Enhancing Veterans Care: Responding to COVID-19

Barbara C. Morton assumed her current duties in July 2016 when she joined the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) as Deputy Chief Veterans Experience Officer. In this role Barbara is responsible for building a lasting customer experience capability at VA and sharing best practices across sister Federal Agencies. She was a recipient for the Gears of Government President’s Award (2019) and the Service to the Citizen Award (2019) for her role in transforming VA’s capabilities to provide Veterans with an excellent customer experience.

Barbara joined the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2006 as a Staff Attorney at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board). She served the Board in a variety of other capacities, to include Special Counsel to the Appellate Group, Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman, Executive Assistant to the Chairman, and Executive Director for the Office of Management, Planning & Analysis. While at the Board, Barbara stood up and led the Board’s Appeals Modernization OIT efforts, which included securing industry technologists from United States Digital Service to develop and launch new appeals platforms.

A native of Rockport, Massachusetts, Barbara attended Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, earning a degree in psychology and philosophy. After receiving her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School, Barbara completed two clerkships in the New England area and thereafter pursued an LL.M. in constitutional law at Georgetown Law. She has published a variety of law review articles, including two pieces relating to posttraumatic stress disorder. Barbara dabbles in the arts, to include painting, photography, ceramics, and stained glass, and she loves following professional tennis and basketball. She also enjoys volunteering for various Veteran-centered causes, to include events at Arlington National Cemetery and the annual Toys-for-Tots campaign.

Mr. Thomas J. Murphy has been serving as the Acting Under Secretary for Benefits since January 20, 2021. He was previously the Director of the Northeast District, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), located in St. Louis, Missouri. As Northeast District Director, he oversees the delivery of non-medical benefits programs, including compensation, pension, fiduciary, vocational rehabilitation, and home loan guaranty benefits by 20 regional offices serving a Veteran population of more than 7.6 million. He also provides oversight of VBA’s Records Management Center, which serves as a special processing center for VA and military record requests. Overall, he has operational oversight responsibility for over 6,400 employees.

Prior to his current position, he was Acting Under Secretary for Benefits and served as the Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits. In those positions, he led more than 20,000 VBA employees in delivering non-medical benefits programs. Through a nationwide network of 56 regional offices, special processing centers, and VBA Headquarters, he oversaw the execution of nearly $96B in direct benefits to Veterans and their dependents. Mr. Murphy previously served as the Director of Compensation Service where he was responsible for the development and implementation of policies and procedures related to the administration of VA disability and death compensation programs which paid $66.38 billion dollars in benefits in fiscal year 2015 to 4.5 million eligible Veterans and dependents. Before serving as Director of Compensation Service, he served as the Director of the San Juan, Puerto Rico Regional Office.

Mr. Murphy joined the Veterans Benefits Administration from The Home Depot, where he was a Director of Merchandise Planning. Prior to joining The Home Depot, Mr. Murphy was a Senior Tactical Planning Manager for Qwest Communications. He also worked for ten years in the Department of Defense in a variety of positions, including Logistics Manager, Administrative Officer, Training Manager, Staffing Specialist, and Chief of Employee Services. Mr. Murphy retired from the military as a Major after 15 years of service in the Colorado National Guard and 6 years of service with the Marine Corps Reserve. He served as an Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Battalion Operations Officer, Battery Commander, and Battery Fire Direction Officer.

For more than twenty years, Mark Takano has worked to improve the lives of Riverside County residents, both as an elected official and as a teacher at Rialto High School.

Born and raised in Riverside, Mark’s commitment to public service began at an early age. His family roots in Riverside go back to his grandparents who, along with his parents, were removed from their respective homes and sent to Japanese American Internment camps during World War II. After the war, these two families settled in Riverside County to rebuild their lives.

Mark attended La Sierra High School in the Alvord Unified School District, and in 1979 he graduated as the school’s valedictorian. Mark attended Harvard College and received his bachelor’s degree in Government in 1983. As a student, he bussed tables to help make ends meet. During his senior year, he organized a transcontinental bicycle ride to benefit the international development agency Oxfam America.

Upon graduation, Mark returned home to Riverside and began teaching in the Rialto Unified School District in 1988. As a classroom teacher, Mark confronted the challenges in our public education system daily.

In 1990, Mark was elected to the Riverside Community College District’s Board of Trustees. At RCC, Mark worked with Republicans and Democrats to improve higher education for young people and job training opportunities for adults seeking to learn a new skill or start a new career. He was elected Board President in 1991 and helped the Board and the District gain stability and direction amid serious fiscal challenges.

In 2012, Mark became the first openly gay person of color to be elected to Congress.

Mark Takano represents the people of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Jurupa Valley and Perris in the United States House of Representatives. He serves as Chairman of the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, and as a member of the Education and Labor Committee.

Senator Jon Tester is a third-generation Montana farmer, a proud grandfather, and a former school teacher who has deep roots in hard work, responsibility and accountability.

Jon and his wife Sharla still farm the same land near the town of Big Sandy, Mont. that was homesteaded by Jon’s grandparents in 1912.  Jon’s parents believed public education and family agriculture are the cornerstones of democracy—and those values had a tremendous role in shaping Jon’s leadership.

After earning a degree in music from the College of Great Falls, Jon took over the Tester farm in 1978.  He also taught music at F.E. Miley Elementary and eventually was elected to the Big Sandy School Board.  Fired up by the Montana Legislature’s decision to deregulate Montana’s power industry (resulting in higher power costs), Jon ran for and was elected to the Montana Senate in 1998.

In 2005, Jon’s colleagues chose him to serve as Montana Senate President.  The people of Montana then elected Jon to the United States Senate in 2006. They voted to send him back in 2012 and again in 2018.

Jon believes in holding himself accountable to the highest standards possible, and he has improved transparency at all levels of government.  In fact, Jon was the first senator to post his daily public schedule online.

In the U.S. Senate, Jon is an outspoken voice for rural America.  He is an advocate for small businesses who has hosted numerous Small Business Opportunity Workshops across Montana to serve thousands of business owners and entrepreneurs.  He is a champion of responsible energy development, sportsmen’s issues, clean air and water, Indian nations, women’s access to care, and quality health care for all of America’s veterans—no matter where they live.

In the Senate, Jon serves as Ranking Member of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. He is also a member of the Senate Commerce, Indian Affairs, Banking, and Appropriations Committees.