On DoD: Leadership skills for veterans, VA’s disability backlog and DoD’s change to GSA schedules

On this week's On DoD, Jared Serbu talks to Eric Jeffries, chief diversity and inclusion officer at Exelis; Zachary Hearn, the deputy director for benefits at t...

We cover several topics on this week’s edition of On DoD:

  • We speak to one of the leaders of a startup effort that aims to help military veterans translate the leadership skills they learned in uniform into highly-marketable skill sets for the private sector. Erica Jeffries is the chief diversity and inclusion officer at Exelis. Along with Korn Ferry and Points of Light, her firm is running the second round of the Leveraging Military Leadership Program. The application window for current round closes on April 16.
  • The Department of Veterans Affairs announced late last month that it’s cut its backlog of pending veterans disability claims by more than 40 percent. Zachary Hearn, the deputy director for benefits at the American Legion talks with us about why there’s more to the story than that statistic.
  • And a recent Defense Department decision to require independent pricing research when its contractors buy from the GSA Schedules has vendors concerned. Alan Chvotkin, vice president at the Professional Services Council helps us unpack the decision.

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