Deborah H. Lee

Former Director, Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Deborah H. Lee served as a member of the Senior Executive Service for 10 years before her retirement in early 2025. Throughout her 40-year career with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ms. Lee has driven innovative federal water resources management and research.

From 2014 to 2025, Ms. Lee directed the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, focusing on crucial research for sustainable ecological services that drive the Great Lakes economy. A key achievement has been a forecast system to predict harmful algal blooms and hypoxia, protecting the drinking water supplies of Toledo and Cleveland, Ohio. Additionally, she oversaw NOAA’s $330 million Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which addresses pollution in industrial areas.

Victoria Brahm

Former Executive Director, Veterans Integrated Service Network 12 Great Lakes, Department of Veterans Affairs

Ms. Brahm recently retired after 41 years of service in Veterans Affairs. She has years of experience as a senior executive leader, most recently serving as the Executive Director for the Great Lakes Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 12. In this role she was responsible for eight medical centers, 38 outpatient clinics, eight community living centers, and six domiciliaries, providing health care services to over 700,000 Veterans while managing a multi-billion-dollar budget encompassing a four-state area in the Midwest.

Prior to this role, she served as the Executive Director of the Tomah VAMC and its four community-based outpatient clinics. She effectively managed facility resources including an approximate $200 million budget and 1,400 staff members to provide medical care to approximately 26,000 Veterans in 18 Wisconsin and Minnesota counties. Ms. Brahm was also responsible for leading Tomah to become a flagship Whole Health site and was a national leader facilitating the spread of Whole Health across the country.

William Gregory Burel 

Former Director, Division of Strategic National Stockpile, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

As the former director for the Division of Strategic National Stockpile, William Gregory Burel expertly managed the $7 billion national stockpile of emergency medicines and medical supplies. He led 10 large-scale and more than 30 smaller emergency deployments for the treatment of individuals with life-threatening conditions, from an influenza pandemic to the Ebola crisis. He oversaw the work of more than 200 multi-disciplinary personnel and is responsible for more than $500 million in annual appropriations.

During the Ebola crisis, for example, Burel’s staff quickly facilitated delivery of protective equipment to hospitals that were treating patients who were exposed to the deadly virus. Another challenge was dealing with the Zika virus. Together with the CDC Foundation, a nonprofit organization that assists the agency, Burel was involved in providing prevention kits for pregnant women in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.