CNA/NNOC welcomes new Council of Presidents following convention

New leadership seated for three-year term

California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee (CNA/NNOC) has officially seated a newly elected Council of Presidents to serve a three-year term from 2026-2029. The new leaders took office on Oct. 1, 2026 at the CNA/NNOC convention in San Francisco, California, where nearly 1,500 nurses from around the country convened.

The new Council of Presidents, which presides over an elected Board of Directors, is composed of four nurse leaders: Michelle Gutierrez Vo, RN; Marissa Lee, RN; Sandy Reding, RN; and Dolores Trujillo, RN.

President Michelle Gutierrez Vo, RN

A nurse for nearly 30 years, President Michelle Gutierrez Vo, RN, currently works at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center in the adult and family medicine clinic. A well-known firebrand among her fellow union nurses, Gutierrez Vo is a tireless champion for both nursing practice at the bedside, social justice beyond the hospital walls, and organizing nurses coast to coast.

"Right now, the entire world needs leaders like the nurses in our union," said Gutierrez Vo. "I'm honored to be part of the council leading our organization at such a critical time for the nursing profession and for our entire country."

This will be Gutierrez Vo's second term as a CNA/NNOC president. She is the second Filipina to serve as a CNA/NNOC president, following Zenei Triunfo-Cortez, RN. She also serves as a vice president of National Nurses United (NNU), of which CNA/NNOC is an affiliate.

President Marissa Lee, RN

President Marissa Lee, RN, currently works in the labor and delivery unit at Osceola Hospital in Kissimmee, Florida, a facility owned by HCA, the country's largest hospital system. Since organizing her own hospital's nurses union, Lee has spent years among the vanguard of ongoing nurse labor organizing across the South. Additionally, her expertise in labor and delivery nursing means she understands why childbirth units are so vulnerable to corporate hospital shutdowns.

"Organizing the South is more important than ever right now, and NNOC is making inroads everywhere from Florida to Texas," said Lee. "The way hospital executives treat our labor and delivery units is the same way they treat our hospitals: Like expendable businesses, not essential services. We're ready to keep fighting for our patients, no matter what comes."

Lee is also a long-serving vice president of NNU.

President Sandy Reding, RN

President Sandy Reding, RN, has practiced as a nurse for roughly 40 years and currently works in an operating room at Bakersfield Memorial Hospital in Bakersfield, California, where her familiarity with her community has made her a fierce critic of the ongoing federal immigration crackdown. Reding organized her own facility and is intent on continuing to organize in communities across the U.S.

"Our patients are our neighbors, and we can't ignore threats to their health and well-being inside or outside the hospital walls," said Reding. "I was first elected president of our union in 2020, so I'm no stranger to leading in a crisis, and we know that we need to take on both elected officials and corporate executives to protect our patients and our profession."

This will be Reding's third term as a CNA/NNOC president. She was first elected to the council in 2020 and also served as lead for the Dignity Health Pandemic Task Force. She is also a leader in several state and local labor organizations, as well as a vice president of NNU and a frequent volunteer with the Registered Nurse Response Network (RNRN), NNU's volunteer emergency and humanitarian relief project.

President Dolores Trujillo, RN

President Dolores Trujillo, RN, works in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at Kaiser Roseville Medical Center in California. With more than 25 years of nursing experience, she previously served as the President of the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), the state-level organization overseeing nursing practice in the state.

"I brought my experience as a bedside nurse to the Board, and that made me a leader," said Trujillo. "I know our ultimate responsibility is to our patients, the people we take care of. CNA/NNOC is ready to keep organizing, keep fighting, and keep winning so that we remain a force for nurses and our patients from coast to coast."

Trujillo is beginning her first term as a CNA/NNOC president.

Outgoing presidents

CNA/NNOC members thank out-going presidents Cathy Kennedy, RN, and Cokie Giles, RN, for their years of dedicated service. Both Kennedy and Giles will continue to be involved with CNA/NNOC's fights for health care, social, and economic justice, and both remain staunch champions of Medicare for All and organizing nurses in hospitals across the country.

A nurse of more than 40 years, Kennedy recently retired from a neonatal intensive care unit in Roseville, California, and served two terms as CNA/NNOC president, becoming the first Black-Asian multiracial RN to serve in the role. Kennedy's tenacious legacy will continue into her retirement. Kennedy will continue serving as a president of National Nurses United for another year.

As the longest-serving president on the CNA/NNOC council, Giles had been in her role since 2014. Working in an interventional pain clinic until her recent retirement, Giles remains a stalwart voice for nurses and the labor movement in Maine and across the country. Her leadership will continue to be a guiding light for nurses from the shores of Maine to the beaches of California.

CNA/NNOC is the largest affiliate of National Nurses United (NNU), the largest and fastest-growing union of registered nurses in the nation, with nearly 225,000 members nationwide.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.