Kit Teague is responsible for both strategy and operations for VHA Innovation Ecosystem (VHA IE) to advance care delivery and service through mission-driven innovation that changes and saves Veteran lives. VHA IE identifies and scales innovations by empowering frontline employees and leveraging external collaborators as force multipliers for transformational health care innovation. Mr. Teague has over 20 years of experience in health care between his time in the private sector and VA.

He started his VA career in 2003 as an Auditor for the VA Office of Inspector General in Washington, D.C. Since then, he has sought to diversify his experience by holding positions at both the regional and local levels of VHA. He served as a Contracting Officer for the VISN 21 Network Contracting Office and Chief of Personnel Security for the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, prior to rejoining the VA Central Office with VHA IE. With VHA IE, he has managed more than 30 innovation projects, including software prototypes for various clinical specialties, production pilots of emerging technologies, regional rollouts of innovative clinical treatments, multi-site equipment activations, and complex clinical data mapping and informatics.

Mr. Teague earned a bachelor's degree in History/Political Science at Arkansas Tech University and a Federal Acquisition Certification for Program and Project Managers through VA Acquisition Academy. He was nominated for the VHA Robert L. Jesse Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2020.

Amanda Lienau, PhD, is the Director of Open Innovation with VHA Innovation Ecosystem. She has led dozens of small scale and large scale innovation initiatives with a primary focus of increasing meaningful use of information to increase access to care, improve equitable outcomes, and improve quality of life. Prior to that time, she was the Senior Innovation Fellow working on a project to democratize data and the Innovation Specialist at the VA St Louis Health Care System. She has also held leadership roles in implementing programs for prevention, integrative and complimentary care, and health behavior change at VA. She has a passion for empowerment, equity, and engagement. She has training and experience in individual and systems change, prevention and holistic care, and health communication. Dr. Lienau has a PhD in Counseling Psychology from The Ohio State University.

Brynn Cole currently serves as coordinator for the National Centers for Innovation to Impact (NCi2I). As a human-centered designer, facilitator, and storyteller, she's on a mission to help make VA health care more responsive to Veteran and VA employee needs.

Across her 17-year VHA career, Ms. Cole has worked in VA Medical Centers in Vermont and San Francisco. Since joining the Innovation Ecosystem in 2018, she has held a myriad of roles and facilitated numerous efforts with and for Veterans and VA employees from across the country.

Brynn is both a certified practitioner and facilitator of human centered design and holds a master's degree in organizational leadership. She lives in a snug cabin in Vermont with her spouse, daughter, and their two pups.

Allison Amrhein currently leads a team of 40+ brilliant colleagues throughout the VHA Innovators Network (iNET). iNET is a boots-on-the-ground innovation empowerment program to operationalize frontline-employee designed innovation within VHA; an incubator for internal innovators. Over 600 VA employees and 2 million Veterans have been impacted by the work of iNET. She also created an initiative within iNET called the Greenhouse. External innovators can collaborate with VA staff and Veterans to co-design the innovative products of the future. The Greenhouse also ensures the voice of the Veteran and VA employees are heard as new products are being developed in the private sector.

Her past life experience as a public health and health systems researcher, as well as writer/editor. She is also a 2021 Partnership for Public Service, Excellence in Government Fellow and 2022 VA Health Care Leadership and Development Program Fellow. In the pursuit of a healthy work/life balance, she is also a certified yoga instructor, dog mom to one poodle, and has an eight-year-old son named Charlie.

Amber Goetschius is Acting Director of VHA IE Fellowships and a Diffusion Specialist in Diffusion of Excellence. She started her VA career in 2013 at the Western North Carolina VA Healthcare System in Asheville, NC working in Imaging, Pharmacy, and Research. She served in the U.S. Army from 2004-2010 and the U.S. Army Reserves from 2010-2012. She has training and experience in program management and systems redesign. Her focus is on championing Veterans and VA employees to make meaningful impacts to healthcare. Her work in Innovation Ecosystem developed a desire to collaborate with industry, academia, and community partnerships to provide sustainable opportunities for Veterans and VA employees to be the difference they want to see in VA.