v.a. commission. i'm u.s. army veteran. i received my commission federal west point and served officer for five years. after leaving the service i joined a veteran nonprofit in washington d.c. as a legislative director. i lobbied for passage of bill allowing for construction of the national monument for the post 9/11 conflicts. i moved to san francisco to be closer to family and friends. i wish to continue my service to my community and veterans. i'm pursuing my master in leadership from the university of san francisco to develop the skills i need for my second service. i want to be a commissioner to advise the board of supervisors and mayor on veteran issues and advocate for legislation that will benefit veterans, their families and their community. thank you for your time. >> supervisor ronen: what do you think we should be working on board of supervisors to help address issue of underemployment? are there types of training programs that we should be investing in and sort of advertising to the veteran community? >> i think

my activities included v.a., vets in tech and then i started coming to the commission meetings as a participant. that's when i interest came to join as a full time commissioner if i had the opportunity. really why do i think i can provide value? previous speaker mentioned something that's really a common theme in my background which is partnerships. building partnerships understanding how to bring diverse group of people together who have different backgrounds. on active duty i was public affairs officer, served in new mexico. building relationships between local civic governments. new york city, i did the same thing. out here in my professional life, i'm a tech sector. as i mentioned, defense innovation unit is a term to know about. it's actually an organization meant to find innovative companies and connect them with department of defense leaders to make sure technology is making it in the hands of d.o.d. to enhance national security. ultimately at the end of the day, the strength of any community relies on its diversity. my thought would be how can we build more diverse partnerships whether

v.a. commission draft meaningful recommendations to the mayor and board of supervisors. if elected, my priority will be to work with local leaders in hiring veterans as well as using the transferable skills. i believe promoting this, especially in regards to journalist of veterans, would be proactive approach to preventing other issues such as veteran homelessness. it took me over a year to find employment after leaving the military. [please stand by] >> i'm excited to take this to my new veterans community here. with my current professional experience in academic experience in public policy. in my professional life right now, i am a policy get budget and performance analyst with the county of san mateo, in addition to be a guardsman in fresno -- in fresno. working in local government every day, i get to see awesome, outstanding civil servants serving their community from the ground up on a daily basis, and between that and my background in program evaluation, having spent the last two years working a defence acquisition performance evaluation, and doing my capstone buil