Newly created fund honors health and business trailblazer Jeannine Rivet through nursing fellowship grant awards
The American Nurses Foundation, the charitable and philanthropic arm of the American Nurses Association, and the United Health Foundation, a not-for-profit, private foundation recently dedicated to improving health and health care, announces the establishment of the Jeannine Rivet National Leadership Fund. The newly created fund honors the contributions of trailblazer Jeannine Rivet, RN, MPH, FAAN, retired executive vice president of UnitedHealth Group, to health care and business by making annual fellowship grant awards available to nurses to foster and integrate nursing health knowledge, leadership development and expertise in community and business leadership.
The Jeannine Rivet National Leadership Fund will provide an annual $10,000 fellowship for 10 years to encourage more nurses to follow in Rivet’s footsteps as leaders in health care.
“We are grateful to the United Health Foundation for recognizing not only Jeannine’s vast contributions as a nurse, business expert and human being, but acknowledging the importance of supporting future nurse leaders,” said Kate Judge, executive director of the American Nurses Foundation. “An ever-changing health care landscape increasingly calls for highly capable, educated nurses to provide both quality patient care and business leadership.”
Rivet has been a pivotal player in challenging the health care industry to enhance the health and well-being of communities through information, collaboration and advancement of optimal care delivery. Fortune Magazine named her one of the fifty most powerful women in American business for three consecutive years. Rivet was central in creating the UnitedHealth Group Center for Nursing Advancement and its External Nursing Advisory Board to retain and hire nurses in expanding roles that address and solve pressing health care issues.
“This collaboration with the American Nurses Foundation is a testament to Jeannine Rivet’s 28 years of service to the people UnitedHealth Group serves, and the health care system overall,” said Chris Stidman, president of the United Health Foundation. “Through the Jeannine Rivet Leadership Fund, her impact will live on in the next generation of transformational health care leaders. We are honored to support Jeannine’s legacy, the American Nurses Foundation and the important impact nurses make across the country.”
The American Nurses Foundation is a founding member of the Nurses on Boards Coalition, a national initiative committed to enabling the appointments of 10,000 nurses to boards of directors of corporate and non-profit health related organizations by 2020. The Jeannine Rivet National Leadership Fund further underscores this commitment to help increase nurses’ contributions to health care and the organizations and communities in which they lead and serve. The first fellowship will be awarded in March of 2019.
