Verdie Bowen

Director Veterans Affairs @State of Alaska

Anchorage, AK, US

As a senior executive, serves as the principle contact in the state for transitioning active duty, veterans, and for the development and establishment of statewide policies that directly affects all. The total number of Alaskans affected by these policies is 230,031.• As the President of the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs (NASDVA) lead the organization and its 20 million veterans through five critical pieces of federal legislation that funded/created numerous programs that improved the quality of life for veterans and their families. • Streamlined decision making which enhanced program productivity by facilitating communications between multiple departments, state and federal governments, and Alaskan native communities.• Master team builder; developed the office’s first mission, vision, and goals and after energizing the team moved the office from serving on average eligible members a year to • Key liaison between the governor and veterans in the state providing keynote addresses on veterans’ issues – initiated a program to attend all veteran events speaking on average 32 times a year. • Delivered key testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on the intricacies of remote/frontier healthcare setting the stage for the Veterans Administration and Alaska Native Health Programs agreement providing healthcare in the community were the veteran lives.• Combined multiple programs offered by state, federal, and local agencies into one comprehensive outreach program that now allows for total coverage of the 348 Alaskan communities.• Researched, authored, and published a single Alaskan veterans benefits booklet reflecting every state benefit and after the first printing the demand is greater than the printers capacity. • Directly managed all aspects of communications delivered to the veteran community through direct contact with the media, issuance of press releases, live media, or through submitted articles.

Community College of the Air Force

Associate of Science (A.S.), Electonic Systems

Community College of the Air Force

Associate of Science (AS), Visual Systems

Bellevue University

Bachelor of Applied Science (BASc), Business Information Systems