverse workforce we need to serve an increasingly diverse world. Through comprehensive oral histories of prominent living Black nursing leaders, dynamic production and presentation of Black nursing history videos, and influential consultancy with universities on integrating history into nursing curriculums, Dr. Graham-Perel endeavors to amplify underrepresented voices in the nursing profession. Furthermore, her research investigates the historical impact of the training of Black women in nursing at New York City’s Lincoln School for Nurses. She has received numerous honors, including Teachers College Columbia Unviersity's Nurse Education Award (2026, Columbia University’s Provost Teaching and Learning Innovation Award (2026), Interdisciplinary Teaching Award (2022–23), the Estelle Osborne Award from NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing (2023), recognition as a 35th Annual Black Nurses Day Honoree, and two national awards from the National Black Nurses Association: Nurse Educator of the Year and Under 40 (2023). She also serves as contributing editor of the American Journal of Nursing’s Focus on DEI column and is a 2023–24 participant in the NLN/Walden Leadership Academy on Social Determinants of Health. She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, the Academy of Diversity Leaders in Nursing, and the New York Academy of Medicine.

Friday, December 18th, 2026, 12:00-1:30 PM ET

Dealing with Joy Interrupters: A Human-Centered Approach

The daily demands of nursing leadership can make it easy to lose sight of the purpose and joy that brought many into the profession. Human-centered leadership offers a framework for recognizing and responding to the behaviors, systems, and mindsets that interrupt joy while strengthening belonging, resilience, and well-being. This inspiring session will share practical strategies for creating environments where people can thrive, even in the midst of complexity and change.

Kay Kennedy, DNP, RN, NEA-BC, CPHQ

Dr. Kay Kennedy is a nurse executive, entrepreneur, and expert in human-centered leadership. Currently, Dr. Kennedy is Chief Executive Officer of uleadership, an educational program designed to teach leaders to focus first on personal transformation (it starts with you), and lead in service to others which results in sustainable cultures of excellence, caring and trust (but it’s not about you). By combining a love for nurses, patients, and quality improvement, she has led large nursing teams to create healthy work environments, satisfied patients, and consistent, high quality care. Dr. Kennedy has held multiple leadership roles from the bedside to Chief Nursing Officer. Her goal as a leader is to ignite innovative problem solving, develop others to be their best, and lead by serving others.