Feb. 28, 2022

The Oregon Nurses Association (ONA) is proud to announce that Anne Tan Piazza has been hired as Executive Director, beginning April 4, 2022. ONA represents 15,000 nurses and other health care professionals across Oregon.

Piazza joins ONA after a highly competitive 8-month national search for a new executive leader. The ONA Board of Directors, in partnership with nurse member representatives from across the state, conducted the search and interview process that ultimately selected Piazza for the role.

Piazza has worked for the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) for nearly 25 years, with 16 years as an executive leader of the union and professional association. Her roles with WSNA included lobbyist, Director of Governmental Affairs and Communications, Assistant Executive Director and, most recently, Labor and Operations Executive Officer.

Piazza worked to protect nurses on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, including overseeing contract negotiations with employers for worker protections, enforcement of workplace safety measures, and advocacy with the state of Washington. From 2019 to 2020, she led the largest coordinated health care strike campaign in Washington state’s history, mobilizing the multi-union Providence coalition of health care workers across 13 hospitals. Other achievements include leading the passage of landmark state legislation on nurse and patient protections, including safe staffing, uninterrupted breaks, and limits to mandatory overtime.

“Anne comes to ONA with a deep understanding of the unique challenges facing nurses in the Pacific Northwest, and across the country, that could only be achieved through her many, many years of leadership at WSNA,” said Lynda Pond, RN, President of the ONA Board of Directors. “Anne knows the breadth and depth of our work here at ONA, from creating and advancing health care and nursing policy to contract negotiations and bargaining, to membership services and member growth. There is not a single aspect of our work that Anne doesn’t know like the back of her hand.”

ONA’s Board noted Piazza’s strong track record of building successful partnerships with elected member leaders, local bargaining unit leaders, and staff as among the most impressive of her many skills. Specifically, Specifically, ONA’s Board hailed Piazza as a principal leader on WSNA’s comprehensive safe staffing standards campaign that encompassed research, communications, collective bargaining, legislative, and member engagement.

“She has put in the time, and the heroic effort, as an effective, highly visible and highly successful leader of nurse’s unions and we could not be more excited that she brings that history of success to ONA,” said Pond.

Piazza will also be the first woman of color to lead Oregon’s largest nurse’s union and professional association and brings a long history of working with communities of color to the role. She serves on the American Federation of Teachers Asian American Pacific Islander Task Force, led WSNA’s DEI staff and member initiatives, and was the first minority and non-governmental public health President for the Washington State Public Health Association.

ONA’s Board Vice President and State Representative Travis Nelson, RN, BSN, RN-BC, said, “I have had the great pleasure of working alongside Anne for many years. As an organization with a commitment to advancing equity and inclusion in all of our work – from staff to members to increasing representation for nurses of color in our workforce – I am excited to see how Anne’s commitment to DEI principles will continue to advance ONA’s goals in that arena.”

“Anne lives and breathes to advance the profession of nursing,” said Allison Seymour, RN, BSN, CMSRN, the ONA Board Secretary. “To find an experienced leader who is truly passionate about nursing and has two decades worth of administrative and management experience felt like an impossibility. In Anne, ONA has found a leader with a proven track record of fighting for nurses and for the labor movement. The Board is truly excited about what Anne will do for our members, and all nurses, in Oregon.”

“The opportunity to serve as the Executive Director at ONA allows me to apply my passion for the labor movement and social justice with my experiences at WSNA and make a bigger impact,” said Piazza. “Just as I have fiercely represented the registered nurses in Washington State on the frontlines of health care, leading ONA and advocating for the nurses on the frontlines in Oregon is a challenge and fight that I am passionate about and will be privileged to take on.”

More information on Piazza’s appointment and details of her professional biography can be found below.

Anne Tan Piazza stands with WSNA nurses on the picket line.

Anne Tan Piazza Biography

Anne Tan Piazza comes to ONA after nearly 25 years of service to the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA), including 16 years of director level experience, most recently as their Labor and Operations Executive Officer. She is a proven leader with extensive experience and a deep understanding of every facet of union and association executive management including health policy, labor advocacy, nursing practice, communications, political action, strategic planning, and general operations. She is a passionate and committed leader for social, racial, and economic justice; worker rights; and grassroots empowerment.
Anne has led statewide legislative campaigns on nurse staffing as well as public health in addition to creating and growing partnerships with nursing specialty organizations. Her leadership led to the passage of legislation in Washington state on mandatory overtime, safe patient handling, meal and rest breaks, safe staffing, public health funding, and full prescriptive authority for ARNPs. During her time at WSNA, its membership nearly tripled.

Among her most recent accomplishments as WSNA’s Labor and Operations Executive Officer, Anne secured worker protections for nurses on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic. She oversaw negotiations with employers and enforcement of workplace safety measures. Just prior to the pandemic, she mobilized the multi-union Providence coalition of health care workers in the strike campaign of 2019-2020. This was the largest coordinated, statewide health care strike in Washington’s history and involved 13 hospitals and 13,000 nurses and healthcare workers. The coalition successfully fought off management’s attempt to take away key benefits such as sick leave, vacation, and paid time off.

Anne is a member of the American Federation of Teacher’s Nurses and Health Professional Program and Policy Council as well as the Asian American Pacific Islander Task Force. Her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion at WSNA resulted in additional staff trainings, enhanced staff recruitment practices and tools to support union representation of members through an equity lens.

When Anne was ten, she immigrated with her parents to the US from Shanghai, China in pursuit of a better future. She grew up and went to college in the Midwest. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and an MBA. Her husband Angelo is an artist and they have two children ages 11 and 15.