David A. Wyatt, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, CNOR, is the Chief Nursing Officer of the University Hospitals at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, TX. He is responsible for nursing leadership and care delivery including; inpatient, critical care, emergency, perioperative, procedural and other specialty nursing care. Dr. Wyatt is an experienced nurse leader in the perioperative specialty, inpatient and ambulatory settings holding prior leadership positions at various community and academic medical centers. Dr. Wyatt has been involved in strategic development and physician relations for the surgery service lines, and information technology implementations in the hospital setting, including scheduling, patient documentation, and selection processes for hospital-wide systems. He has also worked on performance improvement, patient outcome management, and patient safety projects, designing methods of data collection based from computerized documentation.

Dr. Wyatt completed his PhD in Nursing at the University of Colorado Denver where his research emphasis focused on the relationship between team characteristics and patient outcomes. Dr. Wyatt  holds a Master’s in Public Health and a Master of Arts in Human Development, both from the  University of Kansas. Dr. Wyatt earned his BSN at MidAmerica Nazarene University.

Dr. Wyatt is Past President of the Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN), representing over 44,000 members. Dr. Wyatt has previously also served on the AORN Board of Directors, 2008-2012, and was the recipient of the 2015 AORN Award for Excellence in Perioperative Nursing.

Rose Sherman is nationally known for her work with nurse leaders to develop their leadership and coaching skills. She is an emeritus professor at Florida Atlantic University and a faculty member in the Marian K Shaughnessy Nursing Leadership Academy at Case Western Reserve University. She writes a leadership blog www.emergingrnleader.com read by thousands of nurse leaders and is Editor in Chief of Nurse Leader. She is the author of two books, The Nurse Leader Coach and The Nuts and Bolts of Nursing Leadership.

Jeff Whitehorn, LFACHE, ACC, is an author, speaker, and executive coach certified by the global accrediting body International Coaching Federation (ICF). 

After earning his Bachelor of Science from Lipscomb University and his MBA from the University of Alabama, Jeff spent twenty-nine years as a healthcare executive, serving twenty-five of those as a hospital CEO. He founded Whitehorn Coaching & Consulting after his retirement from HCA Healthcare.

Jeff continues to serve in leadership roles as a member of community boards and within his church. He and his wife, Jennifer, reside in Brentwood, Tennessee. They have two grown daughters, Ashleigh and Emily.