State VA Department fills vacant No. 2 spot

Hire leaves job at other state agency

The Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs announced Monday that it hired a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and state Department of Information Systems employee to hold the agency's No. 2 position.

Lane Bailey, 43, will serve as deputy director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs starting May 25, said Matt Snead, the agency's director. The department oversees the state cemeteries and the Fayetteville Veterans Home and also advocates for the state's veterans.

Bailey, who currently oversees the project management office at the Department of Information Systems, was selected from a pool of 56 qualified applicants, Snead said.

As deputy, one of Bailey's duties will be to help finalize a strategic plan for the department, something Snead started on soon after he was appointed director in February. The plan includes introducing a new mission and vision for the agency, and it targets areas within the department that need improvement.

The plan will be sent to the governor's office for review once it's completed.

"There's a lot of project management that comes along with that," Snead said. "His qualifications in that area, his experience in that area -- it was huge in the overall decision."

Bailey is president of the Arkansas Society of Certified Public Managers, and he earned a master's degree in public administration.

In addition to helping with the departmentwide strategic plan, he will develop a plan for how the new veterans home in North Little Rock will operate. Construction of the $24 million Central Arkansas Veterans Home complex is expected to start this summer and be completed in 2017.

"Those are two major projects for the deputy," Snead said.

Snead has been looking to fill the position since the former deputy, Charles Johnson, stepped down in March. Johnson held the job for two years and resigned to join the faculty at Catholic High School, where he is the senior military instructor for the Little Rock school's Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps.

Monday's announcement came one week after Sarah Jones was hired as the agency's new director of public affairs. The previous public affairs officer resigned in January when the former director for the agency, Cissy Rucker, retired.

Snead told the agency's oversight commission in April that both positions were "key" in the department's strategic plan.

Before seeing an advertisement for the state Veterans Affairs job, Bailey had no plans to leave the Department of Information Systems, he said. He has worked at the department for six years.

His and his family's military background led him to apply, Bailey explained. According to a Monday release, he served as an infantry squad leader and security forces squad leader in the Marine Corps from 1989 to 1993.

"There are great folks over there at DIS, and I was working on some very exciting projects," Bailey said. "But when I saw the job posting, I thought it was right up my alley. My father was a 100 percent disabled vet, and the VA just took such good care of me and my family.

"I'm a veteran, there are many veterans in my family, and with the qualifications Matt [Snead] was looking for, I met them. It was an opportunity for me to continue my public service in a new area outside of information technology. The stars seemed to align."

Bailey's salary information was not available Monday. Johnson's annual salary was $77,539 -- the maximum allowed for his pay grade.

Metro on 05/12/2015

Upcoming Events