The Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs (MDVA) is in the midst of a leadership change with the recent retirement of Commissioner Larry Herke. In mid-September, Herke announced his retirement due to an ALS diagnosis. His final day was September 22.

Governor Tim Walz appointed Herke to lead the agency in January 2019; he was reappointed in January 2023 to a second term. In April, Herke began a leave of absence to address health issues.

Herke shared: “It was an honor to serve Veterans and their family members in my role as Commissioner. I will continue to serve Veterans in retirement as I partner with Veteran organizations to advocate for advances in medical research toward a cure for ALS, a disease Veterans receive a diagnosis of twice as much as the general population.”

In a press release distributed last month, Governor Walz said: “As a Veteran of the U.S. Army and Minnesota National Guard, Commissioner Larry Herke dedicated his career to serving our state and country. As Commissioner, he worked tirelessly to make progress toward ending Veterans homelessness, strengthen our Veterans homes and cemeteries, and help Minnesota’s Veterans and their families receive the best care and benefits. I am deeply grateful for his service and wish him well in his retirement.”

In the same release, Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan said: “Commissioner Herke is a dedicated public servant who fought to ensure that those who’ve raised their hand to serve receive the best care and services our state can provide. Minnesota’s Veterans and their families were well served by Commissioner Herke, and we will miss his dedication and selfless service to our state. We are forever grateful for his service to the people of Minnesota.”

Brad Lindsay is now serving as Temporary Commissioner of MDVA until a successor is appointed. Lindsay had served as MDVA Interim Commissioner since April 2023 and as Deputy Commissioner - Programs & Services since 2014. He first joined MDVA in 1999 and worked at the agency until 2005, then returned to the agency in 2011.

During Herke’s first four years as MDVA Commissioner, he championed dramatic growth of facilities across the state and an expansion of services to address Veterans’ current issues. MDVA accomplishments under his leadership included:

• Completed design and secured federal and state funding for three new State Veterans Homes currently completing construction in Bemidji, Montevideo and Preston. The Homes are scheduled to open in late 2023 or early 2024.
• Completed design and secured federal and state funding for a /mdva/memorials/stateveteranscemeteries/minnesota-state-veterans-cemetery-redwood-falls.jspnew State Veterans Cemetery in Redwood County. The cemetery was dedicated in August.
• Placed more than 1,200 /mdva/resources/homelessnessandprevention/homes-for-veterans.jsphomeless Veterans in safe, secure and permanent housing. This effort included developing landlord incentives and leveraging a low-barrier, supportive housing grant to reduce the number of chronic homeless Veterans on the /mdva/resources/homelessnessandprevention/homelessveteranregistry.jspMinnesota Homeless Veterans Registry.
• This work resulted in four Continuums of Care (CoC) around the state declaring Veteran homelessness to be at “functional zero” in their communities. Only the Hennepin and Ramsey CoCs remain. The “Every Veteran Deserves a Home” plan provides the blueprint for Minnesota to become the fourth state in the nation to end Veteran homelessness.
• Joined the Governor’s Challenge, a federal Veteran suicide prevention program sponsored by SAMSHA and the Federal VA, and created a plan to /mdva/resources/veteransuicideprevention/index.jspeliminate Veteran suicide in Minnesota.
• Developed three COVID-19 Veterans Grant programs which provided $6.2 million in direct financial support to families of Veterans who lost income due to the pandemic. The COVID-19 Veteran Grant programs were developed in 31 days to include developing grant provisions, passage by the Legislature, training of staff/County Veteran Service Officers (CVSOs) and modification of the existing grants software to accept applications from Veterans or CVSOs.
• Developed the first-ever MDVA Sustainability Plan to reduce costs and negative impacts on the environment.
• Obtained funding for the /mdva/resources/familyassistance/911-service-bonus.jspPost-9/11 Veterans Service Bonus which provides Minnesota Veterans with a war bonus as the state has done for every conflict since WWI.
• Reopened the Minnesota Veteran Home - Minneapolis bridge over Minnehaha Creek which had been closed due to disrepair for seven years.

Before joining MDVA, Herke was the first Director of Sustainability for the State of Minnesota. He is a Veteran himself, having served 30 years in the Army and Army National Guard, retiring as a Colonel in July 2016. A native of Mankato, Herke received both his bachelor’s degree in accounting and master’s degree in public administration from Minnesota State University - Mankato.

Herke is a member of several Veteran Service Organizations including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Disabled American Veterans, AMVETS and Jewish War Veterans. He also serves on the Minnesota Military Museum Board as the Vice President of Facilities.

MDVA is grateful for Herke’s leadership during a period of great growth for MDVA. The staff wish him well in his retirement and thank him for his ongoing advocacy for Minnesota Veterans.

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