A Leadership Conference to Remember

BY JOHN H. RILING III

My travels intensified during the last three months. In June, I attended meetings of the Illinois State Council and the Buckeye State Council, and traveled to Silver Spring for meetings at the National Office.

In July, I went to Pittsburgh for the National Flag Foundation’s Sojourn 250 U.S. flag event, where the flag began a motorcycle journey to the nation’s capital. I then returned to Silver Spring for staff training ahead of the Leadership Conference.

I also traveled with Gary Estermyer to Pittsburgh and Bridgeport, West Virginia, to look at possible locations for a future National Office. Charlie Montgomery and James McCormick were also part of that effort. Estermyer later presented our findings to the Board of Directors at a special meeting during the Leadership Conference.

I believe the 2026 National Leadership & Education Conference in Jacksonville was, by far, the best one of the bunch. While these conferences normally require years of preparation, Director of Meetings Wes Guidry, Meeting Planner Deborah Johnson, and Conference Planning Committee Chair Dan Stenvold put this one together in less than seven months.

The VVA staff members who came to Jacksonville received nothing but compliments for the work they did. I called them the “A Team,” and they delivered. I considered the conference an effective tuneup for the 2027 National Convention.

Please be sure to thank the staff members and volunteers who helped make the conference such a success: Wes Guidry, Deborah Johnson, Marc Leepson, Sean Venables, Judy Guidry, Willie Johnson, Quentin Butcher, Mokie Porter, Elizabeth Porter, James McCormick, Michael Fimmano, Gloria Johnson, Brenae Jones, Yolonda Crumpton, and Paula Tuero-Flesch.

During the conference, I was fortunate to teach a class for state and chapter presidents with help from Chuck Odom and Dan Stenvold. We talked about the duties and responsibilities of being a president and then opened the floor for questions and comments. Fundraising, recruiting, and Mission 75 were among the main topics. Everyone participated, and the open discussion worked well.

I also spoke on the final day when President Tom Burke opened the floor for questions and comments about Mission 75 and VVA’s future.

In my opinion, Mission 75 is the common-sense answer to keeping VVA a veterans service organization under Section 501(c)(19). If approved, it would help ensure that our legacy of legislative advocacy and Veterans Service Officers continues to serve veterans long after our lifetimes.

There have been many rumors circulating about VVA and Mission 75. If you cannot verify the source, treat a rumor as a rumor, not as fact.

VVA continues to manage its finances responsibly. Our budgets are reviewed carefully, and our financial statements are audited each year by an independent outside firm. A Form 990 is an important public financial document, but it does not by itself provide a complete picture of an organization’s finances. I have learned that there is much more to understanding VVA’s financial condition than looking at a single IRS filing.

We are a veterans service organization, and our mission remains serving veterans.

VVA Forever.

2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 |