Nurse Devon Berry on Education for Leadership

Devon Berry, RN, PhD, is a nursing leader in Portland, Oregon, who has served in multiple academic nursing leadership opportunities across the U.S. Most recently, Dr. Berry served as the Executive Associate Dean for the Oregon Health and Science University’s School of Nursing. He has also held Director and Sr. Consultant level positions in other organizations. As a leader and a nurse, Dr. Berry often considers the elements of formal education that are helpful to prepare an individual for leadership in the academy.

After 20 years of work experience in higher ed, Nurse Devon Berry recently completed his MBA. Although this long-term career goal was gratifying to accomplish in and of itself, Dr. Berry believes that the greatest benefit has come from the new competencies gained. Like many nursing leaders, his experience as an associate dean and executive director has informally instilled many of the skills of an organizational leader through on-the-job training. These skills, however, were unrefined and ungrounded in a solid theoretical base. The education gained with an MBA provided a much deeper understanding of issues related to human resources, finance, strategy, marketing, and operations among other areas. 

Devon Berry believes that his work as an academic nursing leader will be greatly enhanced by these new understandings. Returning to the question of appropriate education for an academic leader, Dr. Berry feels that many nursing leaders, such as Deans, Associate Deans, and other leaders charged with executive responsibility, can benefit greatly from the grounding that an MBA, or other similar degrees, can provide. Employers seeking new leaders or wanting to develop current leaders, should consider advanced education in leadership a good option for building their academic organizations.