VA announces Paul Lawrence as new Under Secretary for Benefits

Today VA announced that Paul R. Lawrence will assume office Tuesday, May 15 as the department’s new Under Secretary for Benefits.

Lawrence is a former Army captain and airborne school graduate, and has served in a number of key positions in the accounting industry, focusing primarily in the area of federal government practices.

Most recently, Lawrence was a Public Sector Vice President with Kaiser Associates.  Previously, he held leadership positions with Ernst & Young, Accenture, the MITRE Corporation, IBM Business Consulting Services, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.  Lawrence has a Master of Arts and Ph.D. in Economics from Virginia Tech, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Acting Secretary Robert Wilkie said, “VA is excited to have Paul Lawrence join our team in this important role for Veterans.  His decades of leadership in the accounting industry will serve him well as he continues the progress VBA is making on a number of fronts.  VA now has two of three Under Secretaries in place, with both assuming office more than a year before their counterparts in the previous administration.”

VA also announced that Thomas J. Murphy, currently the Executive in Charge of the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), will become the new VBA Midwest Area Director, in St. Louis, Mo.  Prior to serving in the temporary position of Executive in Charge, Murphy was  Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits in VBA.

Additionally, Margarita Devlin will become Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Benefits in VBA. Until recently she served as the Executive Director of VA’s Benefits Assistance Service (BAS). Devlin has served as executive director of Navigation, Advocacy and Community Engagement; executive director of Interagency Care and Benefits Coordination, and other positions in VA since 2003. She holds a master’s degree from the University of South Florida.