Former Joint Chiefs Chairman To Speak at Vets’ 40th Anniversary Event

Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, Jr.,  retired chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Presidents Obama and Trump, will be the keynote speaker at the Cape & Islands Veterans Outreach Center’s 40th anniversary celebration on Tuesday, Sept. 26, at the Resort and Conference Center at Hyannis, 35 Scudder Ave., Hyannis.

Tickets will go on sale May 30.  Proceeds will be used to fund the veteran’s housing, food pantry and transportation programs run by CIVOC.

CIVOC was founded in 1983 by a group of Vietnam Veterans who did not find the services and programs they needed available in the region to successfully transition back to their communities. From that humble beginning, CIVOC has grown and today provides four vibrant and accessible pillars of support (food, transportation, housing, and outreach) to veterans and their families in need.

Dunford served as the 19th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer. In this role, he was the principal military advisor to the President, Secretary of Defense, and National Security Council from 2015 to 2019.

Dunford was commissioned in 1977 and served as an infantry officer at all levels, to include commanding the 5th Marine Regiment during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He served as the 36th Commandant of the Marine Corps, the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps and Commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.

He graduated from Boston College High School and St. Michael’s

College. He also earned master’s degrees in Government from Georgetown University and in International Relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy.

He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the Semper Fi Fund & America’s Fund which supports wounded, ill and injured active duty personnel and veterans from all services; as the Vice Chairman of the Travis Manion Foundation, and as Chairman of the Adams Presidential Center 501 (c). He is a Partner at Liberty Strategic Capital and a Senior Fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University. He also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Lockheed Martin Corporation, Bessemer Securities, the Atlantic Council and Georgetown University.

More information on ticket pricing will be released later this month.