Chamberlain University Leadership

Mary Beth Kingston is chair of the Chamberlain University Board of Trustees and has served as a system chief nursing officer at Advocate Health Care, Advocate Aurora Health, and Einstein Healthcare Network. She is a member of the Board of Governors of Main Line Health and the Board of Directors of Providence St. Joseph Health. Kingston is a former AONL president and was chair of the Hospitals Against Violence advisory group at the American Hospital Association. She was a Robert Wood Johnson Executive Nurse Fellow and received the Pennsylvania Nightingale Award for Nursing Administration in 2007. In 2024, she was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by both AONL and The DAISY Foundation™. She has been named one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives and became a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2020. 

Dr. Rhonda Anderson is a member of the Chamberlain University Board of Trustees and chair of the Governance Committee. She is a healthcare consultant for RMA Consulting of Arizona and a consultant/surveyor for Global Healthcare Accreditation. She is a trustee of the Arizona Perinatal Trust, board member of the American Nurses Credentialing Center, chair of the Arizona Foundation for the Future of Nursing, board member of Make-a-Wish Arizona and chair of the Wish Committee, and board member of AONL’s Foundation for Nursing Leadership Research and Education.

She has served on the Joint Commission’s Board of Commissioners; the American Hospital Association Board of Trustees; and other patient safety, quality, and performance measurement committees over the past 15 years. In 2024, she received the American Nurses Association President’s Award. 

Dr. Angie Millan is president of the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations. She formerly served as nursing director for Children’s Medical Services at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She is currently an adjunct nurse educator at several nursing programs in the Los Angeles district.
She was a committee member for the Future of the Nursing 2020–2030 report and has served as the national president and a board member of the National Association of Hispanic Nurses, a member of the Commission to End Healthcare Disparities, and commissioner of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists-led Women’s Preventive Services Initiative. She was inducted as a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing in 2012. 

Eric Rosow is executive chairman of Conduce Health, a company he co-founded. He has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare technology, new venture creation, and executive management. Prior to co-founding Conduce, he co-founded and served as CEO of Diameter Health, a company dedicated to making digital health data universally accessible, organized, and actionable.

Rosow is passionate about solving problems at the intersection of technology and healthcare delivery and building high-performance entrepreneurial teams that challenge the status quo and create disruptive yet pragmatic healthcare IT innovations. He holds several patents and is the author of more than 50 academic papers, several book chapters, and a textbook on virtual bioinstrumentation. 

Since her appointment as provost of Chamberlain University in 2017, Carla D. Sanderson has worked to ensure Chamberlain students receive the highest quality education programming possible. Sanderson first joined Chamberlain in 2014 as vice president for accreditation and professional regulation. In that capacity, she supported program compliance with nursing and higher education boards in all 50 states and was responsible for meeting regional and program accreditation requirements in the fields of nursing, public health and social work

Before coming to Chamberlain, Sanderson served as provost and executive vice president for strategic initiatives at Union University for 16 years. During that time, she oversaw growth in faculty and student body populations and increased graduation rates and student and faculty retention. She so distinguished herself at Union that her work and career are recognized through the school’s Carla D. Sanderson Faculty of the Year Award and the Carla D. Sanderson Endowed Scholarship.

Sanderson began her professional life as a critical care nurse before becoming a nursing professor and then dean of nursing at Union. In her long career, she has served as a leadership development mentor and nursing education consultant for multiple universities and as a board member and committee chair in the healthcare, higher education, regulation, public policy and leadership development fields, including on the board of trustees for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Southern College of Optometry.

In recognition of her accomplishments, Sanderson has received the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Meritorious Service Award, distinguished alumni awards from Baptist College of Health Sciences and Union University and a faculty of the year award from Union University.

Sanderson earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Union University, a Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Tennessee and her PhD in Nursing Sciences from the University of Florida.

Selected Publications

with Joseph, M. L., & Benson, L. (2020). Building a healthier America: Transforming health and healthcare during and after a pandemic. Lippincott Nursing Center Blog. https://www.nursingcenter.com/ncblog/may-2020/building-a-healthier-america-transforming-health-a

with Cox, K., & Disch, J. (2020). Virtual nursing, virtual learning. Nurse Leader, 18(2), 134–138. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mnl.2019.12.005

Evolving our culture of care. (2018). In S. L. Groenwald (Ed.), Designing and creating a culture of care for students and faculty: The Chamberlain University College of Nursing model (pp. 95–110). Wolters Kluwer.

Ethical and bioethical issues in nursing and health care. (2017). In B. Cheery (Ed.), Contemporary nursing: Issues, trends and management (pp. 166–182). Mosby[SCD1] .

with Mitchell, C. B., Thornbury, G. A., & Dockery, D. S. (Eds.). (2015). Convictional civility: Engaging the culture in the 21st century. Essays in honor of David S. Dockery. B & H Academic.

Interviews, Presentations and Appearances

Clinician well-being: Chamberlain President Karen Cox and Provost Carla Sanderson [Video]. (2020).  Cox and Sanderson discuss the moral and ethical challenges facing health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fim-M3Je54

Building a healthier America: Transforming health and healthcare during and after a pandemic. (2020). AARP Executive Council WebChat, Washington, D.C. https://www.nursingcenter.com/ncblog/may-2020/building-a-healthier-america-transforming-health-a  

with Hollinger-Smith, L., & Scott, C. (2019, April 5–9). Guiding student success through performance modeling [Paper presentation]. Higher Learning Commission Annual Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.

with Hollinger-Smith, L. (2018, September 12–14). Implementing a co-curricular model to promote nursing students’ learning outcomes and program success [Paper presentation]. National League for Nursing Annual Summit, Chicago, IL, United States.

Rick Sinkfield is a governance leader recognized for aligning enterprise strategy and growth with
scalable risk management practices and respected for his calm, disciplined approach to crisis
management. Over more than two decades he has advised corporate directors, senior
government officials, and C-suite executives in global enterprises, private equity-backed
companies, and nonprofit organizations. His boardroom acumen is grounded in a career guiding
organizations through billions of dollars in mergers and acquisitions, legal disputes and
investigations, critical regulatory proceedings and reputational challenges.

He is the board chairman of United Rigging, a PE-owned, portfolio construction firm, where he
works closely with owner/CEO to upgrade its safety compliance profile and its market
repositioning into adjacent business lines and international client expansion. As an external
advisor to +A Educação, a digital educational platform company serving Latin America, he is
helping the company develop its expansion strategy into the U.S. market.

Rick’s skill as an agile, consensus builder helped to reshape Laureate Education (Nasdaq: LAUR),
a $1.5B revenue, global network of higher education institutions, as it underwent an
organizational transformation that involved a multi-year, strategic restructuring and divestiture
process which resulted in doubling the company’s share price over a five-year period. In his roles
as Chief Legal and Ethics Officer and LatAm General Counsel, Rick built a scalable, multijurisdictional
legal and compliance organization that managed risk and supported the company’s
growth phase, anchored in its a 9-country, +$3B revenue business segment with more than
750,000 students across 150 campuses and multiple online learning platforms.

As the current Chief Legal Officer and Head of Government Relations of ETS, he advises the
board as it oversees the company’s re-alignment to leverage the value of its legacy products and
transform the $1B revenue, 70+ year-old stalwart into a public policy influencer and researchdriven
leader delivering AI-assisted products for the modern workforce in the U.S. and abroad.

During Rick’s tenure in senior roles at the U.S. Departments of State and Treasury, he helped
shape and implement U.S. policy on multilateral lending, economic development, and
trade/sanctions that required long-term legislative strategy, high-stakes negotiation, business
liaison and bipartisan engagement. Among his public service highlights was mediating the end of
the Pastors for Peace hunger strike against the Cuba embargo.

He graduated from Harvard Law School, J.D., cum laude, and holds a B.S. in International
Relations from Georgetown University. He is fluent in English, Portuguese, Spanish and French.
He competed in too many triathlons and gladly stopped training to travel with his daughters in
their competitive journey to become elite volleyball players.

Lisa Warner Wardell is a business executive with more than 25 years of experience managing business strategy, operations, finance, and mergers and acquisitions while driving shareholder value, stakeholder engagement, and company mission. She served as Covista.’s president and CEO, then CEO and chairman, and, most recently, executive chairman and chairman. During her tenure as CEO, Wardell oversaw the strategic repositioning of Covista’s portfolio to focus on healthcare and medical education.

Wardell earned her bachelor’s degree from Vassar College, law degree from Stanford Law School, and MBA from the Wharton School of Business. She serves on the board of American Express. A fierce advocate for access to education and healthcare, Wardell frequently speaks on empowering students and executives to achieve their goals. 

Adam Copher, DNP, RN, CMSRN is an accomplished nursing executive with two decades of progressive healthcare leadership experience, currently serving as Chief Nursing Officer at South Texas Health System. Known for driving clinical excellence, operational efficiency, and a culture of accountability, Dr. Copher has a proven track record of elevating patient outcomes, improving staff engagement, and delivering sustainable organizational growth.
Throughout his career, Adam has led large, complex hospital systems, guiding multidisciplinary teams through strategic change, regulatory readiness, and quality improvement initiatives. His leadership has been instrumental in achieving top-tier patient safety scores, national quality designations, and industry recognition for both clinical performance and workforce culture.
A servant leader at heart, Adam believes that the success of a nurse leader is measured not by personal accomplishments, but by the achievements they inspire in others. He is passionate about mentoring the next generation of nurse leaders, fostering environments where teams feel empowered, supported, and challenged to perform at their highest potential.
A proud three-time alumnus of Chamberlain University, Adam earned his Doctor of Nursing Practice, Master of Science in Nursing, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing — all from Chamberlain University. He also holds board certification in Medical-Surgical Nursing and is an active member of the American Organization for Nursing Leadership and Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. Adam is a sought-after speaker on leadership, nursing excellence, and healthcare transformation.

Rita Wray is the founder and chief executive officer of Wray Enterprises Inc., a national independent healthcare consulting firm. Previously, she served as deputy executive director of the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration.

With more than 45 years of service, Wray has made significant contributions. She formerly served as president of the International Women’s Forum Mississippi, treasurer of the National Black Nurses Association, and chairperson of the state initiative for the American Academy of Nursing’s Institute for Nursing Leadership National Advisory Council. She is currently treasurer for the Nurses on Boards Coalition. She is certified in nursing administration through the American Nurses Association and is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing.