Kristin K. Benton, DNP, RN, Selected as New Executive Director of Board of Nursing

On July 20, 2023, the Texas Board of Nursing (BON or Board) announced the selection of Kristin K. Benton, DNP, RN, as Executive Director, effective September 1, 2023. Dr. Benton replaced Katherine A. Thomas, MN, RN, FAAN, who retired from her position as Executive Director on August 31, 2023, after serving as Executive Director since November 1995.

Dr. Benton served as Director of Nursing for the Texas Board of Nursing from 2013 to 2023. In this role she led policy development and regulatory activities associated with pre-licensure nursing education, advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) licensure, and standards of nursing practice. Before joining Board staff, she taught in the Austin Community College Vocational Nursing Education Program from 2000-2012. In addition, she served on the Board representing vocational nursing education from 2008-2012 and was gubernatorially appointed as Board President

in 2011. Dr. Benton has also served on the Texas Center for Nursing Workforce Studies Task Force on Workplace Violence Against Nurses. Currently she serves on the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) Examination Committee and its International Center for Regulatory Scholarship Advisory Committee. She is a member of the Governor’s State Agency Council. Dr. Benton holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Nursing and was the recipient of the DNP Excellence in Nursing award in 2017. She has authored publications on nursing leadership, nursing regulation, and remediation of nursing practice breakdown. In 2022, she completed the NCSBN International Center for Regulatory Scholarship certificate program.

The Board conducted a national search for Ms. Thomas’s replacement with an Executive Committee of five BON Board Members who conducted candidate interviews and made their recommendations for the primary and alternate candidates for the position to the full Board during Executive Session at the July 20, 2023, meeting of the Board of Nursing held at the Barbara Jordan Building in Austin, Texas.