The Honorable Douglas A. Collins, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, will address blind and low vision veterans and their families at the Association’s 80th National Convention Opening Ceremony on Monday, July 7, at 8:00am. The Opening Ceremony, scheduled for Cumberland K&L (Exhibition Level) at the Hyatt Regency Dallas, is open to all convention attendees and the general public.
On February 5, Senate lawmakers voted to confirm Collins as the first ever post-9/11 veteran to serve as VA Secretary. He tallied the second widest number of bipartisan votes of any of President Donald J. Trump’s nominees.
The 58-year-old served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 after service in both the Navy and Air Force Reserve as a Chaplain. He deployed to Iraq as a member of the 94th Airlift Wing. In his confirmation hearing on January 21, he called attention to his firsthand understanding of the issues many veterans face as a result of his own service. He mentioned having spent nights next to a toxic burn pit with emanating smoke.
Secretary Collins now leads a cabinet department with a budget of more than $350 billion and approximately 450,000 employees that distributes benefits and health care services to more than 9 million veterans nationwide. There are some 1,300 health care facilities across the United States for which he is responsible.
A native of Gainesville, Georgia, Secretary Collins saw the public service modeled by his father, a Georgia State Trooper, and a mother who provided care to local senior citizens.
Secretary Collins earned a degree in political science and criminal justice from the University of North Georgia. He earned his master’s degree in divinity from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and his community roots deepened in the 11 years he pastored Chicopee Baptist Church. In 2006, the people of Georgia’s 27th State House District elected him to represent them. During his first term in the Georgia State legislature, Secretary Collins graduated from Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School and established his own legal practice.
As a U.S. Air Force Reserve chaplain, Secretary Collins has ministered to the nation’s military since 2002. He completed a 2008-2009 deployment to Iraq while stationed at Balad Air Base. He remains a Colonel in the Air Force Reserve, and he previously served in the U.S. Navy Reserve.
While Secretary Collins is a public servant, attorney, and practicing military chaplain, he remains foremost a husband to Lisa and father to daughter Jordan and sons Copelan and Cameron. Lisa was a lifelong educator in Georgia’s public schools, and together she and husband Doug are actively involved at Lakewood Baptist Church.
