Patrick Michael Campbell

·       Advocate on behalf of veterans, servicemembers, and military families to safeguard the integrity of the GI Bill® and other federal education benefits.

·       Collaborated with policymakers, advocates, and stakeholders to successfully shape the Senate’s reconciliation bill—helping preserve critical accountability measures (e.g., the 90/10 rule) and protect Pell Grant eligibility.

·       Provided expert declaration in NY v. McMahon, cited repeatedly in the lower court’s decision to block a proposed RIF eliminating half of the Department of Education’s staff.

Curate and distribute a weekly newsletter highlighting critical developments in education and veterans affairs, informing advocacy and policy strategy.

• Led compliance efforts for a $1.6 trillion federal student loan portfolio, managing regulatory adherence for 42 million borrowers.

• Ensured compliance with federal and state consumer protection laws and contractual obligations for 22,000 contractors, including loan servicers and debt collectors.

• Led the Vendor Oversight and Program Accountability team, managing 75+ team members across three high-performing groups: Ombudsman, Vendor Oversight, and Customer Analytics.

• Oversaw the rapid implementation of the CARES Act, suspending student loan payments for over 3.5 years, and successfully managed the historic return to repayment.

• Negotiated $1.4 billion in student loan servicing contracts, securing increased performance, transparency, and accountability through new minimum service level agreements (SLAs).

• Played a key role in implementing the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Waiver, resulting in $73 billion in loan forgiveness for over 1 million public servants, including police officers, firefighters, nurses, and teachers.

• Conducted risk-based program reviews, uncovering over $12 million in overbilling, leading to improved financial accountability and cost recovery.

• Reestablished FSA’s collaboration with the CFPB, State Attorneys General, and State Financial Regulators, launching first-of-their-kind joint supervisory and oversight exams.

• Partnered with the Metro 2® Task Force and major credit scoring agencies (FICO & Vantage) to address emerging student loan issues and enhance industry cooperation.

• Spearheaded tiger teams to ensure substantial compliance with court orders.

• Transformed customer experience insights by leveraging leading indicators such as surveys, complaints, and social media data to inform leadership decisions.

• Promoted a “prevention” culture by conferring “Smokey the Bear” awards to staff.

• Managed the development of the GI Bill® Comparison Tool that has helped millions of users make informed decisions with their hard-earned education benefits.

• Helped save the VA over $400,000/year and improve the performance of the comparison tool.

• Facilitated the creation of centralized complaint systems at VA, DOD and ED that allow students to file grievances against colleges and forwards complaints to 650 different law enforcement agencies. 

• Led efforts to secure an interagency MOU between VA / DOD / ED / CFPB to facilitate information sharing and help prevent abusive and deceptive practices by schools.

• Chaired and served on several interagency working groups (WH, VA, DOD, ED, DOJ and FTC).

• Assisted in the development and publication of outcome measures for student veterans.

• Drafted a report to Congress discussing the implementation plan for the Improving Transparency of Education Opportunities for Veterans Act of 2012 (PL 112-249).

• Led a team of nine professionals and managed a $1.3 million budget, driving strategic initiatives and operational excellence.

• Secured agreement from the Department of ED to notify 42,000 severely disabled veterans of their eligibility for student loan discharges (over $1 billion in debt).

• Advocated for automatic application of the 6% interest cap under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA), saving military personnel over $20 million annually.

• Collaborated with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to issue a Warning Order (WARNO) to hundreds of thousands of veterans with VA home loans, strengthening borrower protections.

·       Championed the passage of the historic Post-9/11 GI Bill, providing $72 billion in new education benefits to over 2.1 million combat veterans by fostering consensus among key stake holders, drafting legislative language, conducting original research and elevating public awareness.

·       Founded advocacy office and trained three legislative staff, who the Washington Post described as having a “powerful voice” and as a “key player on veterans issues on the Hill.” 

·       Served as a regular spokesperson in the media (CNN, FOX, CBS, NBC, and NPR).

·       Secured mandatory mental health screenings for returning servicemembers, two-year advance funding for the VA and the creation of a tax credit for companies that hire unemployed veterans.

·       Testified before Congress and advised executive offices numerous times on appropriations, mental health/TBI issues, deployment rights and education benefits.

·       Appointed to the VA Secretary’s Veterans Advisory Committee on Education (VACOE).

·       Created and maintained NewGIBill.org and twitter account, answering more than 10,000 benefit questions from future student veterans with an average response time of 16 hours.

·       Ensured IAVA’s compliance with federal lobbying policies and guidelines.

·       Developed rationales to justify fundraising campaigns (e.g., raised significant funds to pay for a campaign to secure the passage of a WWII style GI Bill) and provided donors with metrics for what successful legislative campaigns looked like (e.g., increased co-sponsorship).

·       Secured the creation of the National Guard Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program, halted the abuse of stop-loss orders and expanded eligibility for VA health care for combat veterans.

·       Secured a Senate amendment to increase funding for the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center by 50% and blocked attempts to cut their funding levels.

·       Deployed to Iraq and provided emergency medical support for an infantry unit that patrolled Baghdad. Treated both soldiers and Iraqis for medical and trauma emergencies. Earned the Combat Medical Badge (CMB) for providing medical care while under enemy fire.

·       Awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for “superb” service as medic and for being a “true ambassador” to the local Iraqis.

·       Labeled as a “prominent military blogger” by MSNBC for my writing about our unit’s experience overseas. Directed/edited an hour-long documentary about our tour.