Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs
Official Biography for John W. Boerstler
Chief Veterans Experience Officer Veterans Experience Office

John W. Boerstler was sworn-in on February 16, 2021, as the Chief Veterans Experience Officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Prior to his current position, he served as the Chief Executive Officer of Combined Arms, a collaborative backbone organization whose purpose was to unite collaborative methodology and technology in order to more effectively connect Veterans to thousands of government and non-profit services. As Chief Veterans Experience Officer, John will provide executive oversight of the many innovative projects and programs housed within the Veterans Experience Office (VEO) and work collaboratively within VA’s leadership to help achieve greater access and outcomes for Veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors.
John has a distinguished career as a leader in the Veteran services field as a recipient of both the Eisenhower and Marshall Memorial Fellowships, having travelled to the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Israel, Bosnia, Hungary and Ukraine to write comparative papers on their military transition systems. As the first Marshall Prize recipient, John recently completed a 3-year project in Ukraine to assist in the development of their Ministry of Veterans Affairs – the first of its kind in Europe. John was also honored to be selected in the inaugural cohort of Stand-To Scholars at the George W. Bush Institute’s Veteran Leadership Program in 2018.
John is a native Texan who served honorably in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1999-2007 as a non-commissioned officer and infantry unit leader, including one combat tour in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2004-2005 and Operation Natural Fire in the Republic of Kenya in 2006. John has also served as the Executive Director of NextOp, a program manager with Wounded Warrior Project, the Mayor of Houston’s Office of Veterans Affairs, and as a policy and district staffer for a U.S. Representative. In 2009, John helped found the Lone Star Veterans Association which became the largest network of Post-9/11 Veterans in Texas and successfully merged with Combined Arms in March 2019.
CAREER CHRONOLOGY:
2021 – Present Chief Veterans Experience Officer, Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, DC
2019 – 2021 Chief Executive Officer, Combined Arms, Houston, TX
2015 – 2019 Executive Director, NextOp, Houston, TX
2013 – 2015 Business Development Manager, Infinite Energy, FL and TX
2011 – 2013 Regional Program Manager, Wounded Warrior Project, FL and TX
2009 – 2011 Deputy Director, City of Houston Mayor’s Office of Veterans Affairs
2007 – 2009 Regional Field Representative, U.S. House of Representatives
EDUCATION:
John holds a Bachelor’s degree from Texas A&M and a Master’s in Public Administration from the University of Houston.