Paul Lawrence, Ph.D., serves as VA’s Under Secretary for Benefits. He is a U.S. Army

Veteran who earned an M.A. and Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech and a B.A. in

Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

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He was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the United States

Senate on April 26, 2018.

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As Under Secretary for Benefits at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Dr. Paul Lawrence leads more than 24,000 employees in the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) in the delivery of critical benefits and resources to a unique group of citizens: our Nation’s Veterans and their dependents.  Since he was confirmed on April 26, 2018, Dr. Lawrence has focused on several initiatives to improve the lives of Veterans. Among the many initiatives, he stood up the new Office of Transition and Economic Development (OTED). This office provides Service members and Veterans with opportunities for economic advancement from military service through civilian life by increasing access to VA benefits and services.

 

He has also focused on increasing engagement between VBA staff and their stakeholders, to include VBA offices conducting thousands of outreach events to Servicemembers, Veterans, and their families in the past year.  In addition, Dr. Lawrence has focused on creating positive partnerships and gathering valuable feedback from the Veteran Service Organizations (VSO’s).

 

Prior to his confirmation, Lawrence served as Vice President at Kaiser Associates. He has 30 years of experience working closely with federal leaders as a senior management consultant, serving in leadership positions at such organizations as Ernst & Young, Accenture, the MITRE Corporation, IBM Business Consulting Services, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

 

He has also researched and written extensively on management and government, including two books published entitled, “What Government Does: How Political Executives Manage” (2016) and “Succeeding as a Political Executive: 50 Insights from Experience” (2013).