Walt Dannenberg stepped down as executive director of the Hampton VA Medical Center.
He took over at the Hampton VA in August, when the former executive director Dr. Taquisa K. Simmons was reassigned after a series of blistering VA Inspector General's reports called into question the quality of care at the local hospital system.
Dannenberg came from the VA in Long Beach, California, which he had run since 2017.
Starting March 10, Hampton’s Director of Operations Michael Harper will run the Hampton VA until a new director is appointed, or another interim director is assigned, according to a spokesman for the Hampton VA.
Harper is a 20-year Navy veteran, who has been with the VA for 14 years. At a recent employee town hall, Dannenberg said he leaned on Harper as a subject matter expert.
Dannenberg’s departure comes as the VA has abruptly fired staff, including at Hampton and looks to cut at least an additional 70,000 jobs nationwide. The Hampton VA system is one of the fastest- growing VA systems in the country.
“We're doing everything in our power to limit how that affects the care we deliver and make sure that we're still delivering time to care for all the veterans, " said Harper, at a recent town hall for employees.
The independent inspector general for the VA criticized the hospital system in a series of reports stretching back to 2022. In 2024, the national VA removed the leadership at Hampton after a report concluded the top officials seemed unaware of how to properly discipline staff in its surgical unit.
“There were clearly multiple layers of leadership failures in responding to many of the concerns that initially started the work, and that's really what the report is about,” said Dr. Julie Kroviak, principal deputy assistant inspector general for healthcare inspections, at the time.
The former top leaders at the Hampton VA, including Simmons, were reassigned to Veteran Integrated Health Services Network 6, which is the regional VA network serving the Mid-Atlantic region.
