Board of Directors & Staff

Dr. Beth Sanford graduated with her BSN and MSN in Rural Health Nursing with a
specialization in Nursing Education from the University of North Dakota. Most recently, Beth
completed her DNP in Public Health and Policy from Rasmussen University, focusing on
vitamin D translational research.

She has worked as a Hospice Nurse, a Migrant Health Nurse, a Public Health Nurse, a Community Health Educator, and a Nurse Manager in Long-Term Care and Memory Care. These roles shaped her love for vulnerable and underserved populations, as well as for primary prevention. She has enjoyed volunteering with incarcerated and homeless teens in the US and Canada as well as orphans in Mexico and rural populations in the Amazon.

In 2005, she moved to China with her family and lived there for five years, volunteering as a
Nurse Consultant and teaching English. She then moved to Fargo where she became the co-founder of a non-profit in Afghanistan that focused on micro-businesses for women in poverty, particularly widows, volunteered as a nurse advocate in the local refugee community, and did volunteer parish nursing for five years before joining Rasmussen University as full-time nursing faculty in 2015.

In 2020, she obtained a post-graduate certificate in Applied Clinical Nutrition to better educate future nurses, colleagues, patients, and the public about the principles of integrative nutrition and advocate for vitamin D deficiency education in North Dakota. In the Winter of 2021, she wrote and, with two nurse legislators in North Dakota (Karen Rohr, Ph.D., RN and Kristin Roers, MSN, RN), championed SB2145: The Essential Caregivers Act in North Dakota, which was passed into law. Beth is passionate about cultivating a spirit of inquiry and developing the attitude of being a life-long learner in students, nurses, and healthcare professionals at all levels of practice.

She enjoys her time on the Board of Directors for the NDNA, advocating for the nurses of North Dakota and disseminating evidence-based practice to its members. 

Shila Blend, PhD, MSN, RN-BC is currently employed with the State of North Dakota as the Health Information Technology Director, who is responsible for overseeing the North Dakota Health Information Network, the health information exchange for North Dakota. 

She is currently a member of the federal Health Information Technology Advisory Committee.  She is a board-certified cardiac vascular registered nurse and received her Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing with a Health Systems focus from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and her Master of Science in Nursing from the University of Mary, and Bachelor of Science in Nursing from MedCenter One College of Nursing. 

Shila brings more than a fifteen years of experience leading people and projects in the healthcare space, including patient care, implementation of healthcare technology and statewide programs.  Her leadership experience includes significant stakeholder engagement with state, local and tribal partners as well as health care associations, emergency management and legislative members.  Shila has served as adjunct faculty for University of Mary’s graduate nursing program. 

She is a systems thinker passionate about improving nursing and our rural health care systems.  

I graduated from Alexandria Technical and Community College’s (MN) nursing program in 2009. From 2017-2019, I attended the University of Mary in Bismarck and graduated with my master’s degree in nursing with an emphasis in nursing leadership and management. I’ve had the pleasure of working in a variety of settings, from acute care on the medical surgical floor to being the clinical nursing supervisor in a multi-specialty clinic and most recently, a nurse educator.

Throughout my nursing career, I have found that for me, teaching our future nurses is far more than just a profession, it has become my passion. It would be an absolute pleasure to not only make a difference in the lives of the nursing students I teach, but all nurses throughout the state of North Dakota and beyond. My diverse leadership background will allow me to partner with other leaders throughout the state to promote and advocate for positive changes that will benefit our patients, families, and communities we serve.

Amy recently completed a Doctorate of Nursing Practice in Leadership from the University of North Dakota. In addition, she serves as the Chair of the Nursing Department at Minot State University. Previously, Amy was the Director of the Learning Resource Center and Simulation at Minot State University. She began her nursing career in 2010 and obtained a Master of Nursing in Education in 2015. She worked as a Clinical Nurse Educator in Labor & Delivery, Mother Baby, and Lactation at Indiana University Health before moving to Minot in 2018. With a passion for nursing simulation and a natural inclination toward leadership, Amy has dedicated her academic and professional journey to making a positive impact in the field of nursing.

My name is Ashley DeMakis. I graduated from UND in 2001. I worked in Grand Forks for a few years before returning to my hometown in Minot, ND. I am married with 2 children. I worked at Trinity for 15 years in different departments. While working in Clinical Informatics, I found my passion in educating others. I returned to school to get my Master's in Nursing Administration from the University of Phoenix. Currently, I am an assistant professor in the Department of Nursing at Minot State University. I teach the senior nursing students in their leadership and practicum courses. I enjoy teaching students about this amazing profession! 

I have been a past president and secretary of the Omicron Tau chapter of Sigma. I am a current delegate for Omicron Tau, and I am also on the Education committee.  This committee offered multiple nursing conferences to educate nurses on recent topics, offering continuing education units. Recently, I have become more interested in the legislative issues related to nursing.

I came to nursing later in life, having been an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)-Paramedic for many years. As an RN BSN, I have worked in both rural hospital and long-term care, specializing in emergency medicine and geriatrics. I have served on many committees, helping to write policies related to influenza pandemics and mass casualty events. I continued to serve my local community as an EMT for nearly 20 years, retiring only after earning my Master's degree in Nursing Education.

As a life-long learner, I recently completed the dissertation/research phase of my PhD. I work as an Assistant Professor of Nursing and Simulation Lab Coordinator at the University of Jamestown. In addition to creating and running simulation scenarios for the nursing and physical therapy courses at UJ, I am the course coordinator for the Nursing Research and Nursing as a Profession courses. Additionally, I am a second-year faculty advisor for the Nursing Students' Association of North Dakota. I feel my experience and connections will help guide me in the Director of Advocacy position. I firmly believe in introducing young, new nurses to the legislative issues that we face as a profession. They need to know that together, nurses have a voice through the NDNA!!

Sarita Wanner is a nurse at St. Alexius CHI Dickinson in the ED, and is also PRN at the Sanford Clinic in Dickinson.

I want to serve for various reasons:

 -to strengthen representation for all of ND, but specifically the western/southwestern area

 -to be an advocate for other nurses, patients, students, and potential students

 -to be “in the know” and at the forefront of information so it can be shared

 -to influence others about the importance of involvement

 -to learn from and network with other professionals

Sherri brings experience and passion to her role as Executive Director of NDNA (since 2018). With a deep understanding of patient care, she leverages her 25 years of progressive experience in nursing and leadership.

Sherri's journey began in education, where she honed her teaching skills (certified teacher). This passion for fostering knowledge seamlessly transitioned into her nursing career. Her diverse background includes roles as a staff nurse across various units (oncology, ortho-surgical, urology, ENT), a physician's office nurse/nurse manager, and leadership positions at a rapidly growing remote medical home care coding company.

Sherri holds dual Bachelor's degrees in Education and Nursing, demonstrating her commitment to knowledge and patient care. Beyond NDNA, she actively contributes to the healthcare community as the Executive Director for the North Dakota Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics and an RN Clinical Educator for Sanford Health in Bismarck.

In her personal life, Sherri enjoys living in Bismarck with her husband and two golden retrievers.