On Aug. 7, Shari D. Kennedy was promoted to the rank of captain in the U.S. Navy.
Kennedy is currently serving as Senior Nurse Executive (SNE) with Naval Health Clinic Cherry Point, Havelock, N.C., and the Department Head of Health Care Business. She has served in the military for 25 years.
Kennedy entered the Navy through the Navy Bachelor Degree Completion Program in 1990 while working toward a Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree from Southwestern University, Winfield. Upon graduation in 1992, she was commissioned as an ensign in the Navy Nurse Corps.
Her first assignment was as a staff nurse at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) where she gained experience on both a low and high acuity Psychiatric inpatient unit. She then worked on a multi-specialty surgical ward and finally in labor and delivery. Her next assignment was as a staff nurse on both a Medical Surgical Ward and in the Emergency Room in Naval Hospital Rota, Spain. She was chosen as the Clinic Manager for the Alcohol Treatment Outpatient Facility and additionally, for her final year, the Clinic Manager of the Primary Care Clinic.
In 1999, she transferred to the Naval Ambulatory Care Clinic Newport to be the Clinic Manager of the Orthopedic Clinic. Her final year she applied for Duty Under Instruction for a Master of Science Degree in Nursing with a Specialty of Psychiatric Nursing.
Graduating with a Master of Science Degree in Nursing from Rush University in Chicago in 2004, she worked as the Division Officer of the Recruit Evaluation Unit at Great Lakes Naval Hospital, Great Lakes, Ill. She was called in 2005, to become the Department Head of the Naval School of Health Science, Navy Psychiatric Technician Program in Portsmouth, Va. While there she deployed to Kuwait for seven months in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
In 2009, she transferred to NMCP to become the first Associate Director for the Director of Mental Health. Within a year she was selected to become the Senior Nurse Executive (SNE) of the Norfolk Branch Clinic where she would occasionally act in the capacity of the Officer in Charge. She was then competitively selected as the Associate Director for the Director of Primary Care. While there she deployed to Afghanistan on a Joint Mental Health Assessment Team to gather information on front line Marines and Soldiers and the Mental Health Professionals on multiple bases in Afghanistan.
She became the Navy Program Manager for the Behavioral Health Technician (BHT) course at Naval Medical Training Support Command (NMTSC) in San Antonio, Texas. NMTSC selected her as the Director for the NMTSC Personnel Support Directorate and as the Liaison between the San Antonio Joint Hospital Psychiatric Department and NMTSC to ensure quality care to the Navy staff and students.
She was selected to the rank of Captain and applied to become a SNE.
Kennedy has been awarded two Meritorious Service Medals, three Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, and two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals.
Kennedy is the daughter of James T. Kennedy and the step-daughter of Margaret Kennedy of Ellinwood, and the daughter of Myrna L. Kuffler of Lyons. She is the wife of Thomas C. Millison and the mother of Rachel E. Kennedy. She is a 1987 graduate of Lyons High School.