Dear Veteran Leadership Program alumni,
We’re excited for you to meet the sixth class of Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program Scholars, who are an exceptional group of leaders like you. Their personal leadership projects range from creating programs for children of service members experiencing frequent school transitions to improving the health and well-being of the veteran and military family community through the performing arts.
You should have received an email from Lindsay Davis about connecting with the group on LinkedIn. Please make some time to welcome the new Scholars to our Veteran Leadership Program network! We appreciate those of you who have volunteered to join Scholars for a meal during one of their modules or to serve as a personal leadership project mentor. Keep up with the current class on Bush Center platforms, and stay tuned for more ways to connect with the group in the coming months.
We’re also happy to announce that the next alumni convening will be at the Bush Center on February 21, 2025! We look forward to gathering this year’s cohort along with all of you to continue the positive impact you are collectively making in the veteran and military family space.
Finally, we wanted to share that Check-In – the Veteran Wellness Alliance’s easy-to-use resource that connects veterans and their families to no cost, high-quality mental and brain health care – is approaching 2,000 connections with more than 800 direct referrals to high-quality care. Please share Check-In as widely as possible with your network and feel free to connect with our Veterans and Military Families team to learn how you can offer Check-In as a resource for your organizations.
Continue reading below for several Veteran Leadership Program updates, and don’t hesitate to reach out if we can assist you in any way. Thank you for all you do!
Kelley Jiou
Director, Leadership and Programming
Jason Galui
Director, Veterans and Military Families
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Things You Should Know
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Save the date for the 2025 alumni convening!
Mark your calendars for the next Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program alumni convening at the George W. Bush Presidential Center! We hope alumni will plan to join us on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, to connect, collaborate, and learn with one another. We will share details about hotel blocks, speakers, and more later this summer.
Attending a conference or gathering? Find other alumni!
We want to make it simpler for you to connect with other Veteran Leadership Program alumni at conferences. Thanks to feedback from the Alumni Committee, we now have a section of the Workplace Knowledge Library to which you can add information about any conference or event that you're attending. If you see an event listed that you're planning to go to, add your name to the document.
Then, when the gathering gets closer, you can start a Workplace Chat with everyone attending that event/conference. This is a work in progress, so please feel free to share feedback.
Update your contact information
Send any email and mailing address updates to Lindsay Davis, so we can continue to keep in touch and update you on the Veteran Leadership Program.
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NETWORK EVENTS
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Alumni gatherings
This year, we’re coming to you! Watch Workplace for more details on gatherings associated with each of the following events around the country:
- Hiring Our Heroes conference in San Antonio, Texas: Aug. 7-8
- Military Influencer Conference in Atlanta, Georgia: Sept. 29-Oct. 3
- Veteran Leadership Program Class of 2024 Module 4 in Washington, D.C.: Sept. 18
- Army-Navy Game in Washington, D.C.: Dec. 14 (Let us know if you’d like to take the lead on this gathering.)
More ideas for alumni gatherings? Feel free to reach out to Lindsay Davis.
Webinars
We’re excited to bring you a wide range of webinars this year, including some focused on the leadership topics you voted for in Workplace. Make sure to check the events section of Workplace for more details, and feel free to submit ideas for webinar topics any time.
- Aug. 21, 4 p.m. CT: Leading Through Organizational Change
Join the Bush Institute's Anne Wicks, the Don Evans Family Managing Director of Opportunity and Democracy, to learn the ins and outs of leading during times of organizational change. Anne is an expert on this topic, having seen organizational change in a variety of settings, and we are excited to share her expertise with all of you! RSVP on Workplace.
- Sept. 16, 11 a.m. CT: Captured State: An Update on Afghanistan
Join us for a webinar discussion of the Bush Institute's work examining how the Taliban have relied on mafia-like behavior to consolidate power in Afghanistan. Participants include the Bush Institute's Natalie Gonnella-Platts, Director of Global Policy; Jason Galui, Director of Veterans and Military Families; and Laura Collins, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative. In preparation for the webinar, read the recently completed Bush Institute series on this topic, and RSVP on Workplace.
- Nov. 14, 4 p.m. CT: Managing & Motivating Teams with Ken Hersh, President and CEO of the Bush Center
(more details to come)
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PROGRAM UPDATE
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Module One of the 2024 program year began at the Bush Center on June 25. Scholars toured the George W. Bush Presidential Museum, listened to a dynamic panel of Veteran Leadership Program alumni and heard from Keith Hennessey, program faculty and David Rubenstein Fellow at the Bush Institute. Thank you again for playing such an important role in our recruitment efforts. We are so excited for the 2024 program!
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Around the Network
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- Lacey Beaty (2021), Mayor of Beaverton, Oregon, was featured in an article in Governing on her approach to tackling the city’s biggest issues.
- Ross Dickman (2021) began a new role as CEO of Hire Heroes USA.
- Crystal Ellington (2022) was accepted to the Campaign School at Yale University.
- Derek Abbey (2019) received the Oregon State University Changemaker Award.
- Ryan Callahan (2022), in collaboration with Mark Harper (2022), worked to produce public service announcements as part of the Blue Star Families Combat the Silence Campaign.
- Umar Latif (2021) joined the Board of Directors for the Headstrong Project.
- Cicely Burrows-McElwain (2018) and Duane France (2018) helped to coordinate and host the 2024 VA SAMHSA Governors Challenge Suicide Prevention Innovations Conference.
- Desiree Holley (2023) shared about her work serving the Special Operations Forces community and the turning point she experienced in the Veteran Leadership Program.
- Andrew Newby (2021) received an Emmy for a program he created called Ole Miss Wish.
- Josh Michael (2023) shared how finding your pack can change your life – just as his did after his service injury.
Send us your updates
We want to continue to highlight your milestones on our platforms and within the Veteran Leadership Program community. Send any updates about project advancements, collaborations with fellow Scholars, career changes, or any other personal or professional changes to Lindsay Davis.
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PLUG INTO THE BUSH CENTER
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America needs optimism right now
Bush Center President and CEO Ken Hersh wrote in the Dallas Morning News that despite turmoil in the world and our nation, there is a reason to remain optimistic: American democracy was built to withstand storms. We have "mechanisms for progress, and a history of using them... it has often been Americans who witnessed our darkest failures that have brought us our most shining successes."
Mrs. Laura Bush’s 2024 Summer Reading List for Kids
Mrs. Bush recently revealed her 2024 summer reading list, which includes recommendations for the youngest readers through middle schoolers. The list contains classics like The Little Engine That Could as well as new releases like Love Comes First, written by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush, and is a great resource to ensure the kids in your life enjoy reading all summer long.
Read the new Catalyst issue, ‘Why U.S. Leadership Still Matters’
In the spring edition of The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute, contributors discuss the need for continued U.S. leadership around the world amid growing isolationist sentiment at home. The Catalyst issue features an essay by former U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, also a former U.S. Representative to NATO, and an exclusive interview with former President of Estonia Toomas Hendrik Ilves.
Taliban corruption must end
Captured State is a recently completed series of reports from the Bush Institute that explores how the Taliban have relied on corrupt and kleptocratic behavior to consolidate power in Afghanistan. The authors identify new and underutilized policy options to advance peace, stability, and freedom in Afghanistan while examining the Taliban’s corruption, the disproportionate impact on women and children, and the role of foreign enablers.
Celebrate the summer season at the Bush Center
Learn what’s going on at the Bush Center this summer – from Storytime at the Bush Museum to a memorable photo op in the replica Oval Office or the Laura W. Bush Native Texas Park.
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About the George W. Bush InstituteThe George W. Bush Institute is a solution-oriented nonpartisan policy organization focused on ensuring opportunity for all, strengthening democracy, and advancing free societies. Housed within the George W. Bush Presidential Center, the Bush Institute is rooted in compassionate conservative values and committed to creating positive, meaningful, and lasting change at home and abroad. We utilize our unique platform and convening power to advance solutions to national and global issues of the day. Learn more at bushcenter.org.2943 SMU Boulevard Dallas, TX 75205 Privacy Policy
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