Legislative Hill Days - 2026 Montpelier

Lead Hospitalist APRN, Advocate and Policy Champion, Public speaker advocating for Nurses, Nurse Practitioners, and the Geriatric population. President of Vermont Nurse Practitioners Association. Experienced Assistant Professor with a demonstrated history of working in the higher education industry. Skilled in Nursing Education, Medical-Surgical, Palliative Care, and Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS).Masters prepared Advanced Practice Registered Nurse with Post Masters Adult - Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner certification from Felician University and Acute Care Adult Geriatric Nurse Practitioner from UPenn

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Healing Politics is the culmination of her career that was grounded in clinical care and education before expanding to policy and advocacy. Lisa practiced clinically for 20 years as a nurse and midwife and held faculty positions in schools of nursing and medicine before shifting to health policy work. She spent 11 years at the American College of Nurse-Midwives, where she was Director of Professional Services, and held policy positions at the American Nurses Association and Centering Healthcare Institute. She has spoken and written widely on healthcare policy and advocacy and, for 10 years prior to co-founding Healing Politics, taught health policy at Yale School of Nursing. Education: BSN University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; MSN Yale University School of Nursing; DrPH Columbia University

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Dr. Betsy Hassan is Director of Nursing Education & Professional Development at University of Vermont Medical Center. She serves as the Past President of the American Nurses Association – Vermont, and Vermont’s representative to the Organization of Nurse Leaders: New England (ONL). She holds a DNP in Executive Leadership from the MGH Institute of Health Professions, and board certifications in Nursing Executive-Advanced, and Nursing Professional Development. Among her many volunteer and appointed roles, Dr. Hassan serves as the Past President for the American Nurses Association – Vermont Past President and as Chair of Healthcare Collaborative Advisory Board of the Vermont Business Roundtable. She is a member of AONL's Nurse Leaders in Advocacy and serves on the ONL Government Affairs Committee. Her influence in interprofessional collaboration and partnerships is recognized locally, regionally, and nationally. It enabled her to lead the recent successful passing of a law to address workforce violence in hospitals. She was recognized with the 2023 advocacy award by ONL the distinguished Alumni Award by MGHIHP in 2025, is an inaugural award recipient of Vermont's 91 Influencers in 2025, and was inducted in October 2025 as a Fellow in the American Academy of Nursing. She is a Shaughnessy Coldiron Senior Nurse Executive Fellow for 2026 and will be inducted as a Distinguished Fellow to the National Academies of Practice for Nursing in March 2026

For over twenty years, John has served the healthcare industry, focusing primarily on helping clinicians and administrators navigate the complex regulatory and compliance issues they face every day. John’s experience includes serving as in-house counsel, general counsel, and chief compliance officer for health care entities. In supporting clients, John has worked with health care related federal and state regulatory and law enforcement agencies in virtually every type of issue that a provider could encounter. His extensive knowledge of health law and health care delivery and payment has allowed John to be an effective advocate for providers in federal and state litigation, legislation, administrative rulemaking, and other regulatory matters. John’s diverse in-house experience allows him to be a uniquely insightful compliance advisor who can simplify and assist in efficiently integrating compliance requirements into health care operations. He has an extensive background in policy development, audits and internal and external investigations, corrective action, risk management, contract management, governance, and compliance education. Clients also benefit from his diverse regulatory experience that includes fraud & abuse, Stark and Anti-back, survey and certification, compliance advice, CON, information privacy and security, grants, medical staff, reimbursement, 340B, and quality. John’s purpose as a health care attorney is to support providers in serving their patients by simplifying the regulatory burdens and other obstacles that can otherwise encumber provider/patient relationships. Coming from a healthcare family, as the son of dedicated medical oncologist, and Vermont’s first board certified oncology nurse, John appreciates the dedication of clinicians and the challenges they face. John works every day to support the providers so that they can serve others.

Elizabeth (Liz) Couto is the Director of Emergency Services at Copley Hospital, a Critical Access Hospital in North central Vermont where she works with her team of 40 clinical staff, alongside 16 providers in the Emergency Department, the Hospital’s 24/7 Security team, and was recently assigned to manage Emergency Preparedness for the hospital. She’s specialized in Emergency Medicine as a nurse for 17 years and in Emergency Medical Services for 24 years. Her expertise is in pre-hospital Emergency Management, Incident Command and Emergency Preparedness, Clinical Education, and Emergency Medicine. A Clinical Leader, Liz prioritizes high quality patient care and continually encourages professional and personal development of staff through engagement, support, and goal setting from the bedside with her colleagues. For 2026, she was appointed by the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (VAHHS) to the Vermont Emergency Medical Services Advisory Board. Representing Vermont, Liz sits on the Emergency Department Nurses (ENA) Board as well as the American Nurses Association - Vermont (ANA-Vermont) Board. Recently Liz represented the Emergency Nurses Association (ENA) when working with Vermont's Coalition of Professional Nursing Organizations, including ANA-Vermont and the Vermont Nurse Practitioner Association (VNPA) to write, advocate, and implement into law ACT 9: Prevention of workplace violence in Hospitals. They are currently working with the Vermont Program for Quality Health Care (VPQHC) to create a toolkit for Vermont hospitals to use in support the implementation of this law. The group was consulted by VAHHS to engage in legislation changes of S20, S24, and S36: all will have direct impacts on patient care, hospitals, and healthcare employees across the state. She was honored by VermontBiz in 2025 as one of Vermont’s Rising Stars: 40 under 40 for that work.

Katherine McFaun Williams, BSN, ACM-RN is a nurse with 35 years of professional nursing experience in acute care and community care. She holds a BSN from University of Vermont and is currently completing a MSN in Healthcare Policy at Chamberlain University. Katherine is also nationally certified in Case Management and holds a ACM-RN credential.

Amy Andrews Martone, DNP, MBA, RN, NPD-BC is an executive nurse leader with more than 20 years of professional nursing experience including bedside nursing and nurse leadership in risk management, quality improvement and nursing excellence. She currently works as Director of Clinical Simulation and Assistant Professor at the Norwich University School of Nursing. Amy is passionate about health policy and advocacy. She currently serves as Executive Director for the American Nurses Association of Vermont and as editor for the Vermont Nurse Connection, the statewide nursing newsletter. In 2021, Amy received the prestigious DAISY Leader Award. Amy holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice from Yale University and undergraduate degrees from Eastern Connecticut State University and the University of Connecticut. She earned her BSN and MBA from Western Governors University. Amy is board certified in Nursing Professional Development and is committed to the education, support, and continuous growth of the nursing workforce. She has served on multiple boards for nursing education programs in technical schools and universities across the state and is an active volunteer with the SkillsUSA Vermont chapter for nurse assisting.

Daisy Berbeco grew up in a small fishing community off the road system in coastal Alaska, where she developed a deep appreciation for the importance of human connection in building community wellness. Daisy is an expert in mental health and substance use policy and practice improvement. She has worked with thought leaders around the country in trauma-informed care, peer recovery groups, health care management, leadership, and care integration. After studying international development at Sussex, Daisy worked in global health and the nonprofit sector in various locations including India and Vanuatu. She then spent seven years at the National Council for Mental Wellbeing in Washington D.C. before moving to Winooski in 2019. Prior to her election as a state representative in the Vermont General Assembly, Daisy served as the Senior Advisor for Mental Health Policy at the Vermont Department of Mental Health, the Secretary for the Finance & Policy Division for the National Association of Mental Health Program Directors, a member of Vermont's Substance Misuse Prevention and Oversight Council, and the Vermont Suicide Prevention Coalition. She is currently a Justice of the Peace, on the advisory board of the Hopi Foundation's peer-run Substance Use Prevention Center, a commissioner of the Vermont Judiciary Commission on Mental Health and the Courts, board member of NAMI Vermont and board Vice Chair for the Vermont Association of Mental Health and Addiction Recovery. She has been a member of the Vermont Agency of Human Services Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Steering Committee, an Executive Board Member of Urban Institute’s Vermont Prison Reform and Innovation Network and the Conference of Chief Justices State Court Administrators Behavioral Health Committee Funding Workgroup. In her spare time, she enjoys fishing, hiking, and being outside.