Mayor Johnson announced the creation of a Veterans Affairs Commission Veterans Day 2020. The Commission exists to represent the city’s military veteran community by evaluating and recommending programs, policies, and practices designed to alleviate veterans’ difficulties in meeting basic needs, obtaining housing, employment, and comprehensive mental health assistance, and serving as a clearinghouse for information relating to the status of veterans in Dallas.
To meet the needs of Dallas’ veteran community, the City of Dallas is hosting a “In Support of Our Veterans – Housing Rights, Services, and Business Expansion Summit” Thursday, April 29. The event will provide information on housing protections, business expansion, housing services, and general services for veterans.
The VWEC’s Founder/CEO VR Small has been invited to coordinate, and moderate a Veteran Entrepreneur & Nonprofit Resource Panel Discussion:
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. Veteran-owned Business Support and Expansion
1:30 p.m. – 2:55 p.m. Non-Profit Services Panel Discussion
MODERATOR - VETERAN ENTREPRENEUR & NONPROFIT RESOURCE PANELS
Name: VR Small
Title: Founder/CEO Veteran Women's Enterprise Center (VWEC)
Short Bio: VR Small, Founder/CEO, Veteran Women’s Enterprise Center, a national initiative expanding across our nation helping entrepreneur women associated with the military scale for success. Committed to advocacy, VR serves on the Advisory Committee for TWU, Center for Women Entrepreneurs, is a fellow of SMU, Hunt Institute for Engineering and Humanity—Inclusive Economy, Dallas Public Voices, and the Bush Institute Stand-to-Veteran Leadership Program. She is featured in Dallas Innovates 2020: The Future 50 North Texans, was selected as SBA’s DFW 2020 Veterans Small Business Advocate of the Year, and a Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Center for Women Veterans (CWV) 2021 Trailblazers “Women Veterans Leading the Way.” She is also an active member of the Women Veteran Business Coalition.
An experienced motivational speaker, moderator, and educator, VR has a history of success, driving social and economic innovations across our nation. She believes in designing strategies that promote her personal slogan “Changing the way we see the world and do business.” These include global strategies to ensure women possess the resources necessary to achieve their definition of success.
Veteran-owned Business Support and Expansion - Panelists
Name: Patrick E Alcorn, MBA
Title: Director, Veterans Business Outreach Center, University of Texas Arlington College of Business
Short Bio: Patrick E Alcorn is Director of the Veterans Business Outreach Center University of Texas Arlington. He served nine years in the United States Army, including time as a Cadet at West Point. He is a small business owner who served as an NCAA athlete, a US Army combat engineer, a deputy city councilman, and an award-winning sales professional for Fortune 100 companies. Patrick is a 2016 SBA Small Business Champion of the Year and a 2018 Fort Worth Business Press C-Suite Award recipient. As a certified business adviser and leadership coach, Patrick knows how to empower you to get up, get out and keep moving—even under the most difficult circumstances.
Name: Bridget Moon
Title: Economic Development Specialist/Veterans Business Development Office, U.S. Small Business Administration
Short Bio: Bridget is from the Dallas/Fort Worth District Office serving Texas’s Northern 72 counties, as an Economic Development Specialist and Veteran Business Development Officer. Prior, Bridget began her SBA 20+ year career as an SBA Disaster Loan Officer, and served as a Public Information Officer, Supervisory Loan Officer for home and business underwriting, and included traveling the United States and Territories for direct disaster recovery efforts.
In addition, Bridget has a degree in Entrepreneurship and over 30 years of experience as an entrepreneur. She has worked along manufacturing industries, fisheries, metal fabricating, real estate investments, and the entertainment industry, to name a few. She believes her mission is to help others succeed in all their endeavors.
Name: Anna Baker, MBA, PMP
Title: Manger, Veteran Entrepreneur Program
Short Bio: Anna Baker is the Manager of the Veteran Entrepreneur Program at the Texas Veterans Commission. After serving in the United States Air Force as a Korean linguist, Anna was awarded the prestigious Hatton W. Sumners Scholarship and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Schreiner University. Since 2005, Anna has held a Project Management Professional Certification and in 2012 she received an MBA from Baylor University. Before joining the Texas Veterans Commission, she led sales and operations for Dell Inc. and for Tech Data Corporation where over the 17 years she received various leadership awards and recognition. As an entrepreneur, Anna has owned several small businesses including real estate and on-line retail, and as the manager of the Veteran Entrepreneur Program, she educates and empowers veterans to start and grow their businesses.
Non-Profit Services Panel Discussion - Panelists
Name: Alexa Petty
Title: North Texas Regional Manager, North Texas Network
Short Bio: Alexa Petty is a native Houstonian, proud Texan, and military spouse. After graduating from Texas
A&M University, she worked in Austin, Texas at the state capitol. During her time at the capitol, she
served as a legislative and press assistant to a member of the Texas House of Representatives. She
focused mostly on mental health and public education policy. Today, she serves as the North Texas
Regional Manager of Combined Arms/the Texas Veterans Network. Every day she works to convene
best-in-class organizations to ensure our military community is receiving the resources they need. As
part of the Texas Veterans Network team, Alexa is part of making Texas the first interconnected state
for veteran resources. Through her various roles, one common thread is Alexa’s passion for
positively impacting and serving her community.
Name: Mallory Morris
Title: North Texas Marketing Coordinator, Veterans Land Board
Short Bio: Mallory is a South Carolina native and new transplant to the Dallas-Fort Worth area as of February 2020. As political science graduate of Winthrop University, she has had the experience in working in political campaigns in every level of government at least twice before she moved over to the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office where she served constituents in the Post-Conviction Relief and Securities sections. Mallory now serves as the North Texas Marketing Coordinator for the Texas Veterans Land Board under Navy Veteran Commissioner George P. Bush. As a granddaughter of a World War II Flying Tiger stationed in China, Mallory’s dedication, and passion for serving our nation’s military began at a young age. During her time as a political science student at Winthrop University, Mallory began her career in trying to assist veterans by referring resources to them while working the campaign trails and has continued doing that in every job she has served to date. Because the Texas Veterans Land Board is a state agency with so many resources besides land, Mallory is eager to use her resources and connections to help Texas veterans receive all of their benefits and help that they need.
Name: Yolonde Rocio
Title: Public Affairs Specialist, North Texas Department of Veteran Affairs
BIO: Yolonde Rocio served in the United States Army for over 13 years including her
participation in Operation Desert Storm. Yolonde is currently is a Public Affairs
Specialist with the VA North Texas Healthcare System. She has a bachelor’s in Business
Management and a master’s in Psychology.
In 2018 Yolonde began her career with the Department of Veterans Affairs where she
was given full reign to create a 2-year initiative to change the way the VA was viewed by
Veterans and the community at large. She and her coworker reached an unprecedented
goal within the first 6 months by enrolling over 800 new patients into VA’s Healthcare
and educating well over 100,000 Veterans, stakeholders, and community leaders. In
addition to educating the public they were able to bring the VA from zero Veterans
Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) dollars to well over $10 million which has yet to
be duplicated in the United States.
Before coming to the Department of Veteran Affairs Yolonde was the Office Manager at
the Fort Worth American GI Forum (AGIF) for 3 years. Yolonde says serving homeless
Veterans was one of the most rewarding opportunities she has ever had.
Prior to AGIF, Yolonde was the Veterans Coordinator at Easter Seals where she created
the first ever Veterans Services program for that organization and was monumental in
the organization receiving an enormous grant for Easter Seals to help assist Veterans.
Yolonde hopes to retire in 5 years and says then her priority will be to completely fill all
the pages of her passport.
Name: Catherine B. Smith
Title: Women Veterans Coordinator, Texas Veterans CommissionShort Bio: Catherine B. Smith (US Army Veteran) currently serves as the Women Veterans Coordinator atthe Texas Veterans Commission. Texas Veterans Commission (TVC) is the state appointed
advocate for Texas Veterans, their families, and survivors. Ms Smith educates women veterans
on the benefits and services they’ve earned through their military service; assist women
veterans with accessing those benefits and services; and collaborates with federal, state, and
local partners to provide existing services and create new services to meet unmet needs.
Prior to joining the Women Veterans Program, she worked as a Veterans Employer Liaison (VEL)
working with employers to create job opportunities for Veterans and received the following
awards in the Veterans Employment Department: Texas Veterans Commission VEL Teamwork
Award (North) and North Texas Region’s VER (Veterans Employer Representative) of the
Quarter. Prior to joining TVC, Ms. Smith worked with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC)
as a Trade Adjustment Assistant, Eligibility Specialist with the Child Care Group, and a UI
Employment Consultant.
Ms. Smith served a little over 5 years in Personnel in the United States Army and Active Army
Reserve (Operation Desert Storm Veteran). Ms. Smith received the following awards while in
the military: Good Conduct Medal, Army Achievement Medal 1st OLC, Army Commendation
Medal, NCO Professional Military Education Graduate Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon, Army
Service Ribbon, and the National Defense Service Medal.
Prior to joining TVC, Ms. Smith worked with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) as a Trade
Adjustment Assistant, Eligibility Specialist with the Child Care Group, and a UI Employment
Consultant. Ms. Smith holds a bachelor's degree from Hampton Institute University.