ONL Staff

Amanda Stefancyk Oberlies PhD, MBA, RN, FAAN
Chief Executive Officer & Chief Nursing Officer
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Amanda Stefancyk Oberlies is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nursing Officer of ONL, where she leads both the overall operations of ONL and of its related ONL Foundation.

Prior to joining ONL, Dr. Oberlies was employed by the American Organization for Nurse Leaders (AONL), a subsidiary of the American Hospital Association. In her role as Director for the Center of Care Innovation and Transformation, Dr. Oberlies led the quality agenda and the Care Innovation and Transformation (CIT) program— bringing the program to more than 200 pre-acute, acute, and post-acute care organizations throughout the country.

Prior to joining AONL in 2011, Dr. Oberlies served as nursing director at the Massachusetts General Hospital. Here she led her unit’s participation in the AONL/Robert Wood Johnson-sponsored, national initiative Transforming Care at the Bedside (TCAB), and authored a year-long American Journal of Nursing article series highlighting her unit’s success and lessons learned from TCAB.

Dr. Oberlies has served on a number of national committees and boards, has published more than 15 peer-reviewed articles, has spoken extensively on the national stage, and was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing in 2021.

Dr. Oberlies completed her undergraduate studies at Saint Joseph’s College in Maine, received a Master’s in Nursing and a Master’s in Business Administration from Johns Hopkins University, and her PhD in Health Services Research from Vanderbilt University.

Ashley Waddell PhD, RN, FAAN
Senior Director of Leadership Development and Government Affairs & Associate Chief Nursing Officer
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Ashley Waddell is Senior Director of Leadership Development and Government Affairs and Associate Chief Nurse at ONL, where she leads ONL's public policy advocacy efforts and directs ONL's wide ranging programing and professional development opportunities for nurse leaders.

With a passion for education and a strong belief that nurses should influence health policy decisions, Dr. Waddell's research and practice interests' focus on how nurses influence and participate in health policy and how nursing curricula prepares nurses for such work. Her doctoral studies resulted in the development of a nursing conceptual model and theory-based instrument that is valid and reliable for measuring nurses' health policy participation.

Dr. Waddell has a strong clinical background in pediatric nursing and a contemporary understanding of the political and operational complexities of the health care system. She was a Senior Fellow at the Center for Health Policy and Media Engagement at George Washington University, Jonas Nurse Leader Scholar and served on the American Association of Colleges of Nursing Faculty Policy Think Tank in 2018. In 2022, she was inducted into the American Academy of Nursing.

Dr. Waddell completed her undergraduate studies at the University of New Hampshire, received a Master of Science in Nursing Administration from Northeastern University, and her PhD in Nursing and Health Policy from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.

Office and Program Manager
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Priscilla Almeida is Office and Program Manager at ONL. In this role, she provides executive support to ONL leaders and administrative support for ONL's wide range of programming. She has been with the organization for five years and has more than two decades of experience in administrative support and customer service. She is a member of the American Society of Administrative Professionals and holds an Associate of Arts with a concentration in Healthcare Administration.

Rachel Melikan, MPA
Marketing and Communications Consultant

Rachel Melikan is a consultant providing strategic marketing, communications, and branding support to ONL. She brings to the role deep expertise from 15 years of experience leading marketing, membership, and programs for associations in different sectors ranging from human services non-profits to K-12 public education. She received her Master's in Public Administration from Suffolk University along with a graduate-level certificate in non-profit management, and completed her undergraduate studies at Wesleyan University.

Christine Paci
Accountant

Christine Paci is ONL's accountant, overseeing all bookkeeping, accounts receivable, and accounts payable.