The Institute of Medicine (2011) challenged nursing to ensure the nursing workforce includes a sufficient number of academic nurse leaders, nurse educators, and doctorally prepared nurses for the future healthcare needs of the people of the United States. National data reveals a fragile supply of academic nurse educators and leaders. This tenuous resource is shaped by multifaceted factors including: (1) an aging nursing workforce; (2) impending faculty retirements; (3) lack of qualified faculty; and (4) wage disparity between the academic and clinical settings. As these factors collide, it is imperative that academic nursing plan for the future by retaining, developing, and recruiting academic nurse leaders utilizing best practices in succession planning (American Association of Colleges of Nursing [AACN], 2016c; United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration [HRSA], 2014; National Advisory Council on Nursing Education and Practice [NACNEP], 2010; Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor 2015; Wendler, Olson-Sitki, & Prater, 2009). A review of the literature revealed a lack of guidance related to succession planning in academic nursing, hence, this project was developed as an evidence-based practice project to provide academic nurse leaders with a guide for succession planning. The overall purpose of the DNP project was to evaluate the current state of succession planning at a chosen College of Nursing through the assessment of current leadership skills and talents, analysis of future needs for academic nurse leaders, and development of evidence-based recommendations to strengthen and improve the College's succession planning processes. The succession plan framework applied in this project was the Leadership Succession Planning and Development model created by Wilson (2015) for nursing leaders. The DNP project allowed the author to provide an executive summary report to serve as the groundwork for the chosen College's nursing leaders to achieve and sustain a highly qualified nursing leadership workforce to meet the future needs of the College of Nursing. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]