Senate has confirmed Paul Lawrence as deputy secretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Lawmakers on Thursday voted 51-45 in favor of Lawrence’s appointment, Senate.gov reported.
He will serve alongside Doug Collins, who was confirmed for the role of VA under secretary in February.
VA Second in Command
The recent vote marks Lawrence’s return to the VA, where he held the role of under secretary for benefits from 2018 to 2021 during President Donald Trump’s first term. He oversaw the delivery of disability compensation, pension, home loan guarantees, life insurance and other benefits available to veterans and their dependents.
Before the VA, he led as vice president of public sector at Kaiser Associates. For over a year, he managed the consulting firm’s efforts to capture opportunities at the General Services Administration and Department of Agriculture.
He also held leadership positions at Ernst & Young, Accenture, IBM and MITRE, but he spent the majority of his private sector career as a partner at PwC.
The VA official served in the Army as a captain in the 1980s. He graduated from Airborne School in Fort Benning in Georgia and received the Meritorious Service Medal.
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