Christopher J. McElgunn serves as Deputy Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. The Deputy Secretary is responsible for day-to-day operations, as well as directing and coordinating the Department's strategic planning and program development. Christopher is a Navy veteran with more than a decade of state civil service experience. He served on active duty in the United States Navy and as a member of the Naval Reserve from 1991 to 1999, with assignments at home and deployment abroad. He began at the state of Wisconsin in 2012 as a Senior Policy Analyst at the Department of Workforce Development. In 2014, he transitioned to an Executive Budget and Policy role at the Department of Administration where he guided budget and policy development for multiple state agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Military Affairs, and Department of Health Services.
From 2017 to 2019, he served as Legal Counsel to the Board on Aging and Long Term Care. Christopher served as an Assistant Attorney General with the Wisconsin Department of Justice in the Civil Litigation Unit from 2019 until assuming the DVA Deputy Secretary position in February 2023. Christopher received his Bachelor of Science degree from Northwestern University and his Juris Doctorate Degree from the University of Illinois Chicago School of Law. Christopher lives in the Madison area with his wife and two sons.