VEIAA Newsletter: Edition 5 - Spring 2024

Hello VEIAA members, and welcome to the fifth edition of the VEIAA newsletter! We are excited to welcome the newest VEI graduating class and update you on upcoming events and VEIAA happenings.


For 2024, the VEIAA Board has worked hard to offer bi-monthly virtual lunch and learn opportunities, which have included partnering with CMA (CMI Alumni Association). The March lunch and learn included a conversation on Strategic Planning Success, and at the May lunch and learn, we learned about Artificial intelligence. At the recent July Lunch and Learn, we heard Lessons from Leadership. If you missed these, you can watch it on the VEIAA YouTube channel. The board is working hard to plan additional opportunities in 2024, including more lunch and learns in September and November—more information to come.


We hope you find this newsletter informative. If there are specific topics that you would like included in subsequent newsletters, please let us know with this quick survey.


Thank you!

- VEIAA Board

Congratulations to the Spring 2024 graduating class of the Virginia Executive Institute!

Join us in welcoming the new VEIAA members!

VEI Spring 2024 Graduating Class: (Class pictured after graduation at the Capitol)


Back Row (Left to Right):

Steven Williams - Department of Motor Vehicles

Ty Parr - Department of Social Services

Seth Austin - Department of Health

Kelli Spriggs - Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency 

Keith Tisdell - Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services 

Clay Mountcastle - Virginia War Memorial 

Montwrace Cunningham - Department of Veterans Services


Middle Row (Left to Right):

Sherida Haughton - GEHLI Associate Director

Zuhairah Tillinghast - State Corporation Commission

Pam Stephenson - Department of General Services

Sarah Rogers - Department of Health Professions

Denise Hayes - Department of Corrections

Kathryn Perszyk - Department of Environmental Quality

Aubrey Granderson - Department of Criminal Justice Services

Amy Martin - Department of Wildlife Resources

Kimberly Jones - Department of Social Services

Aubrey Chigwada - Department of Human Resource Management


Bottom Row (Left to Right):

Michele Watson-Crone - Department of Veterans Services

Jeanine Black - Department of Social Services

Nancy Wilson - Department of Taxation

Alexis Aplasca - Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services

Stacey Brown - Department of Wildlife Resources

Dean Susan Gooden - Dean of the Wilder School

Dominique Prophet - Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency 

Albert Stokes - Richmond Police Department

Allison Lawrence - Virginia Senate Democratic Caucus


Not Pictured:

Robert Arons - Department of Social Services, Office of Research and Planning Richard Matthews - Virginia Information Technologies Agency 

Thank you to Kimberly Jones and Steve Williams for volunteering to be the Spring 2024 class representatives for VEIAA. We are excited to have you involved with the VEIAA board.

VEI Leadership Challenge Presentations

A key feature of VEI is the opportunity to discuss and address real issues being encountered by state government. As part of the VEI experience, each participant works in a small group on a critical problem facing the commonwealth.


Here are the Spring 2024 Graduation class's Leadership Challenge Presentations:

  1. Developing Consistency for Conflict Resolution in the Workplace
  2. Living the Dream: The Struggle to Find an Affordable Home
  3. Feasible or Unreasonable? The Four-Day Work Week
  4. Virginia Flex: Transforming Virginia's Work Paradigm to Improve Organizational Culture and Performance Outcomes
  5. Service Beyond the Desk: Embracing Volunteerism to Support our Communities and Improve our Personal Wellbeing


We encourage you to check out the presentations here and read the descriptions here and please reach out to any of our esteemed VEI graduates for questions or how we can implement these ideas going forward.

Help celebrate the VEI graduates!


Share in the celebration and help to congratulate the newest VEI graduates on the LinkedIn post!

VEI Spring 2024 Pictures


To see pictures from the presentations, graduation, and the two weeks at VEI, feel free to browse them here.

VEIAA Upcoming Events

The VEIAA Board is busy planning additional opportunities and events in 2024. Stay tuned for:

  • September Lunch and Learn: Recruiting and Retaining Talent
  • November Lunch and Learn: Topic TBD

And more to come!

GEHLI - VCU Wilder CORNER

Continued Learning for VEIAA members

The Spring 2024 session of the Virginia Executive Institute was another worthwhile cohort! We continued to have excellent guest speakers and spring leadership challenge presentations at the Capitol with some esteemed guests. This spring class had enthusiasm, thought-provoking insights, and a superb drive. We can't wait to see the future successes of this cohort.


With the merging of the Centers and Institutes, the GEHLI team at the Wilder School (and as you used to know us as PMG) is excited to offer a full program list with 10+ opportunities to learn and grow. To see a snapshot of these programs, look here. We will also be launching a new website in the next couple of weeks to combine these 10 programs from the former PMG and GEHLI websites. This will include new alumni pages as well, so stay tuned.


We are grateful for the VEIAA community and especially for the hard work of the board and class representatives. Again, congratulations to our newly elected VEIAA members! We hope everyone is enjoying summer and remembering to take the time to develop, grow, and replenish you.


All our best,

Your GEHLI - VCU Wilder School team

Connect with us on LinkedIn

GEHLI UPCOMING PROGRAMS

Continued Learning for yourself or your colleagues

Please share these upcoming Professional Development Courses with your team and colleagues:








VEIAA Mission and Objectives
The why of your Alumni Association
Mission: 
To extend the VEI experience by providing opportunities for education, professional training, leadership development, and networking with fellow alumni and state leaders to achieve enhanced performance of state government.

Objectives:
  1. Develop opportunities for alumni to learn, connect, serve and lead.
  2. To provide continuing education in leadership development.
  3. Enhance communication and collaboration opportunities among state government executives.
  4. Create a forum to recognize and promote the qualities and assets of the VEIAA.
  5. To actively recruit participants for VEI.

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You are receiving this email because you are a graduate of the Virginia Executive Institute (VEI) and a member of the alumni association, the Virginia Executive Institute Alumni Association (VEIAA).