Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs > Executive Leadership Team

Executive Leadership Team

James Bond, Secretary

James Bond serves as the Secretary for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. He is the chief advocate for more than 330,000 veterans in Wisconsin and their families. As Secretary, he is responsible for the leadership and management of the WDVA, including strategic and long-range planning initiatives that will align with the department's vision.

Secretary Bio

Christopher J. McElgunn, Deputy Secretary

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.

Deputy Secretary Bio

Joseph Hoey, Asst Deputy Secretary

The Assistant Deputy Secretary is the primary contact for inter-governmental agency functions, as well as the agency's legislative liaison.

Assistant Deputy Secretary Bio

Office of Legal Counsel

Chad Koplien serves as chief legal counsel for the department. He provides counsel to the Office of the Secretary and the department's leaders, with a focus on healthcare law for the department's long-term care facilities. In this role, he serves as the administrative law judge for department benefit appeals. He also serves as the State Deputy (judge advocate) for the Wisconsin National Guard, with a focus on domestic operations.

He is a Veteran with 23 years of military service, enlisting in the USAF at age 17 in 1984. Koplien is a graduate of UW Oshkosh and received a post-graduate certification in Long-Term Care Administration from UW Madison. He earned his law degree from Marquette University Law School and holds advanced military degrees from the Judge Advocate General's Legal Center and School, US Command and General Staff College, and the US Air Force War College.

He is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar and resides north of Madison with his wife of 28 years. His oldest daughter is a licensed speech-language pathologist working on her fellowship. His youngest daughter is finishing her undergrad at UW Madison and was recently accepted into the UW Madison School in Dietetics for her master's degree.

Office of Public Affairs

Colleen Flaherty is the Communications Director for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. As the Communications Director, she manages the Office of Public Affairs overseeing all communications, media relations, and public relations efforts to enhance the visibility of the Department's programs, services, and benefits.

Colleen has over a decade of communications, nonprofit, and legislative experience. Colleen received her undergraduate degree in Journalism and began her career as a sports stringer for a Minnesota daily. She went on to live in New York and Washington D.C., working various communications positions, including production assistant, freelance writer, and education advocacy communications specialist. She returned to Wisconsin in 2015 where she spent several years working for state legislative offices. Before joining the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, she worked as a communications specialist for the Department of Tourism while obtaining her master's degree in communications from UW Whitewater.

Colleen lives in Monona with her husband, David, and their daughter, Elaine.

Division of Enterprise Services

James A. Parker serves as the Administrator of the Division of Enterprise Services. The Division provides administrative support to the department. It consists of four Bureaus; the Bureau of Fiscal Services, the Bureau of Budget and Facilities, the Bureau of Information Technology and the Bureau of Human Resources. Its responsibilities include, but are not limited to; development, monitoring and managing of the department’s annual, biennial and capital budgets, fiscal services, internal control, internal/external audit services, risk management, purchasing, policy and strategic planning, bonding and statistical analysis, information technology and support, human resources, fleet management and the Continuity of Operations and Continuation of Government Plans.

Prior to employment with the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, James was an Executive Manager in the private sector and later became an entrepreneur. He has 21 years of state service with several state agencies (DWD, former DHFS, DOR and DSPS) and the University of Wisconsin. His positions were responsible for budget, finance, human resources, policy and information technology. He has performed in multiple Division Administrator roles and Director of Finance and Budget roles.

James received his Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

Division of Veterans Benefits

Jeremy Lyon serves as the Administrator of the Division of Veterans Benefits, which includes the Bureau of Programs and Services, Bureau of Cemeteries and Memorial Services, and Bureau of Health Services. The Division is responsible for providing programs and services to Wisconsin's veterans and their families and advocating on their behalf for programs, benefits, and services provided through other agencies.

Prior to joining the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs in 2023, Jeremy served in the military as an infantry officer. He joined the US Army in 2007 and the Wisconsin National Guard in 2010, deploying to Iraq in 2009 and Ukraine in 2019. He received his law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 2013 and worked as a civil litigator before returning to full-time military service with the National Guard in 2018. He is the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal, three Meritorious Service Medals, and the Combat Infantryman Badge.

Jeremy is honored to continue serving those who have served and advocating on their behalf for the benefits, programs, and services they earned through their service to our community and nation. He lives in Sun Prairie with his wife, Briony, and their two children.

Division of Veterans Homes

Diane Lynch serves as Administrator of the Division of Homes. As Administrator, she is responsible for long-term care policy for the Department and overseeing the Wisconsin Veterans Homes at Chippewa Falls, King, and Union Grove.

Diane has 19+ years of experience as a leader in the senior care industry in a variety of Continuing Care Retirement Communities, Skilled Nursing Facility, and Long Term Care settings as well as in startup construction projects in Long Term Care and Assisted and Memory care living. She is committed to providing seniors with high quality, person-centered care and exceptional customer service and employees with a workplace culture that is not only dynamic, but offers a positive, supportive environment.

Diane holds a Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, a Bachelor of Arts in Healthcare Management from Metro State University in St. Paul, an LNHA from the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, and is a Licensed Nursing Home Administrator in 3 states.

Diane and Serge love the great outdoors, two adult daughter’s and 3 grandpups.

Wisconsin Veterans Museum

Christopher L. Kolakowski is the Director of the Wisconsin Veterans Museum, an educational activity of the Wisconsin Department of Veteran Affairs. As the Director he is responsible for the award-winning museum and research center that acknowledges, commemorates, and affirms the role of Wisconsin veterans in the United States of America's military past and present..

Chris has his BA in History and Mass Communications from Emory & Henry College and his MA in Public History from the State University of New York at Albany. He is a proud descendent of Wisconsin Veterans from the Civil War through the Cold War.

Chris has spent his career interpreting and preserving American military history with the National Park Service, New York State government, the Rensselaer County (NY) Historical Society, the Civil War Preservation Trust, Kentucky State Parks, the U.S. Army, and the MacArthur Memorial. He has written and spoken extensively on various aspects of military history and leadership from 1775 to the present, and was the inaugural Director of the General George Patton Museum and Center of Leadership at Fort Knox, Kentucky.

Chris has published three books on the Civil War and two on World War II in the Pacific. He is a reviewer and contributor to the Air Force Journal of Indo-Pacific Studies and a Senior Fellow at the Consortium of Indo-Pacific Researchers. His latest book, titled Nations in the Balance and released March of 2022, is about the 1944 India-Burma battles.

Executive Leadership Team

James Bond, Secretary

Christopher J. McElgunn, Deputy Secretary​

Joseph Hoey, Asst Deputy Secretary

Office of Legal Counsel​