Larissa Africa, BSN, MBA, FAAN

Larissa Africa is the President and CEO of Versant Healthcare Competency Solutions™ and is responsible for its strategic and operational leadership. She is instrumental in driving Versant’s mission to fundamentally transform healthcare outcomes by the developing the workforce’ ability to provide safe, efficient, competency-based care.

After beginning her career as a Registered Nurse, Larissa has spent two decades implementing, managing, and leading strategies to develop nursing organizations.

Larissa has developed a competency-based nurse residency program, one that is considered a gold standard in the industry. As a pioneer in the transition to practice space, she has led the deployment of a competency-based model that integrates and standardizes nursing workforce development across the entire healthcare continuum, addressing high-demand areas such as long-term care, home health, and advanced practice nursing. Larissa’s collective body of work continues to change the landscape of how healthcare organizations integrate and sustain workforce retention and practice solutions.

Larissa holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Mount St. Mary’s University in Los Angeles, CA, and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with a focus on Health Care Management from University of Phoenix. She holds an Executive Women in Leadership certificate through Cornell University. She is an author of numerous highly recognized publications, book chapters, and is spokesperson at both national and international conferences. Larissa is actively engaged in the American Organization for Nursing Leadership’s Foundation as a member of the board of directors and is a peer-reviewer for several nursing journals. During her free-time, Larissa enjoys spending time with her family, being a mom for a new high-schooler, reading, traveling, and watching movies.