After 11 years as a Navy SEAL, Chief Petty Officer Anthony Rivera said he was ready “to put the shield down.” In 2016, he decided it was time to be more present for his wife and two young children. As his terminal date approached, he asked a number of friends who had already left the military what he needed to do to integrate into the VA system.
“I got so many different answers,” said Rivera. “None of them aligned.”
Rivera is now the CEO of Vetavize, an artificial-intelligence-driven app that streamlines the process of VA benefits management.
As he processed out of the Navy, “I just went back into student mode,” said Rivera. “I looked for where the root information was.” It became clear to Rivera that there was a systematic way to engage in the Department of Veterans Affairs system, which was just buried in thousands of pages of dense documentation.
In his new job in mid-senior level leadership in Amazon, he took it upon himself to help pass his knowledge along to other veterans he encountered as he traveled for work.
“I had the same conversation 7,000 times,” said Rivera. “I wasn’t saying anything new.” At that point he realized that managing VA benefits was a perfect use case for AI technology, given that VA regulations rarely change.
“We have this repeatable process and essentially an immovable standard.”
Rivera sees AI as a positive societal tool.
“It’s not here to take people’s jobs,” he said. “It’s here to free people of their time so that way they can dive deeper into more complex issues.”
Vetavize is not itself a veteran service organization, but the efficiency it provides can assist VSO representatives in processing their caseload more productively. There are approximately 10,000 accredited VSO reps attempting to manage the veterans who make up 6% of the population of the country.
“The math just doesn’t shake out,” said Rivera. “So our product put in the hands of a Veteran Service Officer frees up their time so that they can dive deeper into the more complex case. Or they can help out the bereaving spouse that lost a veteran, and now they need the help.”
While it is possible for individual veterans to purchase access to Vetavize, the company is predominantly working through nonprofits currently. Those nonprofits can sponsor licenses for veterans to use the app. Rivera would also like to partner directly with the VA and Department of Defense.
The city of Altamonte Springs, Florida, was an early adopter of the Vetavize system.
“Vetavize has been an outstanding representative of what we think innovation work really can look like,” said Altamonte Springs City Manager Frank Martz.
While not a veteran himself, Martz makes a concerted effort to hire veterans in his office.
“As an employer, some of the best team members that we’ve onboarded have been people with military training,” said Martz. “They have a higher level of discipline, a greater sense of teamwork, a focus on mission.”
Recognized as a Purple Heart City, Altamonte Springs now includes Vetavize as an explicit benefit in its job listings.
“We see this as an important recruiting tool,” he said. “We just very plainly say, ‘Thank you for your service.’”
Rivera believes his time as a Navy SEAL made him particularly suited to address this pressing issue for his fellow veterans.
“The core of any special operator is we have to be as prepared as possible, knowing that you’re never going to be fully prepared,” Rivera said. “I took that mentality and then just dove straight into this complex problem.”
Learn more about how Vetavize works through the VA claims process.
