United States Secretary of Veteran Affairs Denis McDonough
United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Denis Richard McDonough met with current and prospective Bemidji State University student veterans on campus.
Coordinated by U.S. Air Force veteran Tony Schnellbach, northwest Minnesota regional coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs, and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Sherry Lawdermilt, Bemidji State’s chief information officer, the event was held May 20 from 11 a.m – 1 p.m. at the university’s American Indian Resource Center.
After introductions, prospective and current student veterans addressed McDonough with questions, suggestions and concerns about national veteran benefits and assistance.
“Don’t ever stop being candid. We work for you,” McDonough said. “Thanks for opportunity to be with you. Thanks for what you’ve done for the country.”
Secretary McDonough was joined by national and state veteran affairs representatives including:
- Larry Herke, commissioner, Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs;
- Luke Johnson, higher education veterans program supervisor, Minnesota Department of Veteran Affairs;
- Shane Gustafson, veterans services officer, Beltrami County;
- Christopher Roemhildt, readjustment counselor, Duluth, Minnesota, Veterans Center;
- Jim Aakhus; representative, National Alliance on Mental Illness;
- Shawn Bohn, director of the Dakotas regional office, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs; and
- Terry Warren, management program analyst at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
President Faith C. Hensrud, a U.S. Army veteran, and Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Allen Bedford, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, were also in attendance at the event.
Student Veterans Attendees
- Michelle Ruport, a business administration student from Bemidji, Minnesota; U.S. Army.
- Swedes Klogber, a business administration student from Brooklyn Park, Minnesota; U.S. Army Reserve.
- Earl Lamaack, a history graduate student from Cass Lake, Minnesota; BSU Veterans Club secretary; U.S. Marine Corps.
- Anthony Fiecke ’22, a project management graduate from Tenstrike, Minnesota; U.S. Army National Guard.
- Nicole Donley, a nursing student from Bemidji, Minnesota; BSU Veterans Club president; U.S. Army.
- Nicholas Myhre, a pre-mortuary science student, from Lakeville, Minnesota; BSU Veterans Club vice-president; U.S. Army
- Hayden Vosbeek, a social studies education student from Bemidji, Minnesota; U.S. Marine Corps.
- Joel Townsend, an applied management student from Bemidji, Minnesota, U.S. Air Force.
- Jaclyn Wizner, a recently accepted student, U.S. Air Force.
- Bryce Brittain ’19, U.S. Navy.
Prospective students Jordan Wizner, U.S. Air Force, Logan Leclair, U.S. Army, Parker Donley, U.S. Army National Guard, Alex Haessly, U.S. Army National Guard, Ed Szczepanski, U.S. Army, Bidal Duran, U.S. Marine Corps student at Walden University also attended the event.
About McDonough
The Honorable Denis Richard McDonough was nominated by President Joe Biden to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs on February 8th, 2021, and was sworn in the following day as the 11th Secretary of Veterans Affairs.
McDonough served in the Obama Administration as the 26th White House chief of staff from February 2013 to January 2017. In that role, he managed White House staff and worked across the cabinet to advance the Obama-Biden agenda, confronted management issues facing the federal government and devised and enforced goals, plans and performance standards to preserve the administration’s reputation for effective, ethical operations.
Prior to his role as chief of staff, McDonough was principal deputy national security adviser from October 2010 to January 2013. He also served as the chief of staff of the national security staff and as deputy national security adviser for strategic communications. He chaired the National Security Council’s deputies committee, leading the multiagency team to address complex challenges including crisis management and national security policymaking. Throughout his service in the White House, McDonough helped lead the Obama-Biden administration’s work on behalf of military families and veterans.
Before his eight-year tenure in the White House, McDonough served in senior leadership and policymaking positions in the U.S. House of Representatives as a professional staff member on the international relations committee and in the U.S. Senate for Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Senator Ken Salazar.
Since his White House tenure, McDonough was professor of the practice of public policy at the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, senior adviser and principal at the Markle Foundation in New York, New York, and on the board of directors of the National Democratic Institute, the Tent Partnership for Refugees and the SAFE Project, a national nonprofit working to end the nation’s catastrophic addiction epidemic.
McDonough grew up in Minnesota in a family of 11 children, graduated from St. Johns University in Collegeville, Minnesota, and earned his master’s degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Contact
Link
2022-B-120