Betty Rhoades joined the HillVets Foundation in December of 2019 as the Executive Director. Betty lives in Washington, DC – just steps from the HillVets House! – with her husband, her rescued pit bull, Jack, and her “quarantine kitty,” Rex. Betty’s husband, Jason, was one of the original class of HillVets Fellows; he worked in Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick’s office and then moved on to achieve success in federal government, consulting, and private legal practice. Betty has seen firsthand how HillVets changes people’s lives for the better, and she and Jason have been enthusiastic supporters ever since.

Betty began her career with the Department of Veterans Affairs as a Presidential Management Fellow in 2005. Subsequently, she served as a Specially Adapted Housing (SAH) agent, SAH Coordinator, then Assistant Valuation Officer at the Atlanta Regional Loan Center. She was selected as the Chief of SAH in January of 2013. Betty’s dedication to Veterans led to record numbers of SAH grant approvals and also to her eventual promotion to Executive Management Officer (Chief of Staff) to the Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity in 2016. Betty came to HillVets from Jared Allen’s Homes for Wounded Warriors, where she served as Director of National Capital Relationships since 2017. She has been serving the military/veteran community for more than 15 years, during which time she has published numerous articles and presented at a variety of conventions and events.

Betty earned her Doctor of Jurisprudence from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 2005 with a Concentration in Business Transactions. While in law school, she served on the staff of the Tennessee Law Review and received the National Association of Women Lawyers award and a Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Community Service. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Georgia, where she graduated cum laude, with honors, in 2002. She was also inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society.

The PsychArmor Resource of the Week is Episode 13 of Behind the Mission, a conversation with Rye Barcott and Maine Congressman Jared Golden. On this episode, Congressman Golden and Mr. Barcott, both Marines, join the show to talk about With Honor, an organization that supports cross-partisan collaboration in federal politics, and civic engagement and public office as a way for veterans to continue to serve after their time in the military. You can find a link to the podcast in the show notes https://psycharmor.org/podcast/rye-barcott-and-congressman-jared-golden

This episode is sponsored by PsychArmor, the premier education and learning ecosystem specializing in military culture content. PsychArmor offers an online e-learning laboratory with custom training options for organizations.

Our theme music Don’t Kill the Messenger was written and performed by Navy Veteran Jerry Maniscalco, in cooperation with Operation Encore, a non profit committed to supporting singer/songwriter and musicians across the military and Veteran communities.