Tennessee Leadership

Matt Robertson
Executive Director
Matt provides overall strategic and administrative leadership to the Tennessee Office of NFN. Starting on NFN’s Development Team in 2017, he now serves as our Executive Director. He has strong experience in leadership development and program management with organizations focused on serving the community and vulnerable populations. Matt earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Louisville and his master’s degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before working at Nurses for Newborns, his family had been clients of NFN, after his daughter was born 6 weeks early and spent 20 days in the NICU.

Carianna Johnson
Director of Nursing
Carianna oversees our home visiting staff in the delivery of our program while also directly working with NFN clients. As a Registered Nurse, she has over 30 years’ experience as a Labor and Delivery and High-Risk Obstetrical nurse and an ADN from Tennessee State University.. Carianna has also been heavily involved with international medical support teams since 2003 and has led surgical units, helped establish medical clinics, and provide orphan support in seven different countries.

Catherine Birdsong
Development Director
Catherine is responsible for communicating NFN’s mission and impact with our community of investors in Middle Tennessee. She leads the Development efforts for the Tennessee Office, with the goal of securing the funds and resources needed to sustain and ultimately grow our program to serve more families. Catherine has over 10 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and has worked in both leadership and development at nonprofits in CA and TN. She looks forward to continuing her love of development work to further the mission of NFN and to serve as many families as possible in her home state.
Advisory Board
Nurses for Newborns’ local Advisory Board provides support, guidance and community leadership to Nurses for Newborns of Tennessee while overseen from a fiduciary and legal perspective by the Missouri-based Board of Directors.
Megan McCormack – Advisory Board Chair
Dan Quero
Jaime Horton
Anna Napier
Brandi Simms
Amanda Stewart
Michael Wrenn
NFN Board of Directors
Shanna Wiechel – Board President
Kevin Knatt – Board Vice President
Tom Shaner – Board Treasurer
Megan Lovell – Board Secretary
Jay Accardi
Brad Bakker
Nanci A. Bobrow, Ph.D.
Catherine Cibulskis, MD
Linda Dougherty
Hon. Patrick Dougherty
Kelly Ferrara-Bayne
Dan Green
Eileen Hamburg
Phillip Huiswood
Jeana Knight, PhD
Pamela A. Lesser, MS, RNC-OB,
Madelyn T. Marks, MA, PM
Genie Mueller
Cora Orphe-Harris, MD
Fran Pretruso
Cynthia Rogers, MD
Leslie Scott, MD, FACOG
Ricky Vigil
Nancy Weaver, PhD, MPH
Sen. Brian Williams
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