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Christian Tafner Named Deputy Director for Veterans Affairs in Arkansas

2 min read

Former Air Force pilot Christian Tafner has landed at the Arkansas Department of Veterans Affairs, where he will spend the next year as right-hand man to Director Nate Todd. 

Tafner has been serving as the agency’s deputy director for the past two weeks, starting in a role that Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office says will not be extended beyond Tafner’s tenure.

The department’s previous hierarchy — in which three assistant directors serve under the agency head — will be restored after Tafner helps Todd with a restructuring of the agency, according to Hutchinson spokesman J.R. Davis. 

In a 20-year military career Tafner rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel, flying 236 combat or combat-support missions and leading planning for the largest Air Force tactical airlift group.

A graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, he held key management and safety positions at Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville, and after leaving the service was transition program manager for United Health Group and president and CEO of his own consulting and business-solutions firm, Peregrine Integrated Management of Little Rock.

Peregrine has done about $20,000 worth of consulting work with the Veterans Department and the Arkansas Department of Finance & Administration over the past few years. 

“Chris has a really outstanding skill set, and he was brought on board to do specific things in the area of process maturity,” said Karen Watkins, the veterans department’s chief fiscal officer. “He’s a civil engineer and has great experience in risk assessment.”

Todd, himself a former U.S. Army colonel, “felt that he needed a primary deputy during this transition period, and he knew Christian and felt he was right for the job,” Davis said.

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