Student Veterans of America (SVA), a nonprofit coalition of student veterans groups on college campuses across the globe, is holding its 5th Annual National Conference this weekend, with help from the Military Family Research Institute at Purdue University (MFRI). The conference began today in Orlando, Fla., and concludes on Sat., Jan. 5.
MFRI is managing a Saturday session, the SVA Chapter Business Plan Presentations. Modeled after MFRI's Student Veterans' Organization (SVO) Organizational Plan Competition, the session features four SVA chapters who will present their business plans and receive feedback from a panel of corporate executives.
The panel is comprised of Anne Marie Dougherty, executive director of the Bob Woodruff Foundation; Joanna Graham, director of field marketing at the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC); Dayton Warfle, a senior operational risk executive at Bank of America; and Raymond Weeks, vice president for veterans' initiatives at Prudential.
The SVA National Conference is the culmination of SVA’s summer Leadership Institute, Local Leadership Summits, and its Chapter Grant Program.
The conference agenda also features sessions that focus on exploring the research and policy issues, challenge areas, and solutions pertaining to student veterans and post-secondary education. Its keynote will be delivered by Eric K. Shinseki, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and George W. Casey, Jr., Gen, U.S. Army (Ret), who served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from April 2007 to 2011, will offer Saturday morning remarks.
You can keep up to date on the latest conference proceedings using #SVANatCon on Twitter.
In 2012, the MFRI-SVA relationship was fortified by joint collaborations that aimed to strengthen student veterans across the country. In July, at the Leadership Institute hosted by SVA, MFRI offered a two-day, hand-on workshop that helped student veteran leaders learn how to create and sustain a successful SVO. The event took place in partnership with Google at its California campus. In October, Michael Dakduk, SVA’s executive director, served as a judge for MFRI’s SVO Hall of Fame Competition, which showcased the talents and achievements of the best of Indiana's SVOs.