December 04, 2024 – Veteran Advocate Paul Lawrence and Give Yourself Permission Cortney McDermott

Paul Lawrence – Businessman, Author, & Passionate Veteran Advocate

Dr. Paul R. Lawrence Paul R. Lawrence is a businessman, author, and passionate Veteran advocate. He has 35 years of experience solving management problems in large, complex organizations. As a private sector executive, he was a consulting Partner at two Big-Four accounting firms and a Vice President in two Fortune 500 companies. He is a government management thought leader, having written several books on the subject. For almost three years, Lawrence served as Under Secretary of Benefits at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, unanimously confirmed by the Senate on April 26, 2018. As Under Secretary, he was in charge of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) leading a team of 25,000 people with an operating budget of $4 billion, administering $120 billion in benefits annually. He implemented proven business practices, streamlined the bureaucracy, and created a public presence rebranding VBA as an organization successfully supporting Veterans. During his time as Under Secretary, Veterans received more benefits faster and at lower cost than any time in VBA history. His 2021 book, “Transforming Service to Veterans: How I Pursued Performance Excellence at VBA,” describes the accomplishments during his time as Under Secretary. In 2023, to make the benefits experience easier for Veterans, he wrote “Veterans Benefits for You.” He serves on the Board of Trustees of Purpose Built Families, a nationally-accredited nonprofit that delivers compassionate, informed care to address underlying causes of Veteran homelessness and on the Board of Shield of Sisters, a nonprofit that works with women survivors of Military Sexual Trauma. He is also a Senior Advisor to Search & Acquire, a nonprofit focused on helping Veterans become CEOs via Entrepreneurship through Acquisition. He was selected three times by Federal Computer Week as one of the top 100 public service leaders. In 2019 he was recognized as Government Executive of the Year by Service to the Citizen. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration. Lawrence earned his Master of Arts and Ph.D. in economics from Virginia Tech. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. He is an Army Veteran, having completed his ROTC requirement as an Airborne-qualified





Cortney McDermott – Motivational Speaker, TEDx Speaker, and Bestselling Author of Give Yourself Permission: Be Confident Be Happy Be You: Master the Habits to Transform Your Life, Your Personal Development, Confidence, Self Improvement, Business Skills & Winning Leadership

Cortney McDermott is a bestselling author, TEDx speaker, and human potential expert, with a Master of Science from the London School of Economics. Her work in the field of self-development and business strategy has been featured in Inc., Women’s Health, SUCCESS, The Huffington Post, FOX News, and many other mainstream business and lifestyle media.

 Cortney’s career highlights include her time as an executive at Vanity Fair Corporation, Vice President at Sustainability Partners Inc., and then running her own businesses, with clients and audiences at Universal Music Group, Google, Nike, and Virgin Unite.
Cortney speaks four languages and lives between Italy and the US and hangs out on Richard Branson’s private island, Necker.