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The N&E Committee will meet to finalize the process for JNA’s November 2023 elections. We encourage members to consider running for Executive Officers Positions. Committee members/advisor are: 

Col. (Ret) Jacqueline Payne-Borden, PhD, RN, NEA-BC, PMHCNS-BC, NPD

Interim Chair of the Nominations and Elections Committee

Advisor on JNA History and Caribbean Immigrant Health Issues, Col. (Ret) Jacqueline Payne-Borden- PhD, RN, NEA-BC, PMHCNS-BC, NPD is an Advanced Practice Adult Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Psychotherapist, and Nurse Professional Development Specialist. She is a past JNA President and Lifetime member, who grew up in Jamaica. Her specialty areas are psychiatric mental health nursing, leadership, management, and cultural awareness/sensitivity.

Dr. Payne-Borden serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Nurse Officer at the United Medical Center, Washington, DC, a 210-bed acute care hospital. She retired from the United States Air Force Nurse Corps with the rank of Colonel after serving 29 years both in the reserves and active duty. She has been a hospital Field Surveyor for the Joint Commission and is a graduate of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Minority Fellowship Program at the American Nurses Association (ANA).

Dr. Payne-Borden serves on the ANA’s Minority Fellow Program National Advisory Committee. Her primary research interest includes decreasing the stigma of mental illness, cultural sensitivity within the classroom and health care arena, competency of middle managers and veterans’ transition from the battlefield to home. Her publications include Caribbean immigrants and mental health, integration of nursing within the service line model and evolution of counseling in Jamaica. She has also served on the Maryland Board of Nursing’s Safe Practice Committee as the psychiatric/mental health expert for nurses impaired by mental illness or substance abuse.

Dr. Payne-Borden has served full-time and adjunct faculty at various local four-year colleges. She has also served on the Jamaican Diaspora Northeast Committee representing Maryland.

Janice Peterson, MA

Ms. Janice Peterson is an experienced educator specializing in adult education. She has over 20 years of classroom experience using technology and traditional methods of instruction to deliver training to diverse adult learners in a multicultural environment.   She specializes in assessments, digital and literacy training.  In addition to being an innovative adult educator, she has provided invaluable knowledge in program development and resources to serve the needs of the adult learner. She has been instrumental in creating and implementing computer-based training in government, the private sector, non-profit, and community-based organizations.

Ms. Peterson is a graduate of Howard University where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Master of Arts graduate degree in Economics. She has augmented her training by completing an Associate degree in Computer Applications and Microsoft certifications, and a Graduate Certificate Program in Adult Education.

Ms. Peterson is a JNA Member and a member of the Student Outreach and Educational Support Committee.

Franklin W. Knight, Ph.D.

Franklin W. Knight, PhD, is a Historian, Author, and Emeritus Professor of Johns Hopkins University specializing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Dr. Knight hails from Manchester, Jamaica, is a member of JNA’s Advisory Council, member of JNA, and the recipient of JNA’s 2019 Community Commitment Award.

Dr. Knight joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in 1973 and in 1978 became the first black faculty member at the university to gain academic tenure. Prior to joining the faculty at Johns Hopkins, Knight was Assistant Professor of History at Stony Brook University. At Johns Hopkins, Dr. Knight was the Leonard and Helen R. Stulman Professor of History from 1993 to 2014 and director of the Centre for Africana Studies. He was awarded a Gold Musgrave Medal for literature in 2013.

Dr. Knight, who attended Calabar High School in Kingston, gained his degree in history from the University of the West Indies, Mona, and his PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1998 to 2000, he served as the President of the Latin American Studies Association. In 2007, Knight was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of the West Indies.

Dr. Knight is committed to community and advancing the public’s knowledge of the Caribbean as reflected in his many presentations on Caribbean history. He is also a rum connoisseur who has shared his expertise on Caribbean rums, their economic history and impact on the Caribbean with the public through various organizations including JNA, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian, DC Public Library, and the Strathmore Center.

Richard Wilson, JD

Advisor on the Nominations and Elections Committee, Richard M. Wilson, JD, an Attorney-at-Law, Tax Enforcement & Litigation Attorney, and Community Activist, was born in Brooklyn to parents hailing from Jamaica. He is a practicing Senior Attorney in the District of Columbia Office of the Attorney General, having served as the Tax and Finance Section Chief responsible for the District’s public finance and in-court real property, franchise, sales, and individual income tax law enforcement programs. He is also a former United States Department of Justice Tax Litigation Attorney.

Mr. Wilson, a Lifetime JNA member, served as President of JNA where he presided over an executive team who ushered the then-new millennium with historically stable activities including the Family Fun Day, Jamaican Independence & Emancipation Days, and National Heroes Day celebrations – as well as with frequent guest speakers and panelists community affairs presentations, traditional dance, musical and graphic artist showcases, and a command performance at the US Navy Memorial Complex of Jamaica’s own ASHEE Performers.

Mr. Wilson’s commitment to community is reflected in the various Boards of Directors and Advisory Councils on which he has served. These include the Washington Area United Way, Greater Washington Urban League, National Children’s Center, Bachelor-Benedict Club Community Foundation, Washington Bar Association, and the Sigma Delta Tau Legal Fraternity Foundation.

Mr. Wilson has given his parents Thelma and Clarence Wilson, who hailed from Harewood and Kingston, respectively to pioneer in the United States during the 1920‘s, four (4) grandchildren and, to-date, ten (10) great-grandchildren.