John Kleindienst, National Voluntary Services Director
John Kleindienst was appointed national voluntary services director for the more than 1 million-member DAV in August 2014. He is employed at DAV National Headquarters in Erlanger, Kentucky.
As national voluntary services director, Kleindienst is responsible for a corps of DAV volunteers who, along with DAV Auxiliary volunteers, donate nearly two million hours a year to volunteer work at Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facilities. He also directs the nationwide DAV Transportation Network, in which DAV hospital service coordinators arrange transportation for veterans who have no way to get to and from VA medical appointments. The network provides hundreds of thousands of rides for veterans across the country each year.
Kleindienst directs and coordinates activities involving the annual National Disabled Veterans Winter Sports Clinic, co-presented by DAV and the VA, which employs sports such as skiing, sled hockey and other activities to promote physical rehabilitation and therapy for veterans struggling to overcome the impact of profound disability. The clinic is the largest rehabilitation event of its kind in the world.
Additionally, Kleindienst manages DAV activities regarding the National Disabled Veterans Golf Clinic each year. As a co-presenter, DAV helps provide legally blind and eligible disabled veterans an opportunity to develop new skills and strengthen their self-esteem through adaptive golf and bowling events.
A native of Waco, Texas, Kleindienst enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in June 1996 and was medically discharged in October 2003 as a result of service-connected injuries. He joined DAV’s professional staff as a national service officer in February 2003 at DAV’s National Service Office in Waco. Following service as a service officer in multiple U.S. locations, he was appointed deputy director of human resources at DAV’s National Headquarters in June 2013 and served in that position until his current appointment.
A 1996 graduate of Connally High School in Waco, he is a life member of DAV Chapter 29 in Harker Heights, Texas. He studied criminal justice at Coastal Carolina Community College while in the Marine Corps and attended McLennan Community College in Waco after his discharge.
He and his spouse, Melanie, reside in Burlington, Kentucky and have two children.