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Detra Giles
About Us | At-A-Glance | Member Bios | Ex Officio Bios | Annual Reports | Resource Links | POCs
Assistant Director, Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement
Ms. Detra Giles is an accomplished Assistant Director with more than a decade of experience in key roles in operational management, project management and leadership in the service of our nation’s Veterans. In April 2021, Ms. Giles joined the Office of Field Operations, Outreach and Stakeholder Engagement, as the Assistant Director of Outreach. Prior to taking on this position, she served as the Assistant Director of the Office of Transition and Economic Development (TED).
During her tenure with TED, Ms. Giles served as the Assistant Director over VA TAP (Transition Assistance Program) Operations at 110 permanent military installations and 220 itinerant sites, within and outside the Continental U.S. Organized into nine operational regions, these operations use a regional hub-and-spoke model to deploy VA Benefits Advisors globally to engage Service members, Veterans, their families and caregivers. Through its VA Benefits and Services course and other TAP events, operations support approximately 250,000 transitioning Service members (TSMs) worldwide every year.
In addition, she served as the Assistant Director over VA SkillBridge and the VA TAP Curriculum. Under Ms. Giles’s leadership, the VA Benefits and Services Participant Guide was recognized with two platinum industry awards from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.
When VA Benefits and Services’ in-person service delivery to TSMs was impacted at the onset of the global COVID-19 pandemic, Ms. Giles led a Pilot on a virtual instructor-led TAP VA Benefits and Services briefing, which eliminated the need for face-to-face interaction during the pandemic and allowed critical services to continue uninterrupted. She also led the successful resumption of in-person VA Benefits and Services briefings at military installations and served as the executive lead over the VA TAP Safe Return to Work plan. In collaboration with the Veterans Health Administration and Department of Defense, Ms. Giles also served as the executive lead on the successful transfer of Women’s Health Transition Training to TED.
Prior to coming to TED, Ms. Giles served as a Division Chief in VBA’s Pension and Fiduciary Service program. As Division Chief, she was responsible for maintaining policy and procedures, national quality management, national training, field site visits, and misuse. In this role, she successfully supervised the implementation of the first major fiduciary regulation update since 1975, and she prepared advisory opinions on the interpretation of fiduciary laws, regulations, and procedures. She also oversaw quality assurance for audits and validation of compliance with statutory, regulatory, and VBA policies.
Ms. Giles began her VA federal service in 2009 at the Milwaukee VA Regional Office. For over a decade, she held several positions of increasing responsibility, including Veterans Service Representative and Authorizer. She also served as a Management Analyst within the Milwaukee Fiduciary Hub, where she coordinated program initiatives, oversaw local Director’s dashboards and assisted with the establishment of division goals.
In 2013, Ms. Giles relocated from Milwaukee to accept a position in VBA’s headquarters as a Program Analyst on the Policy and Regulations staff in Pension and Fiduciary Service in Washington, D.C. In that capacity, she successfully served as VBA’s project manager on the Fiduciary Program Manual rewrite, and project lead for the first successful fiduciary program work measurement study. In addition, she served as the Program Manager for several large contracts within VBA in excess of $300M.
Currently working on her Doctorate in Business Administration, Ms. Giles holds a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science in Business Management, and an Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice-Law Enforcement.
As the spouse of a Navy Veteran, Ms. Giles is passionate about working with Veterans and assisting them in obtaining the benefits they have earned through service to their country. Using well-informed, efficient and effective decision-making, she is always focused on achieving optimal outcomes that will best serve our nation’s Veterans.
