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.
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.E.D 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.
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 veteran’s 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 frontlines 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 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.
The New National HQ
After 80 years in the Washington, D.C., area, AMVETS’ NHQ moved to Washington, PA, in 2025 to better serve Veterans.
An official ribbon-cutting ceremony was held March 7, 2026, in conjunction with the Spring NEC meetings
In the news
December 11, 2024 — The $525,000 sale of the synagogue to AMVETS was finalized in June 2024.The national veteran’s organization will move its headquarters from Washington, D.C., where it has been for 80 years.
“The D.C. area was a great home for AMVETS for eight decades, but we know we can always do better,” said Horace Johnson, AMVETS National Commander. “In moving to Washington County, we are moving to the county that has more veterans per capita than any other county in the continental United States. We are moving to our fellow veterans.”
Completed the purchase
September 16, 2024 –“It’s a wonderful community,” he said. “There’s a very, very high percentage of veterans in the area. It’s very centrally located. That was a huge selling point for our membership. There’s certainly a much more reasonable cost of living than the Washington, D.C. area. We love the two buildings we ended up purchasing. Every day, it seems like we have a new positive experience with someone in the community that we’re working with to make this all happen.”
National Capital HQ
AMVETS professional staff maintains a strong, visible presence in our nation’s capital year-round, advocating on behalf of more than 16 million of Veterans and their families.
The office opened in August 2025 when the National Headquarters relocated from the area to Pennsylvania.
Legislative Advocacy:
AMVETS’ professional advocates are constantly in the halls of Congress, working with the House and Senate committees for veterans’ affairs, as well as regularly meeting with decision makers in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, at the Pentagon, and in the U.S. Department of Labor.
AMVETS has a dual role: Ensure the federal government appropriates the resources necessary to keep its promises to Veterans and their families and be a vigilant watchdog to ensure those resources are deployed in the right ways to best serve Veterans.
National Service Department
AMVETS National Service Program is managed in this office, in close proximity to the VA’s Veterans Benefits Administration.
AMVETS National Service Foundation:
A 501(C)3 veterans’ charity, AMVETS National Service Foundation is the primary fundraising arm of the national AMVETS Family. NSF is managed out of the National Capital Headquarters, where is oversees its numerous assistance offerings and federal grant programs.
Board of Trustees
William “Bill” Kilgore
President
Mark Frederick
Treasurer
Harold Chapman
Trustee
Richard Vannatta
Truste