Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

Michael S. Galloucis

Executive in Charge for the Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs

Michael S. Galloucis was appointed on June 30, 2011 as Executive Director of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs (OPIA). As Executive Director, Galloucis represents and advises the Secretary of Veterans Affairs on matters relating to media, public affairs, and intergovernmental affairs. He directs departmental communications and provides oversight and direction to programs involving intergovernmental relations, homeless Veterans, consumer affairs, rehabilitative special events, VA’s Office for Tribal Governments, and the VA Outreach Office.

Before assuming his current duties, Galloucis served as a Senior Advisor for Strategic Engagements within the Office of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. He has decades of supervisory experience from leading organizations ranging in size and complexity from 50 to 5,000 people and more than 20 years of experience in Strategic Communication, Public Affairs, Media Relations, Public Relations, Corporate Communication, Executive Communication, Crisis Communication and Community Relations. Before coming to VA, Galloucis worked in Washington, D.C., as a Strategic Communications Advisor and the Senior Program Director of the Department of Defense 60th Anniversary of the Korean War Commemoration Committee. Prior to that, he was self-employed as a Strategic Communications consultant.

The son and grandson of Soldiers, Galloucis served on active duty as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for 30 years. From August 2006 to November 2007, Galloucis led a Brigade Task Force of 5,000 Soldiers in Iraq during the historic surge of American troops. Earlier in his military career, Galloucis served more than a year as the Media Spokesman for the Army Vice Chief of Staff, over three years as the Media Spokesman for the 33rd Army Chief of Staff, and a year as the Senior Speechwriter for the 35th Army Chief of Staff. He previously served as Chief of Print Media Branch in the Army’s Office of the Chief of Public Affairs – a position which involved daily oversight of the Army News Service (ARNEWS), disseminating news stories and supporting photos to 300 newspapers worldwide. Galloucis was working inside the Pentagon when the building was attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001. During his last two years on active duty, Galloucis was the Deputy Director and Chief of Staff of the Defense Media Activity (DMA), a global organization aligned under the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. In 1992, Galloucis was one of a handful of military officials who worked closely with members of the Fourth Estate to develop the conceptual framework for the program now commonly referred to as “embedded media” in which reporters embed with deployed U.S. military units in order to keep the American people informed of ongoing U.S. military operations.

Galloucis completed the Army ROTC program at Northeastern University, has a MS in National Security Strategy, and completed graduate-level fellowships in Media Studies at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and in Public Affairs and Diplomacy at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Public Affairs. He is an Honor Graduate of the Defense Public Affairs Officers Course, Distinguished Graduate of the National War College, and successfully completed DoD’s Executive Leadership Development Program (ELDP). Galloucis is married to the former Therese L. Boozer, a retired Army Dental Corps Officer. He and his wife have a teenage daughter and son.

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