An analytical orchestra conductor: That’s how Selvi Clark describes her role as ÎÞÓÇ´«Ã½â€™s program manager at the VA’s Veterans Experience Office. She sets the tempo, ensuring that more than 40 people across multiple teams get the support they need to ideate and innovate, as well as amplify the voices of our nation’s veterans and improve their VA experience. For more than 16 years Selvi’s helped transform the customer experience for ÎÞÓÇ´«Ã½â€™s commercial and federal clients. Now she’s bringing her expertise in-house—to better understand our employees’ journeys as they create products for our Solutions business.
Transforming the veterans experience is a huge challenge. Where did you begin?
We started with empathy. But it was ÎÞÓÇ´«Ã½â€™s collective ingenuity that took us beyond that. Passionate folks from across the firm—human-centered designers, statisticians, data scientists, you name it—came together. The firm provided the runway through its capabilities and investments for this powerful customer experience measurement capability to take off.
How do you feel personally connected to this work?
Growing up, I didn’t really understand what it meant to serve your country. But early in my professional career, I deployed for 6 months living on an aircraft carrier, the USS Abraham Lincoln. As the ship pulled away from port, it hit me like a ton of bricks seeing all those sailors standing at attention, leaving their families behind. I learned what it means to be a patriot and to serve a cause that’s greater than yourself. My husband Casey is a Navy veteran. When I think about all the future Caseys in the world, I know we need to do better by them.
I’m changing the world by...
Helping our people find their best path forward so they can pioneer innovation.