Lake County veterans’ leader elected president of national advocacy group
Andrew Tangen, superintendent of the Lake County Veterans Assistance Commission, recently was elected president of the National Association of County Veterans Service Officers at the annual conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
A Navy veteran having served 14 years as lieutenant commander, Tangen has led the Lake County VAC since 2017. In that role, he assists veterans and their families across Lake County get access to services, prepares claims for service-connected disabilities and helps surviving spouses with matter related to benefits.
As president of the national group, he’ll be responsible for leading about 2,000 veterans’ advocates. NACVSO is charged with education and advocacy, including in front of Congress and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Tangen said he has been in the leadership of NACVSO for about five years and felt he could bring positive changes to adjudication of benefits and increase advocacy at the local level across the country.
“Advocates need advocates too,” he said adding, because of the strong efforts of his predecessors, NACVSO is well positioned to continue its growth and partnerships nationally.
Recruiting more veteran advocates and training them and working with Congress to ensure adequate and effectual federal funding reaches the local level are among the issues to focus on, Tangen said.