Cover Commissioners
Thomas (Jake) J. Leinenkugel — Chair
RADM Thomas (Tom) E. Beeman, PhD, U.S. Navy (Ret.) — Cochair
Col. Matthew (Matt) F. Amidon, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve — Commissioner
The Honorable Thomas E. Harvey, Esq. — Commissioner
Ltc. Wayne B. Jonas, MD, U.S. Army (Ret.) — Commissioner
LtCol Jamil S. Khan, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.) — Commissioner
Matthew (Matt) J. Kuntz, Esq. — Commissioner
Shira Maguen, PhD — Commissioner
Maj. Michael (Mike) J. Potoczniak, PhD, U.S. Army Reserve — Commissioner
CAPT John (Jack) M. Rose, U.S. Navy (Ret.) — Commissioner
Official Commissioners Biographies
Thomas (Jake) J. Leinenkugel
Chair
Jake Leinenkugel served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1976 to 1982 and then remained in the active reserve from 1982 to 1987. He served in various roles in his family’s business, the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company, to include serving as president from 1988 to his retirement in 2014. Leinenkugel served as a director for both the Marshfield Clinic Health System Casper/Rutledge Charity Foundation, and the St. Joseph’s and Sacred Heart Hospital Systems. He was one of three founders of the Chippewa Area (Wisconsin) United Way Endowment Funds. Leinenkugel was appointed to the role of senior White House advisor in January 2017 and left that position to serve as chair of the COVER Commission. Leinenkugel holds a BA in business and human resource management from Pepperdine University, as well as postbaccalaureate certificates from the Wharton Business School Financial Leaders Management Course, Columbia University Executive Senior Leadership Management Course, and the Darden Business Leaders Senior Development Course.
RADM Thomas (Tom) E. Beeman, PhD, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Cochair
Tom Beeman, with more than 45 years of health care experience, currently serves as executive-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania Health System (UPHS). Beeman recently retired as assistant deputy surgeon general for reserve affairs, U.S. Navy, where he served as deputy commander for the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, National Naval Medical Center. He previously served as chief operating officer for regional operations. Prior to his roles at UPHS, Beeman served as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Lancaster General Health for 10 years. Beeman served as president and CEO at Saint Thomas Health Services in Nashville, Tennessee, and as senior vice president for hospital operations and executive director of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. He is a fellow of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a fellow of the American College of Health Care Executives, and a member of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. Beeman holds a bachelor’s degree in community health studies and a master’s degree in health education from St. Joseph’s University, a master’s degree in hospital administration from Widener University, and a PhD in leadership and policy from Vanderbilt University, where he has taught courses in systems theory. He is the coauthor of Leading from Within and Developing Philanthropic Champions and has published academic articles on leadership.
Col. Matthew (Matt) F. Amidon, U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Ret.)
Commissioner
Matt Amidon is director for the Military Service Initiative at the George W. Bush Institute. There he works to develop and implement policy and strategic efforts, Team 43 Sports events, and research requirements and conferences to support the Military Service Initiative goal of fostering successful transitions for post 9/11 veterans and their families. Amidon has served in both active duty and reserve capacities since 1994, to include serving in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). He holds a bachelor’s degree with majors in political science and geography and a minor in history from the University of Vermont, a master’s degree in business administration from Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business, and a master’s of science degree from the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.
The Honorable Thomas (Tom) E. Harvey, Esq.
Commissioner
Tom Harvey is a Vietnam Army combat veteran whose decorations include the Silver Star, the Purple Heart, and 12 others for valor and service. A lawyer by training, Harvey served as chief counsel and staff director of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, deputy administrator of the Veterans Administration, and assistant secretary for congressional affairs of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Following 5 years with a major Wall Street law firm, Harvey came to Washington, DC, as a White House fellow. He has also served in the Department of Defense and as general counsel and congressional liaison of the United States Information Agency. He served as senior counselor of the Institute of International Education, which administers the Fulbright Program. He currently serves on the boards of the Milbank Memorial Fund, the focus of which is public health policy, and of the Art Students League of New York, where he studies watercolor painting. He holds both BA and JD degrees from the University of Notre Dame and an LLM degree from the New York University School of Law.
Ltc. Wayne B. Jonas, MD, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Commissioner
Wayne Jonas is a retired lieutenant colonel in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army. Currently, he is a practicing family physician, an expert in integrative health and health care delivery, and a widely published scientific investigator. His new book, How Healing Works, was published in January 2018 by Ten Speed Press. From 2001 to 2016, Jonas was chief executive officer of Samueli Institute, a nonprofit medical research organization supporting the scientific investigation of healing processes in the areas of stress, pain, and resilience. Jonas was the director of the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health from 1995 to 1999, and prior to that served as the director of the medical research fellowship at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians.
LtCol Jamil S. Khan, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.)
Commissioner
Jamil Khan served in the U.S. Marine Corps from the Vietnam era through the Desert Shield/Desert Storm period, participating in joint operations in what is currently NATO and CENTCOM Theater of Operations. He retired in 1994. Khan is active in veterans’ mental health community outreach and suicide prevention efforts and Rock County Veterans’ Treatment Court in Janesville, Wisconsin. Khan is a life member of all major veteran service organizations, to include the American Legion, Beirut Veterans of America, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Vietnam Veterans of America, and the Marine Corps Association. After retiring, he worked as a geographic information system technologist at Rock County Janesville, Wisconsin, and IS technologist at University of Wisconsin Madison. Khan currently volunteers in civic projects including hospice care and veterans’ outreach health care programs. Khan earned an undergraduate degree in social sciences and an MA in history from University of Peshawar, Pakistan, an MA in human resources management from Pepperdine University, and an MS in organizational development, planning, and budgeting from the Joint Command and Staff College.
Matthew (Matt) J. Kuntz, Esq.
Commissioner
Matthew (Matt) Kuntz served as an infantry officer in the Army, was recognized as Distinguished Member of the 35th Regiment for his service, and was released after medical discharge. Kuntz was practicing corporate law in Helena, Montana, when his step-brother, a Montana National Guardsmen who suffered from PTSD, committed suicide. Kuntz began advocating for effective screening and treatment of posttraumatic stress injuries of returning service members. Because of his efforts, Senate Bill 711, which requires multiple, face-to-face mental health screenings throughout the nation’s fighting force, was attached to the FY 2010 National Defense Authorization Act and signed into law in October 2009. In 2008, Kuntz became executive director for the Montana National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) to support, educate, and advocate for Montanans suffering from serious mental illness and their families. Kuntz has helped establish mental health peer services in Montana, develop children’s mental health crisis beds, and prevent incarceration of offenders with serious mental illness. Kuntz has advocated for increased access to service dogs for military service members and veterans with mental health conditions and brain injuries. He led the team that developed www.treatmentscout.com, a mental health and substance abuse navigation and review website that includes more than 1,600 veterans health care clinics. Kuntz was also instrumental in development of the Center for Mental Health Research and Recovery at Montana State University and was named interim director in August of 2018. He holds a bachelor’s degree from the United States Military Academy and a law degree from the University of Oregon.
Shira Maguen, PhD
Commissioner
Shira Maguen is mental health director of the OEF/OIF Integrated Care Clinic and staff psychologist on the PTSD clinical team at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC). She is also associate professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Maguen serves as the San Francisco site lead for the VA Women’s Health Practice-Based Research Network and codirector of the SFVAMC PTSD/dementia Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Centers postdoctoral research fellowship. She is involved with both the research and clinical components of the PTSD program. Her research interests fall under the umbrella of PTSD, moral injury, and suicide, and include risk and resilience factors in veterans, with a focus on female veterans. Maguen received a VA Health Services Research and Development Grant to examine the effect of killing in veterans of war and moral injury. She is currently the principal investigator on a VA grant-funded study examining a brief behavioral treatment for insomnia in primary care and a DoD grant-funded study focused on evaluation of evidence-based treatments for PTSD using natural language processing. She recently completed a grant-funded study focusing on eating behaviors in female veterans with trauma and received an implementation grant focused on expanding PTSD care for veterans. Maguen has written more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, most of which focus on veterans’ mental health. She also works in a clinical capacity within the OEF/OIF Integrated Care Clinic treating veterans with evidence-based treatments for PTSD. She supervises research health fellows and other trainees in evidence-based treatments for PTSD and provides mentorship for trauma-focused research fellows. Maguen earned a BA in psychology and master’s degree in developmental psychology from Columbia University. She earned an MA and PhD in clinical psychology from Georgia State University. Maguen completed her internship and postdoctoral training at the National Center for PTSD at the VA Boston Healthcare System. She is currently licensed as a clinical psychologist.
Maj. Michael J. Potoczniak, PhD, U.S. Army Reserve
Commissioner
Mike Potoczniak is currently a licensed psychologist in California and mental health director for the Santa Rosa community-based outpatient clinic in San Francisco VA. He previously served as team lead for addiction recovery treatment services at Martinez Outpatient Clinic in Martinez, California. Prior to this VA position, he served as program director for the addiction, consultation, and treatment program at the Palo Alto VA. Potoczniak currently serves in the Army Reserve and has been deployed twice, most recently as the behavioral health theater consultant located in Qatar, Afghanistan, and Kuwait, providing administrative oversight and quality assurance activities for behavioral health operations in the Middle East. Potoczniak earned undergraduate and master’s degrees at Manhattan College in New York City, New York and a PhD in counseling psychology at the University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida. He completed his predoctoral residency at the University of California, Irvine and subsequently worked at the University of Colorado at Boulder and the University of California, Berkeley prior to serving the in Army and the VA.
Capt. John (Jack) M. Rose, U.S. Navy (Ret.)
Commissioner
Jack Rose is currently a board member for NAMI for Kenosha County (Wisconsin) having served as president from 2006 to 2014. He has participated in various capacities with NAMI over the past 18 years at both the state and local levels. A mental health advocate, Rose is currently chair of the Mental Health/AODA Services Committee for Kenosha County and has served on the Behavior Health Treatment Court since its inception in 2013. He has served on the adjunct faculty at Carthage College in Kenosha. Recently reelected for his third term, he also serves as Alderman for the 15th District for the City of Kenosha. Rose has been a member of the Service Academy Nominations Advisory Board (First Congressional District, Wisconsin) since 2004. A naval aviator, retiring after 26 years in 1994, Rose served in various duty assignments to include squadron command, operational deployments/detachments worldwide, and the Pentagon. He served as a planner and venue manager for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and subsequently worked as project manager for Advantest America and ITT Pure-Flo. Rose holds a bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and an MBA from University of West Florida. He is also a graduate of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
