Dana Merk is a nurse, educator, and systems-minded leader whose work is grounded in deep care, precision, and long-term sustainability. At Headwaters Academy, she has served in multiple leadership roles throughout the school’s growth phase, shifting fluidly to meet the moment and fill whatever gap is most urgent. Dana ensures enrolled families are informed, aligned, and supported; prospective families are welcomed with clarity and care; and teachers are resourced, protected, and responded to with exceptional attentiveness and speed. Her leadership is relational, highly responsive, and rooted in a steadfast commitment to the health of the community landscape.

Now serving as Acting Board President, Dana is leading the transition into sturdy, ethical governance structures that will allow Headwaters to mature into a stable, enduring institution. She brings a rare combination of compassion and rigor to this work - holding the highest good of the school while designing systems that prevent burnout, clarify responsibility, and support legacy-level success. Her leadership is characterized by discernment, follow-through, and an unwavering sense of care for the whole community.

Dana is a labor and delivery nurse and educator with 15 years of experience. She is a certified breastfeeding counselor through Prepared Childbirth Educators. She holds national board certifications in Inpatient Obstetrics, Obstetric & Neonatal Quality and Safety and Electronic Fetal Monitoring. Dana is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the School of Nursing at DePaul University, where she has taught since 2015. At DePaul University, she serves on the Undergraduate Admissions and Scholarship Committee for the School of Nursing.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Theatre with a concentration in Acting and Directing from DePaul University in 2005 and a Master of Science in Nursing from Rush University in 2010.  She is currently pursuing advanced perinatal mental health certification from Postpartum Support International. 

In 2021, Dana was chosen to serve a two-year term on Congresswoman Lauren Underwood’s Congressional Healthcare Advisory Council. Serving on the council brought countless opportunities to use her women’s health background to help improve the health of families & communities at a policy level.

Dana is the Secretary of the Executive Board of Steel Beam Theatre in St Charles, dedicated to enriching the community through the performing arts. 

Outside her professional life, Dana loves traveling with her family, theatre, reading, walks along the Fox, time in nature, photography and sending greeting cards (a lost art).

While education, community activism and nursing are so meaningful to Dana and her life’s path, her most cherished work is being a mom to her sons, Rowan and Bodhi.