AMVETS
National Headquarters
Official Website
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National Leadership
National Officers
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National Commander
Paul Shipley (PA)
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National First
Vice Commander
Sandy Vorhies (OH)
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National Second
Vice Commander
Christopher Studebaker (IL)​
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National Third
Vice Commander
Sheldon Hartsfield (MO)​
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National Judge Advocate
PNC Jan Brown (OH)
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National Finance Officer
Kelly McFarlain (LA)
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National Provost Marshal
Arthur L. Majors (OH)
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National Finance Committee
NEC Lee Ann Adams (TN)
NEC A.J. John (FL)
PNC Horace Johnson (FL)​​
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National Districts
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District I
Lester Baker (NY)
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District II
Ralph Hensley (VA)
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District III
Mark Frederick (TN)
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District IV
Sara Pierce (OH)
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District V
Brian Bartlett (ND)
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District VI
Danelle Wyatt (WA)​
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National Appointees
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National Chaplain
Jeremiah Botkin (GA)
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National Inspector General
PNC Rege Riley (PA)
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National VAVS Rep
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National Deputy
Judge Advocate
Ross Smith (CA)
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National HQ Staff
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Executive Director
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Membership Director
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Service Director
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Programs Manager
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National Controller
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Communications
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AMVETS National Commander Paul Shipley
National Commander Paul Shipley was elected to the organization’s highest office by his peers in August 2025 at the AMVETS National Convention in Greensboro, North Carolina.
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Commander Shipley is a U.S. Army Combat Veteran, having served from 2004-2014. He served in Iraq from 2006-2007, awarded the Combat Action Badge, Army Commendation Medal, and Iraq Campaign Medal. He is a service-connected disabled Veteran.
Upon returning from Iraq, Commander Shipley attended California University of Pennsylvania, earning a BA in Sociology in 2017, an M.Ed in Counseling in 2019, and is now in his final semester of Law School at Duquesne University.
Earlier this year, Commander Shipley is the first post-9/11 Veteran to become AMVETS National Commander. He is among the youngest National Commanders in AMVETS' 80-year history.
Commander Shipley is a Past Department Commander of Pennsylvania and belongs to AMVETS Post 103 in Hopwood, PA. He lives in Uniontown, PA, with his wife and three daughters.​
National Executive Director Joseph R. Chenelly
Joseph R. Chenelly was appointed national executive director of AMVETS in May 2016. In this capacity, he administers the policies of AMVETS, supervises its national headquarters operations and provides direction, as needed, to state and local components. Joe previously served as AMVETS’ national communications director.
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Joe Chenelly is the first veteran of combat operations in the Global War on Terrorism to lead one of the nation’s four largest veterans service organizations’ staffs. A native of Rochester, N.Y., Joe enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1998, serving with the 1st Marine Division, and was honorably discharged as a Staff Sergeant in April 2006. He is a combat veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, having served in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, East Timor and the Horn of Africa.​
Joe became a veterans advocate, a journalist, and a political adviser after his time in uniform. He covered military and veterans matters on staff with Leatherneck magazine, the Military Times newspapers, USA TODAY and Gannet News, reporting on operations in the Middle East, Southwest Asia, Africa, as well as disaster relief in the United States.
Joe was named one of the 100 “most influential journalists covering armed violence” by Action on Armed Violence in 2013. He was the first U.S. Marine combat correspondent to step into enemy territory after September 11, 2001, as a military reporter in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He also reported from the front-lines with American and allied forces in Kuwait and Iraq as that war began. He was on the ground for the start of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Joe served as AMVETS’ national communications director in 2005-2007, and for eight years as assistant national director for communications for the Disabled American Veterans (DAV) in Washington, D.C., leading grassroots efforts through social networking and new media.
He has also served as president of Social Communications, LLC; a public affairs officer director for the Department of Navy; and and an elected member of the Calvert County (MD) Board of Education. Joe is an alumni of Syracuse University and Central Texas College. He resides in Fairport, N.Y., with his wife Dawn, a service-connected disabled Air Force veteran, and their five children.
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