Summary Hannah McDuffie, Chief of Public Affairs for VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, turned a childhood shaped by Hurricane Katrina into a lifelong mission of connection. Leading a team of nine public affairs, outreach and creative specialists across three states serving more than 146,000 veterans, she built trust one conversation at a time. Whether walking into homeless encampments in the cold of night or organizing presidential visits, her message stays the same: com

Summary Rory Thompson, Chief of Veteran Experience at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System (TVHS), transforms a journey marked by four suicide attempts, three divorces, and nine years of unacknowledged Post Traumatic Stress Disorder PTSD into a mission to save veteran lives. The Marine Corps veteran and son of a pastor uses his story as fuel, leading veteran satisfaction initiatives that have helped TVHS achieve 93% trust ratings and five-star status. His philosophy: PTSD do

Summary Dr. Elizabeth Burke, Chief of Quality and Patient Safety at VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, transforms her grandfather’s warning to never work at VA into a decades-long mission to make veteran care so excellent that families choose it first. Leading more than 100 process improvement projects in fiscal year 2025 alone, she helped elevate TVHS to a five-star rated health care facility from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Services. Her philosophy: qual