Dear Veteran Leadership Program alumni, Welcome to the members of the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program Class of 2024, who are officially receiving this newsletter as alumni! The 2024 Scholars did an excellent job presenting their personal leadership projects in October. Thank you to all who joined both virtually and in person; we appreciate all the incredible support you all provided as Scholars presented their work. The application for the seventh cohort of Veteran Leadership Scholars will remain open through Jan. 5, 2025. Please share the application with your networks and anyone you feel would benefit from the program. As always, we’re thankful for your efforts in helping us recruit another class of impressive Scholars. Remember that the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program alumni convening is right around the corner! We hope you will join us on Feb. 21, 2025 – check your email for registration details and hotel block information. Feel free to contact Michael Bailey with any questions or concerns. Lastly, it is bittersweet to announce that Kinsey Clemmer will depart the Bush Institute later this month to begin a new position in the Fort Worth Mayor's office. We will miss her great optimism and kindness, and we wish her all the best in her next chapter. On behalf of the entire Veteran Leadership Program team, we wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season. Please don’t hesitate to reach out with any personal or professional updates. We love playing a small part in your journey and are always excited to celebrate your accomplishments. Kelley Jiou
Director, Leadership and Programming Jason Galui
Director, Veterans and Military Families | | | | Things You Should Know | Save the date for the 2025 alumni convening! We hope you will join us on Friday, Feb. 21, at the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program alumni convening. The team has planned a fantastic day of networking, collaborating, and continued learning for you all. Check your email for details about hotel blocks, speakers, registration, and more! 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 Michael Bailey, so we can continue to keep in touch and update you on the Veteran Leadership Program. | | | | NETWORK EVENTS | Alumni gatherings This year, we’re coming to you! Watch Workplace for more details on gatherings around the country. - Veteran Leadership Program alumni will gather at the 125th Army-Navy Game in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 14. The Bush Institute’s Veterans and Military Families team will be there to promote Check-In. We hope to see you there; see more details on Workplace.
- Veteran Leadership Program alumni in the Colorado Springs area are invited to attend an alumni gathering around Student Veterans of America NatCon. Watch Workplace for details!
More ideas for alumni gatherings? Feel free to reach out to Michael Bailey. Webinars Make sure to check the events section of Workplace for details on upcoming webinars, and feel free to submit ideas for webinar topics at any time. | | | | PROGRAM UPDATE | After an amazing module in Washington, D.C., Scholars gathered in Dallas, where they completed their program year and presented their personal leadership projects at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in early November. Please join us in officially welcoming the members of the Class of 2024 as Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program alumni! On that note, we are thrilled to announce that applications for the Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program Class of 2025 are now open. The deadline to submit an application is Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025. We ask that you share the application with individuals and organizations within your network who you think would be a great fit for the program. | | | | Around the Network | - Jackson Smith (2023), Executive Director of Bastion, announced the ground breaking of a new Veteran Wellness Center.
- John Boerstler (2018) recently accepted a new position at Ipsos as Executive Vice President of Public Sector for its U.S. Public Affairs practice.
- Rachel Moyal-Smith (2023) launched a home hospital pathway for veterans experiencing homelessness.
- Olivia Valerio (2023) officially launched her personal leadership project, the development and rollout of H-E-B's first Military Bridges program.
Stand-To Veteran Leadership Program Scholar spotlight
Read the most recent Scholar interview on the Bush Center website with Joseph Alexander (2022), high school principal in the Waco, Texas, Independent School District. | | | | PLUG INTO THE BUSH CENTER | Bush Center President and CEO announces transition plan The Bush Center announced a transition plan in November to find the successor to Kenneth A. Hersh, its President and Chief Executive Officer. Hersh joined the Bush Center in 2016 and has led a significant era of progress. He will stay on until a successor is named and will remain on the organization’s Board of Directors. The Catalyst: A Journal of Ideas from the Bush Institute discusses the `Great Gray Wave’ “Many countries are aging fast and will soon start shrinking,” Editor-in-Chief Jonathan Tepperman shares in his editor’s note. “What will that mean for the United States, its allies and competitors, and for geopolitics writ large? Those are some of the questions we asked our authors to tackle.” Building a more perfect union through service and civic engagement Listen to the recent Strategerist episode with Mary Tobin, Director of Brickyard Chapters and Programs for nonprofit More Perfect Union. Tobin shares her experiences in the military and how they taught her the importance of human connection. Breaking down key economic topics for 2025 The incoming administration and Congress will make decisions over the first half of 2025 in five key economic policy domains: tariffs and trade, industrial and innovation policy, business regulation, the national debt, and tax reform. Cullum Clark, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative, gives his take on the topics in a new blog series. Read the first three instalments: | | | | About the George W. Bush Institute The 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 | | |
