DAV Virginia Department Convention is June 9-12, 2016

DAV/DAVA Department of Virginia

Convention in Roanoke

June 9-12, 2016

DAV Virginia Convention

On behalf of the over 40,000 DAV


	DAV Department of Virginia Commander Frank Brown

members in Virginia and the DAV Auxiliary Commander Carol Avanzato, I invite you attend the DAV and DAVA Department of Virginia Convention June 9 to June 12, 2016. We have many activities, meetings, and events planned. This is a great opportunity to learn more about DAV in Virginia, provide service to veterans and their families, as well as enjoy the camaraderie of your fellow disabled veterans. Our National DAV Guest is Doug Wells, DAV National Membership Director.

We will be electing our new Department of Virginia Officers for 2016-2017. It promises to be an exciting Convention. We hope to see you there. Please check out the information below on registering for Convention as a Chapter Delegate, and Hotel Registration Information.

To see the Draft Agenda for the DAV Convention, Click Here! To see the separate Draft Agenda for the Auxiliary Convention, Click Here! (If you attempt to open these links from work or behind a strong firewall, they may not open, however, they are active and may work better from home.)

Convention Registration

If you plan on attending the Department Convention, we are requesting that you Pre-Register. This will greatly assist us with planning and preparing for Convention. Convention registration fee is $15.00 and the banquet on Saturday evening is $40.00. At the banquet, the newly elected officers will be installed. We are requesting that all officers be in business attire for the banquet, for all others, business casual attire. To review and print the Convention Registration, click the button below. Please have your pre-registration completed prior to May 25, 2016.

Convention Registration

Holiday Inn Tanglewood

The Holiday Inn Tanglewood is located at 4468 Starkey Rd. Roanoke, VA. It is off Routes 419/220 and is a 7-minute walk from the Tanglewood Mall, 3 miles from the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway and 4.6 miles from downtown. Amenities include an American restaurant, a heated outdoor pool and gym. There is a 24/7 business center and parking is complimentary.

We are pleased to announce that we have room rates of $85.00 per night for single and doubles. All reservations must be made by May 8, 2016, for that guaranteed rate. Please complete the form for reservations or contact the hotel directly at (540) 774-4400. The Group Code is DAV. To complete the form and fax or mail to the Holiday Inn, click the button below. To ensure that your reservation is completed, we recommend that you call the hotel directly.

Hotel Registration

National DAV Guest

Douglas K. Wells Jr., a service-connected disabled veteran of the Persian Gulf War era, was appointed National Membership Director of the nearly 1.3 million-member DAV on July 1, 2015. From the DAV National Headquarters located in Cold Spring, Kentucky, Mr. Wells oversees the organization's efforts to maintain and engage DAV's membership. He is responsible for ensuring the strength and community support needed for the DAV to carry out its mission of service and advocacy.

Mr. Wells served in the United States Marine Corps as an intelligence specialist from 1990 to 1996 when he was medically discharged. He began his DAV career in 1996, graduating from the National Service Officer Training Academy Class IV, in Denver, CO, and was then assigned to the DAV Salt Lake City service office. In 1997, he was promoted to supervisor. In 2006, he moved to Detroit as assistant supervisor. In 2012, he was promoted to supervisor of that location and was named National Area Supervisor in March 2015.

Seminars and Events

We are pleased to be able to provide some very unique seminars, meetings, and events at the Department Convention. A Hospitality Room will be available and hosted daily by Chapter 3. To see a complete listing of events and Committees meetings, please see the draft agenda.

CSO/DSO Training

Tuesday June 7 through June 8, 2016, the DAV Roanoke National Service

Office (NSO) Supervisor and National Area Supervisor Oscar Olguin and the NSO's will be providing the Annual Chapter and Department Service Officer Training. It will start at 1pm Tuesday and go through Wednesday June 8. Registration must be emailed to Mr. Olguin by May 6, 2016. The DAV NSO Office will be available for the entire Convention to provide claims and benefits assistance.

Membership Seminar

On Thursday June 9, 2016, the DAV National Membership

Director Doug Wells will be providing a seminar on all aspects of Membership and the DAV.

This is a great chance for all Chapter Officers to learn more about recruiting, benefits of membership, and other new programs on the horizon. We recommend that all Chapter and Department Officers attend this unique opportunity.

Joint Opening Session

On Friday June 10, 2016, at 9:15 will be

the DAV/DAVA Joint Opening Session. We will have VA Medical Center Officials, State of Virginia Officials, and local agencies providing information and updates. Hear from the VA and other agencies on their services and dedication to the Veterans in Virginia!

Candidates for Department Office

Every Department Convention, we elect our officers for the upcoming year. We will elect a Department Commander, Senior Vice Commander, 1st Junior Vice Commander, 2nd Junior Vice Commander, Department Judge Advocate, and Department Chaplain. Any member in good standing can be elected or appointed to a Department Office. The Department Nominating Committee will convene at Convention and interview all candidates seeking elected office. If you are interested in seeking a Department Office, please contact the Department Adjutant Bob Cox and have your information submitted by May 25, 2016. Below are those candidates who announced their intent to seek election for Department Office.

James Walton, Department Senior Vice Commander. Attaining the rank of Master Sergeant in the United States Army, Walton retired in December 2003 with more than 26 years of managerial and leadership experience. He served in a variety of billets to include 18th Airborne Corp Personnel Operation Division Sergeant Major, National Defense University Joint Forces Staff College Senior Enlisted Advisor/Joint Personnel Administrative Supervisor, AG SGM for Fort Eustis, VA and 8th Personnel Command Equal Opportunity Advisor, Seoul, Korea where he was responsible for establishing and implementing an affirmative action program designed to fully integrate the Korean Employment Program with the command's Equal Employment Opportunity effort.

As a dedicated member of Lester S. Gordon Chapter 2, he has served in a number of capacities ranging from Chapter Service Officer to Commander. Additionally, he has been an active member of the Department Thrift Store Commission, Department Audit Committee, and served as the Department Inspector in 2012-2014.

For the past year, Mr. Walton has overseen the Department Fundraising and Golden Corral Events and serves on the Department Thrift Stores Board of Directors. He has attended various events for the Department to include the DAV National Mid-Winter Conference. Walton is seeking election to Department Commander.

Denice Faircloth Williams, Department 1st Jr. Vice Commander. She has been a life member of DAV since 2006 and served as the Commander of DAV Portsmouth Federal Chapter 22 from April 2014 to April 2016.

Williams joined the United States Marine Corps in 1976 and attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel (O5) before retiring in 2005. She served in a number of specialties and capacities to include Recruit Company Commander, Parris Island, South Carolina; Headquarters and Service Battalion Executive Officer and Commander, 2nd FSSG, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Political Science Instructor at United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Maryland; Acquisition Professional, SYSCOM, Quantico, Virginia; and Marine Corps Representative to Defense Advisory Committee on Women in The Services (DACOWITS).

Since her retirement, Denice has been actively involved in a variety of community and service-related organizations. She has served as Service Officer, Junior Vice Commander, and Adjutant of DAV Chapter 22. She has served as a member of Department of Virginia Finance Committee since being appointed in June 2013. She also served as the Department Inspector for 2014-2015.

Over the past year, she has served on the Department Executive Committee, Department Thrift Store Board of Directors and in 2015, she was appointed to serve on the National DAV Charitable Service Trust Board of Directors. Williams is seeking election to a higher Department Office.

Lisa Gregory, Department 2nd Jr. Vice Commander. Gregory is a retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant, serving 20 years first in the Signal Corps and then as a Public Affairs Specialist.

During her military career she served in multiple units at Fort Hood, Texas, with the 1st Armored Division in Germany, as the Public Affairs NCOIC at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, as a Public Affairs Instructor at the Defense Information School, as the Public Affairs Officer for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service in Korea, and with the Department of the Army, as the Associate Editor/NCOIC at Soldiers Magazine.

In 2006, upon retiring from the Army, she became a full life member in the DAV and joined Chapter 33 in Maryland where she served as treasurer and adjutant. In 2007 she was appointed to Adjutant for the DAV Department of Maryland, where she served until moving to Virginia in 2011. Once in Virginia she became active with General Washington Chapter 7 and in 2013 was elected Commander of the chapter, a position she has been reelected to for the last four years. She also has served on the Chapter's Committee on Veteran Homelessness and as both a Chapter Service Officer and as the Chapter 7 delegate to the Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council (FAVC) where she was recently elected to serve as Chairperson for the FAVC for 2015-16 and again in 2016. Currently she is working with community members to help establish a Veterans Treatment Docket in Spotsylvania County to further help veterans in crisis.

Lisa has served the Department in a variety of positions to include Assistant Inspector in 2014-2015; the Thrift Store Commission; and the Department's Women Veterans Committee. Over the last year, she served on the Department Executive Committee, Department Thrift Store Board of Directors and as advisor to the Membership Committee. Gregory is seeking election to a higher Department Office.

James Spencer, a service-connected disabled veteran, is a West Point graduate and retired Army Colonel. His career as an Airborne Ranger Field Artillery officer began in Germany as a Fire Direction officer and ended 29 years later in the Pentagon as Assistant Comptroller for the National Guard. This included a 6-year break from active duty while he pursued his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences.

His career included commands in Germany and Vietnam, joining a National Guard battalion as Executive Officer that had failed its Annual Training Test and taking the battalion to the best score to date on its retest a year later. He performed numerous analyses for Army Plans, Analysis and Evaluation (PA&E) as an Operations Research expert and won the Army's 1994 OR award for the development of the Resource Management Model for the National Guard.

He has been a life member of the Mount Vernon DAV Chapter 11 since 2001, holding Chapter offices from 2nd Junior Vice Commander to Chapter Commander. He served as Chapter Commander on two separate occasions for a total of 6 years. In his second tour as Commander, he was instrumental in resurrecting the Chapter and becoming the second Chapter in the Department to begin a monthly electronic newsletter. He currently serves Chapter 11 as Adjutant.

James is very active within the Department. He is currently a Commissioner on the Department Service Commission. He has previously served on the Legislative Committee and at the upcoming Department Convention, will serve on the Convention Resolutions Committee. At the 2014 National Convention, Spencer represented the Department and District 6 by his appointment to the National Resolutions and Membership Committees. Spencer is seeking election to a Department Office.

Ron Burgess is a long term Virginia resident currently residing in Lake Ridge, near Woodbridge. The son of a Navy veteran, Ron's family moved from West Virginia to Norfolk prior to Ron entering school. After attending Virginia Tech, he enlisted in the Army and completed the Warrant Officer Flight Training, Aircraft Maintenance Officers Course, and the AH-1 Cobra Qualification Course before deploying to Vietnam.

Burgess retired from the Army at Fort Bragg in 1996 with 25 years of service as an AH-64 Instructor Pilot. His duty stations included overseas tours in Germany, Korea, Vietnam, and numerous stateside assignments in between. Returning to Virginia, he resided in Springfield before moving to Lake Ridge and joining Chapter 48.

As a member of Chapter 48, Ron has progressed through the ranks and is currently serving as Chapter Commander. He has served as Chapter Legislative Officer, Membership Committee Chairman, and a Service Officer and serves as the editor of the Chapter 48 electronic newsletter. Burgess was instrumental in bringing the CSO and DSO Training to Northern Virginia, currently scheduled for August. Ron serves the Department as the Department Photographer and serves on the Department Social Media committee and the Department Legislative Committee. In November, he attended the Virginia Veteran's Coffee held by Senators Warner and Kaine.

Ron's wife, Linda, is also a 25-year Army veteran to include the Gulf War. They have two children, one of which is Michelle Greene, Chapter 48 Adjutant and an Iraqi Freedom veteran. They are the grandparents of 5. Burgess is seeking election to a Department Office.

Stephen Combs joined the USMC in January 1986, serving at Camp LeJeune North Carolina (NC) in several Infantry Battalions and is a combat veteran of the first Gulf War. He married his wife, Carrie in May 1993, and in January 1994 was honorably discharged.

In June 1995 he became a life member of DAV and in August 1995 he earned an associate degree in Criminal Justice. Stephen has been a DAV National Service Officer since October 1995, and has served in multiple chapters in various Departments, including filling the roles of CSO, Officer of the Day, various Line Officer positions, and Department Legislative Chairman, before finally coming to rest in Fredericksburg Virginia in June 2004 when he became a National Appeals Officer representing DAV's clients before the Board of Veterans Appeals. In June 2008 Stephen was admitted to represent cases before the US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims as a non-attorney practitioner.

In Virginia, Stephen has been a life member of Chapter 7 where he has served in various roles including CSO, Commander for 3 years, Legislative Chair, interchanging between alternate and delegate Department Executive Committeeman, delegate to the Fredericksburg Area Veterans Council (FAVC), and as the Chairman of the Committee on Veteran Homelessness, where he has developed the only known chapter run homeless stand-down in the nation, a fact recognized by National Adjutant Marc Burgess in his 2015 mid-winter remarks. While serving as Chapter commander Stephen oversaw a reworking of the chapter constitution and bylaws to bring them up to date, and as the DAV delegate to the FAVC, served on the committee that wrote the current constitution and bylaws of that organization. He is currently tasked with suggesting revisions to that document after identifying potential problem areas affecting the ability of the FAVC to operate as intended.

In his personal time, Stephen earned a bachelor's degree in Organizational Psychology in 2009 and in 2013, a master's degree in counseling. He is presently the Veterans Services and Programs Director for Intuitive Journeys PLC, a mental health and wellness center in Fredericksburg, and has been working to expand the Mighty Pen Project and the Veterans Treatment Docket into the Fredericksburg Region. He now seeks the office of Judge Advocate for the Department of Virginia.

Charles Fuller joined the US Navy in 1990, and served as a Machinist Mate until he was medically discharged in early 1996. He married his beautiful bride Zillian (a fellow disabled veteran and Life Member of DAV Cradock Chapter 41) in 2000.

Licensed to Ministry in 2007, Charles has served as Associate Minister of Grove Church. He was Ordained and installed as Pastor of Living Hope Baptist Church in 2011. He did his undergraduate and graduate work at Liberty University, specializing in Christian Counseling.

He serves as Chaplain of Cradock Chapter 41 since 2014 and as a Chapter Service Officer and Adjutant since 2015. He also oversees the Social Media for the Chapter. In the Department of Virginia, Charles serves on the Constitution and Bylaws Committee, the Incarcerated Veterans Committee, and the Social Media Committee. In his spare time, he works in radio at WWIP 89.1 FM. He now seeks to serve as Department Chaplain.

Convention Preparation

DAV Department of Virginia Adjutant Bob Cox

We are excited about the upcoming Department Convention and look forward to seeing many of you there. Chapter Commanders and Adjutants please have the following forms prepared and submitted to the Department prior to Convention:

Chapter Officer Report;
DEC Designation Form;
State Convention Delegates Form;
Chapter Supplemental Information;
Committee Appointment Recommendations;
Committee Acceptance Memo;
Additional Chapter Service Officer List;
Chapter Service Officer and Department Service Officer Training is on June 7-8, 2016 in Roanoke. The deadline to register your Service Officers for this training is May 6, 2016. Please ensure that you have the information to emailed to NSO Supervisor Oscar Olguin timely.

The above forms can all be located on the NEW Department Website, Click Here!. We hope to see you at Department Convention and wish everyone safe travels.

Sincerely,

Bob Cox

Department Adjutant