Blake Fuhriman

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Blake served as a critical leader at RiverStone Health, coordinating testing sites and later overseeing compliance, innovation, and quality improvement as Senior Director of Clinical Operations Support. Under Blake’s leadership, VNN became the lead agency for the Montana Veteran Service Provider Network, fostering collaboration among government, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations to streamline veteran support. He directed the creation of the Behavioral Health Advisory Council Veterans Subcommittee to ensure veterans issues were addressed and advocated for Mental Health Block Grant funding. Blake co-led initiatives such as a countywide veterans health needs assessment with Rocky Mountain College and coordinated access to services for thousands at community events like the Food Truck Battle, in partnership with the Breakfast Exchange Club of Billings. These events have brought together hundreds of service providers and reached nearly 20,000 attendees over the last three years. Blake has created profound community impact through innovation, leadership, and compassion. After serving as an Army Ranger with three deployments to Afghanistan, Blake continued serving others as a contracted S.E.R.E. (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) instructor, preparing service members and law enforcement to endure extreme circumstances . Blake has been a driving force behind Montana’s Governor’s Challenge to Prevent Veteran Suicide, leading efforts on peer training, lethal means safety, and care coordination. He organized and facilitated QPR (Question, Persuade, Refer) training for suicide prevention among veteran-serving agencies, non-veteran affiliated organizations, and peer mentors across the state. He worked to expand statewide access to VA character of service reviews and DOD discharge upgrade support, helping veterans previously denied benefits due to administrative or punitive separations .