The American Nurses Association introduced ANA Enterprise and new branding last week to better highlight the interconnectivity of the association and its two affiliate organizations.

ANA Enterprise will encapsulate the membership-based ANA, the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and the philanthropic-focused American Nurses Foundation.

“We’ve increasingly been working in a more coordinated, integrated, collaborative manner just recognizing that the world for nursing and healthcare is increasingly complex,” ANA CEO Dr. Marla Weston said. “The more we could leverage the unique contributions of each entity in a coordinated way, the better we could help nurses and the better impact we could make on healthcare.”

The overhead organization will more easily allow the three arms to coordinate their efforts and work together where their missions overlap.

“We wanted to simultaneously provide the structure for each entity to thrive, because each has its own very unique mission, and at the same time make sure we were leveraging any intersections between the entities in a way to maximize their impact,” she said.

ANA Enterprise will not function as a separate organization nor maintain its own responsibilities, staff, or leadership. Rather, the group will make the connection between the three branches more evident and recognizable, explained Weston, who will also serve as the Enterprise’s CEO.

“It’s more a way of conceptualizing how each entity will function in a way of better intersecting and better leveraging the other entities,” she said.

To further the connection, ANA created new branding, materials, and logos for each of the four groups, coordinating these by color and design. This was the first branding update in 20 years and served as a “modernization and recharacterization [of ANA’s image] to be more reflective of who we are today,” Weston said.

“The practice of nursing is changing faster than ever before—and like the profession, our organization must grow and change,” she said in a statement. “The launch of the ANA Enterprise and our new branding will ensure that we’re empowering nurses to succeed and continue leading our profession forward.”

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