Tanya Bradsher

Tanya Bradsher is the chief of staff at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. In this capacity, she is the senior advisor to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary in the federal government’s second-largest Cabinet department, with a budget of more than $246 billion and over 424,000 employees serving in VA medical centers, clinics, benefits offices and national cemeteries. She is a combat veteran who served 20 years in the U.S. Army. Her major assignments included Spokesperson on the White House National Security Council for the Department of Defense, Asia, Africa, Western Hemisphere, counter-terrorism and detainee policies; Defense Press Officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at the Pentagon; Brigade Public Affairs Officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, 8^th U.S. Army; Commander, Delta Company 516^th Battalion, and Executive Officer, 1^st Replacement Company, 8^th Personnel Support Command. Prior to being named the VA’s Chief of Staff, she served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Partnerships and Global Engagement on the National Security Staff in the Executive Office of the President. Before working on the hill, she was the chief of communications for the American Psychiatric Association. During the Obama Administration, she served as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs at the Department of Homeland Security.