VA announced that Paul R. Lawrence will assume office Tuesday, May 15 as the department’s new Under Secretary for Benefits.

Lawrence is a former Army captain and airborne school graduate, and has served in a number of key positions in the accounting industry, focusing primarily in the area of federal government practices.

Most recently, Lawrence was a public sector vice oresident with Kaiser Associates. Previously, he held leadership positions with Ernst & Young, Accenture, the MITRE Corporation, IBM Business Consulting Services, and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Lawrence has a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in cconomics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Acting Secretary Robert Wilkie said, “VA is excited to have Paul Lawrence join our team in this important role for Veterans. His decades of leadership in the accounting industry will serve him well as he continues the progress VBA is making on a number of fronts. VA now has two of three under secretaries in place, with both assuming office more than a year before their counterparts in the previous administration.”

VA also announced that Thomas J. Murphy, currently the executive in charge of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), will become the new VBA midwest area director, in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to serving in the temporary position of executive in charge, Murphy was principal deputy under secretary for benefits in VBA.

Additionally, Margarita Devlin will become principal deputy under secretary for benefits in VBA. Until recently she served as the executive director of VA’s Benefits Assistance Service. Devlin has served as executive director of navigation, advocacy and community engagement; executive director of interagency care and benefits coordination, and other positions in VA since 2003. She holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.

Leave a comment

The comments section is for opinions and feedback on this particular article; this is not a customer support channel. If you are looking for assistance, please visit Ask VA or call 1-800-698-2411. Please, never put personally identifiable information (SSAN, address, phone number, etc.) or protected health information into the form — it will be deleted for your protection.

8 Comments

  1. patrick goggin June 10, 2018 at 17:32

    Im a 2 time viet nam vet i recently submitted a claim to them v a with all the documentation and evidence to prove the claim medical records time dates places and in sincere honesty over a struggle ive had with the v a for 49 years! what did they do sent me a stack of new forms and more hoops to jump through. i dont think im a prima donna who deserves special treatment but it seems all they do is put claims off in hopes the claimer will give up or die before any consideration is taken ???

  2. Christine Schmidt May 26, 2018 at 21:29

    Please, I have a question that may not be answerable. I am a female veteran with terminal cancer.
    Is there a way VA can help compensate my daughter for taking care of me? I literally have nothing, she is a single mom struggling to help me, her mom, I know this is putting a financial stress on all. Please, any help or ideas are welcome.
    Thank you,
    Christine Schmidt

  3. Donald Crauswell May 18, 2018 at 15:26

    Why do we need a high paid position to issue denial letters? VA is already experts at that and ignoring the evidence and or not even reading what has been submitted. Is he going to fire some of the SEIU claims administrators, that have been wrong over 65% of the time? When will the claims folks be held to the same standards as everyone who has a job, get it right the first time or start looking for work.

  4. john barthelmy May 18, 2018 at 13:36

    I could not agree more with Sharon. My story is as follows;
    1954 Drafted – Rejected by Army doctors (former football injury} Classified 4A
    Re-examined every siix months Re-classified 1A by Navy docs 1956
    1956 Enlisted in Navy for 6 years (2 Active and 4 Reserve) Served 18 months
    at Great Lakes Training Camp as PT Instructor (Helped train approx.10000
    recruits Finiished on USS Mitchell Troo

    p

  5. Joann Davis May 18, 2018 at 09:49

    I served the military for thirteen yea I had bad things happen to me that should not have done. I have serious migraine and ptsd. Have been fighting for my benefits for years. The military is bad on women and gets away with it. I also think the system is very broken.

  6. Sharon M Faletti May 16, 2018 at 08:08

    VA benefits were intended for all veterans. This is not true. I served in the Army for four years. 1978 to 1981. I am told that I am not eligible. I was stationed in Germany. The threat was real. I was trained and ready to defend my country. And when I needed the VA I was told that my service didn’t count. This is not right! The government set a standard. If a soldier only served during the cold war they are not eligible for any benefits. I work for the USPS, they are very good at honoring veterans, except me.
    If this problem cannot be fixed, I will NOT recommend joining the service during so called times of “peace”.
    Thank you for looking into this.

  7. Yeong A Choi May 14, 2018 at 21:04

    Hi, I am Yeong A Choi (an Award Recipient of Federal Grants.gov, age of 64 years, PhD, old Miss).
    Amm, thanks for be gotten an opportunity that is able to research.! So, I have tried to know widely deeply contents on the VA over a week: e.g., from the light to the dark. In the near future, I seem to start actually a Project on the VA, in spite of I am not an original American and advanced expert DARE. (Biblically) Lovely members of the VA! Let us cheer up !

  8. Fred Sailor May 14, 2018 at 18:08

    Do we need a Bean Counter in that position or a Combat Medical Officer? What benefit will he be to those trying to obtain their much deserved benefits?

Comments are closed.

More Stories