Vice-President
Marc Burgess, a veteran of the Gulf War, was appointed national adjutant of the more than 1 million- member DAV (Disabled American Veterans) on June 1, 2013. In 2015, Burgess was elected vice-president of the Disabled Veterans’ Life Memorial Foundation, a separate, affiliated entity of DAV. As DAV’s senior staff official, National Adjutant Burgess serves as the organization’s chief executive officer and leads the 650- member DAV staff, managing all operations of the organization of wartime injured and ill veterans, one of America’s largest charitable institutions.
Before these appointments, Burgess served as executive director of DAV National Headquarters in Cold Spring, Kentucky, guiding the organization’s voluntary services, fundraising, accounting, administration, information technology, communications, logistics and plant operations.
Burgess’s DAV career began as a national service officer October 23, 1995. His first assignment was DAV’s national service office in Baltimore. He went on to advocate for veterans in Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Georgia; and DAV’s Board of Veterans Appeals Office and as Appellate Counsel before the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims.
Burgess also provided management oversight of DAV’s service programs as associate and assistant national service director at DAV’s Washington Headquarters and served as human resources director and assistant executive director at DAV National Headquarters.
The Hattiesburg, Mississippi, native earned a Bachelor of business administration degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, a Bachelor of Science in paralegal studies from Stevenson University in 1998 and a Master of Arts in human resources from the University of Cincinnati in 2010.
Burgess served in the U.S. Navy from October 1987 through October 1992, when he was medically discharged. In the Navy, he was a crew member and plank owner aboard the USS Normandy. He joined DAV before his discharge.
Burgess and his wife, Amy, reside in Hebron, Kentucky.