Presenters:

Keynote: Kristin Beck, known to be the first female Navy SEAL, distinguished herself in 20 years of exceptionally meritorious service with Special Operations Forces in the SEAL teams (including Seal Team Six), as adviser to SOCOM’s Science Director, and as a special liaison to Department of Defense Rapid Reaction Technology Office where she led many classified projects. While in the military she received numerous awards including a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, and 27 other medals. She is the founder and President of Mindful Valor, a non-profit working with nontraditional methods to relieve trauma and is also a member of the Anti-Gun Violence Task Force among many other worthy causes.

Ashton Stewart, the Manager of the SAGEVets program, comes from a long line of military men and women. One year after emigrating from Canada, Ashton was proud to enlist in the U.S. Navy. After returning from the First Gulf War, Ashton began a career managing nonprofit programs. Ashton earned his Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Baruch College before coming to SAGE in May 2018. Since then, Ashton worked to increase the profile of issues faced by older LGBT veterans. He helped usher in policy changes that address these issues, and worked with veterans to upgrade less than honorable discharges, pension and compensation claims, and other legal matters.

Donald Gallagher, a licensed clinical social worker at the Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia, PA, LCSW, ACSW, MVF-CSW, C-SWHC, CCTP. Donald is a social work supervisor for the inpatient medicine team as well as the facility wide LGBT Veteran Care Coordinator. Donald has been with the Veterans Health Administration since 2009. Donald is not a Veteran himself but is proud of his husband who served in the PA Air National Guard and was deployed twice overseas in support of the global war on terror.

Register here to be a part of this important discussion.