Reaching America’s Veterans in the Digital Space

Hear from the experts at the Department of Veterans Affairs about how they reach and engage with America’s veterans through digital platforms. They cover video, social media, email, text, and more.

Speakers

Jason Davis served five years with the Army’s 101st Airborne, including two combat tours to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. After leaving service, he earned a BA in Literary Journalism from the University of California at Irvine, and an MA in Writing (nonfiction) from Johns Hopkins University. Jason was an editor and photographer under the Motor Trend umbrella prior to running Veterans Benefits Administration’s social media from 2013 to 2019. Jason moved up the street to VA’s Digital Media Engagement team in June 2019.

Tanner Iskra is the host of the VA’s podcast, Borne the Battle. He is a United States Marine Corps Veteran who served as an intel analyst in OIF III and later as a combat videographer/photographer. During his military career he deployed to OIF III as well as Romania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Germany, France, Spain as part of the Black Sea Rotational Force. After leaving active duty, Tanner was a Senior Post Production Editor with NASCAR Productions. Tanner is a graduate of the Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication and Media Studies and holds a Certificate in Military Motion Media from the Newhouse School of Journalism at Syracuse University. Joining the Department of Veterans Affairs in October 2018, Tanner is a video producer with the Digital Media Engagement team focusing on producing, editing, and shooting content that tells the Veteran’s story.

Bronwyn Emmet leads digital outreach initiatives for the National Veterans Outreach Office within the VA Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs (OPIA). For six years, she was Program Manager of ExploreVA Outreach. The program resulted in over fourteen million visits to the VA website and over two million application starts. Today, Bronwyn continues to leverage partnerships to promote and execute social media events that focus on VA priorities.

Tim Hudak joined the VA in December 2013 and is the communications lead for the Veterans Experience Office. He previously worked on VA’s Digital Media Engagement team, and is now focused on the communications experience for Veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors. Tim, a Chicago-land native, served in the U.S. Marine Corps as an intelligence analyst and resides in the Tampa, Florida area with his wife Sherry and Rhodesian Ridgeback, Boot.

Dominique Ramirez joined VA in 2013 and has supported a wide array of activities within the Office of Public Affairs. As a web developer, he helps manage pages across the VA.gov domain. He also manages the VAntage Point and VA Insider blogs. As the Intern Program Manager for the Digital Media Engagement team, Dominique leads a team that helps create content for VAntage Point, Facebook, Google+, Twitter and Instagram. Dominique has a Bachelors degree in Business Administration from the University of San Diego, and a Master of Science in Information Technology from Southern New Hampshire University. Prior to his work in the federal government, Dominique spent 10 years in the U.S. Navy.

This talk is hosted by SocialGov, the federal government social media community of practice.