Director
Daniel Contreras, a service-connected disabled Army veteran, was elected national commander for the nearly 1 million-member DAV at the organization’s 2024 national convention in Phoenix, Arizona. That same year, he was elected to the board of directors of the organization’s Disabled Veterans’ Life Memorial Foundation.
Contreras served in the Army from 1980 to 1996 as a combat medic, emergency medical technician and Army nurse, achieving the rank of sergeant first class. His military duties also included being an instructor writer at the Academy of Health Sciences. His military decorations include the Army Meritorious Service Medal and the Expert Field Medical Badge. In 1999, he became a life member of DAV and has since been involved with the organization at the chapter, department and national levels.
He began his professional career with DAV as a national service officer in 2000 and was promoted to national western area supervisor for Area 9 in 2006.
Since 2008, Contreras has served as the adjutant and treasurer for DAV’s Department of California and is a past department commander. He also serves as a director on DAV’s national board of directors. Additionally, he has served as director and chief financial officer for the DAV Department of California Rehabilitation Foundation since 2008.
He served on the DAV National Executive Committee and, in 2009, was elected to the board of directors for the DAV National Service Foundation, where he served until 2019. In addition to his various leadership and managerial positions within the national and state levels of the organization
over the past 25 years, he was also appointed to chair the California Mexican-American Veterans Memorial Committee by California Govs. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown.
Contreras and his wife, Teresa, reside in Sherman Oaks, California. They have a son, Robert, and four grandchildren. He is a life member of Chapter 99 in Oxnard.