Following the 2014 crisis at the Phoenix VA Medical Center, the leaders at the Department of Veterans Affairs knew it had to change. What emerged was a bold reimagining of how Veterans interact with the VA—led by a former Army officer and lifelong public servant, Lynda Davis. Appointed by President Trump as the VA’s first Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Davis brought a customer experience mindset to government service, earning widespread praise—and results. In this interview with Chris Hale, CEO of G.I. Jobs, Davis reflects on what led to a 50% increase in Veteran trust, how feedback fuels innovation, and why she’s not done yet.
The following are excerpts from our interview, edited for clarity and length.
G.I. Jobs: What prompted the creation of the Veterans Experience Office and in your first term, where did you take that?
Davis: The unfortunate incident in 2014 at the Phoenix VA Medical Center and the backlog and scheduling challenges really was a wake-up call. The secretary at the time, Bob McDonald, brought to bear some of the experience he had in the private sector with customer service. It was really the first effort in the whole entire federal government to look at CX—customer experience.
We looked at data, tools, technology and engagement from the private sector, what worked and how we could adapt it to government.
G.I. Jobs: The trust metric stood at 55% in 2016. Four years later it rose to 80%. What led to that improvement?
Davis: We measure trust quarterly and also daily in different lines of business: outpatient services, pharmacy, benefits. All of that data is used to help us understand what our customer—the Veteran, family, caregiver, or survivor—needs, what they want, how they want it, so that we can design with that in mind before we start a program.
We also created the red coat program. Veterans as volunteers or staff wear a red coat. They greet and help others navigate the hospitals. We launched “Commit to Sit,” encouraging providers to sit down, look Veterans in the eye, and truly listen.
We also built MyVA411, a hotline where even crisis calls get a warm handoff to the crisis line.
G.I. Jobs: Implementation in a 470,000-person organization is a big task. What were some of the challenges and how did you overcome them?
Davis: In the first term, it was trying to help everyone understand customer experience. This time, we’ve got everybody on board.
We broadened our focus to include families, caregivers, and survivors. Over 160 automatic surveys now ask, “How did you feel? How was your experience?” We get concerns. We get recommendations. We get compliments. Seventy percent of the information we get are compliments. And that’s fed back to the employees. That’s a morale boost.
G.I. Jobs: The trust score is currently around 79–80%. Where do you want to take that, or is it good where it is?
Davis: We’ll never be satisfied until we can assure that we are listening and responding as soon as we can, as thoroughly as we can and as respectfully as we can to all of our Veterans, families, caregivers and survivors. It’s nice that it’s increased. I want it to go higher, but I want to earn that going higher.
Read this full article and more in the June 2025 Issue of G.I. Jobs magazine.
