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Date: 7/17/2019
WEST SPRINGFIELD – A guiding principal in Chris Lizotte’s life is service. He served the United States in the Massachusetts Army National Guard and, for the past four and a half years, he has served his fellow veterans as the Director of Veteran’s Services for the city of West Springfield.
Lizotte said he is proud of the many things he has accomplished during his time with the department. Most notably, he found ways to streamline access to resources for the roughly 3,000 veterans in West Springfield.
“I feel like I transformed this office into a one-stop-shop for veterans,” Lizotte said.
One of the things Lizotte is most proud of is bringing The Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial, to West Springfield from Aug. 18 to 21 in 2016. In his time with the city, West Springfield became a Purple Heart Community, honoring those veterans who were wounded or died in combat.
Now, Lizotte is leaving the Department of Veteran’s Services, but he will continue to serve vets in his next position. He will be the Diversity and Inclusion Consultant for Veterans at MassMutual. Lizotte’s job will be to ensure that the company is retaining veterans, on their staff and as customers. He will also be developing best practices for interaction with and inclusion of veterans at MassMutual.
A veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Lizotte served in Baghdad from 2007 to 2008 as an infantryman. His experiences in the Armed Forces gave him a better understanding of how to best serve his fellow vets.
“I think veterans serving veterans is some of the best practices,” Lizotte said, adding that they are better able to identify the needs of the veteran community.