48th Biennial Convention
Convention 2025
Convention 2025
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President-elect

Karen Gorton

PhD, RN, FNP, MS

For the past 25 years, Sigma has been my organization of choice and I am honored to be slated for the office of President-elect. I bring over thirty years of nursing and healthcare related experience to this role.  

As a member of Sigma, I began my journey as a member of a petitioning honor society and have been provided with the opportunity to grow into leadership roles at the chapter and international level. I have held chapter positions ranging from committee member to President and my international roles have been: member of the Governance Committee; Vice President; Regional Chapters Coordinating Committee Chair; and Regional Coordinator.  My experiences have deepened my organizational knowledge of Sigma and honed my leadership skills. 

Combined with my work within Sigma, I have held multiple leadership roles within academic nursing which have prepared me to serve as President-elect. If elected, I will bring my abilities in: 

  • Strategic thinking developed through academic administration and governance roles
  • Collaborative leadership demonstrated through successful task force leadership, administrative roles and committee work
  • Organizational knowledge of Sigma gained through 12 years of international service in multiple roles
  • Commitment to excellence evidenced by sustained engagement and meaningful contributions
  • Global perspective on nursing education and practice challenges 

At the international level, I have successfully led key initiatives that have strengthened Sigma. These are:  

Chapter Key Award Criteria Revision: As task force chair, I guided the comprehensive revisions to the Chapter Key Award ensuring they reflected contemporary nursing excellence. This document was foundational for further updates of the Chapter Key Award Criteria. 

Elected Volunteer Leader Roles and Qualifications Task Force: I chaired the task force of past elected volunteer leaders. We used Sigma guiding documents to outline role qualifications and expectations for elected international volunteer roles.  We completed our charges and provided the Board of Directors with final considerations for elected volunteer leader roles and qualifications.  

My vision for Sigma’s future is that we grow as the nursing organization of choice for nurses. To do so, we must evolve to remain meaningfully connected to our members, nurses who are actively working to improve healthcare globally in multiple contexts. My vision centers on:  

  • Strengthening our relevance to practicing nurses.
  • Strengthening our relevance to nursing students.
  • Maintaining our connection to academic nursing. 
  • Enhancing member engagement across all career stages and settings
  • Leveraging technology to further expand our global reach while maintaining personal connections
  • Fostering leadership development and mentoring at all levels. 

For me, Love, Courage, and Honor are more than words. They are Sigma values and my values. I bring my love for Sigma, my courage to ask difficult questions and my honor to the role of President-elect. Sigma has provided me with mentoring, leadership training, life-long colleagues as well as the opportunity to grow as a leader. As President-elect, I will work to help others experience similar opportunities. I believe Sigma is uniquely positioned to mentor and develop all nurses as leaders who serve with Love, Courage and Honor.  

Thank you for reading my statement.