MSNCB, the Medical-Surgical Nursing Certification Board, has announced that Charles “Wes” Foster, MSN, BA, RN, CMSRN, CCCTM, OCN (Mesa Community College, Glendale, AZ) has been appointed President-Elect of the Board of Directors, and will succeed to the President role when the seat is vacated by Antoinette “Ann” Falker, DNP, RN, GCNS-BC, CMSRN, CBN (Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis, MO) later this year.

In this role, Foster will work closely with the President to learn the President’s role and ensure a smooth leadership transition for the organization. He will also perform all duties of the President in any absence of the President.

He shares a long and successful history with MSNCB, where he was initially selected to serve on the Item Writers Committee for the CMSRN® exam in 2007 and subsequently became chair of the committee. He soon became interested in wanting to support medical-surgical nursing at the board level and has served on the board since 2016.

It is not surprising given his family history of nursing. Both his step-grandmother and godmother were nurses, and his mother was a home health nursing assistant. He was able to visit his step-grandmother at work or go with his mother on some of her home health visits. So, from an early age, nursing was in his blood.

“We have some very exciting projects that we will be working on over the course of this year. While I cannot share too much information about this yet, I am excited about these projects as they are going to be a game changer for the medical-surgical nursing specialty,” said Foster.

Nevertheless, he stated, “a key issue is to ensure we are meeting certificants needs during the time of rapid change. Nurses need support now more than ever. Both MSNCB and AMSN (Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses) will continue to work together to explore ways to support these nurses in their education and certification endeavors.”

He is encouraging those in the specialty to support the profession by getting involved on a committee or on the board. It is an opportunity for both personal and professional growth as well as to promote the practice.

The purpose of MSNCB is to develop, administer, and evaluate certification programs for registered nurses in areas of specialty practice to obtain the CMSRN® certification. A collaborative relationship exists between MSNCB and AMSN, the nursing association serving the specialty practice for which it certifies.