Valerie Lavin is a retired U.S. Army First Sergeant and CEO of Luminary Global. Luminary Global a healthcare staffing company providing both locum tenens and permanent hires as well as medical products to government and commercial clients.

Valerie is best known for is her devotion to helping Veterans and their families start their own businesses. A passion she has been pursuing and refining for nearly four years. Valerie has since woven herself in the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Tampa Bay. She is a natural connector often referred to as a “person you have to know” in the Veteran and entrepreneurial communities. Valerie’s experience in startup education, program development, and event execution was sought out by the founders of Action Zone, Inc (AZI) an organization which strives to be the entry point into the entrepreneurship ecosystem for Veterans and military families providing support at the ideation stage of business modeling preparing Veteran owned startups for successful and sustainable launches. Valerie is a certified Ice House Entrepreneur Program Facilitator from the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative as well as a certified CO.STARTERS Facilitator.

In recent years, Valerie has been recognized by a number of organizations for her community efforts – 2019 Community Hero (Seminole Hard Rock Gasparilla Pirate Fest and Gasparilla Parade of the Pirates); 2018 Ybor Heroes Award (Ybor City Chamber of Commerce); 2017 Business Woman of the Year honoree, category finalist and winner of the “Roar” Award (Tampa Bay Business Journal); 2016 Susie Steiner’s Community Impact Award (Hillsborough Community College); 2015 Hero at Work Award (Tampa Bay Business Journal); and the 2014 Army Noncommissioned Officer of the Year (Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce).Valerie serves as Program Director for Women in Defense - Greater Tampa Bay Chapter, board member for USF’s Center for Veteran and Military Family Transition and Professional Philanthropy Network as well as Transition Committee for Mission United of the United Way, and has recently been nominated to be the incoming Vice President of the National Veterans Small Business Coalition.