Reforming the VA by empowering veterans: A conversation with Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-OH)

Event Speaker Biographies

Heather Ansley is the acting associate executive director of government relations at Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA). Her responsibilities include managing the organization’s efforts on Capitol Hill and working with the administration to promote legislation and policies that ensure veterans with catastrophic disabilities receive the health care and benefits that they have earned and the civil rights protections that they deserve. She also works to promote collaboration between disability organizations and veterans service organizations by serving as a co-chair of the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) Veterans Task Force. Additionally, she serves as an officer on CCD’s board of directors. Before joining PVA, Ms. Ansley served as vice president of VetsFirst, a program of United Spinal Association, and as the director of policy and advocacy for the Lutheran Services in America Disability Network. She also served as a research attorney for the Honorable Steve Leben with the Kansas Court of Appeals. Ms. Ansley holds a B.A. and M.S.W. from the University of Missouri–Columbia and a J.D. from the Washburn University School of Law.

Lauren Augustine is the director of policy with Student Veterans of America. After graduating from Virginia Tech, she enlisted in the US Army, quickly rising to the rank of sergeant, and served 12 months in Iraq with the First Infantry Division. She has worked as a senior legislative associate for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a legislative representative for the American Federation of Government Employees, and the director of government relations for Got Your 6. In these positions she advocated on behalf of veterans, their families, and the services and benefits provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs. In recognition of her advocacy work, Ms. Augustine was named to the HillVets Top 100 in 2015 and awarded the Excellence by an Up and Coming Practitioner award from the Women in Professional Advocacy in 2016. She was also appointed to the Joint Leadership Council of Veterans Service Organizations for the Commonwealth of Virginia by Gov. Terry McAuliffe in 2016.

Rebecca Burgess manages the AEI Program on American Citizenship, which produces original research on civic education, the health of America’s public institutions, and the principles of American democracy. She focuses on veterans and their role in civil society and politics. She also analyzes public policies intended to assist veterans and their families.Before coming to AEI, Ms. Burgess served as the director of programs for external affairs at Hillsdale College, where she was also deputy editor of Imprimis. She has taught courses on American political theory and constitutional principles at Hillsdale College and the University of Dallas, where she also served as the director of residence life and student life for several years. She is the author of “Second Service: Military Veterans and Public Office” (AEI, 2016).

Phillip Carter is a senior policy researcher at the RAND Corporation. His research specializations include military personnel policy, military and veterans health policy, veterans employment and benefits policy, acquisition policy, civil-military relations, and national security law. Before joining the RAND Corporation, Mr. Carter was a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, where he led that organization’s research on military personnel, veterans policy, and civil-military relations. He began his career as an Army officer, serving for more than nine years, including an overseas tour in South Korea and a combat tour (2005–06) in Iraq as an embedded adviser with the Iraqi police. He also served in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, as deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee policy. In the private sector, he practiced government contracts and national security law and worked at a midsize government contractor as chief operating officer. He has also served on advisory or governance boards for nonprofit organizations serving the veterans and national security community, including the Reserve Forces Policy Board. Mr. Carter is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University, where he teaches a course on national security business law and a research seminar on military personnel and veterans policy.

Gary J. Schmitt is a resident scholar and the director of AEI’s Program on American Citizenship. He was a staff director of the US Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and executive director of the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. His work in the area of citizenship focuses on challenges to sustaining a strong civic culture in America and a fuller appreciation of the principles of the American regime and the Constitution. He has published widely on the separation of powers and the American presidency, and he is the author and contributing editor of several volumes, including “The Imperial Presidency and the Constitution” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) and “Is Congress Broken? The Virtues and Defects of Partisanship and Gridlock” (Brookings Institution Press, 2017).

Leo Shane III is deputy editor for Military Times, where he covers Capitol Hill, the White House, and the Department of Veterans Affairs. He has covered military and veterans issues in Washington, DC, for nearly 14 years, including work at Stars and Stripes, which featured overseas reporting in Iraq and Afghanistan. Before his national work, he covered state and local politics for newspapers in Ohio, Illinois, and Philadelphia. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware.

Brad Wenstrup is  the US representative for Ohio’s 2nd congressional district. Throughout his life, he has placed a high value on service, as an Army colonel, physician, and congressman. Serving in the US Army Reserve since 1998, he was awarded the Bronze Star and Combat Action Badge for his service as a combat surgeon in Iraq in 2005–06. Dr. Wenstrup is a member of the House Armed Services, Intelligence, and Veterans’ Affairs Committees. A practicing physician of over 26 years, he is a member of the House Doctors’ Caucus, a group dedicated to implementing patient-centered health care reforms.