ORLANDO – Aaron “Gary” Newman of Orange Park was elected President of the Vietnam Veterans of America Florida State Council on June 8 at the Orlando Marriott Lake Mary.

The Navy veteran has served as Florida State Council First Vice President for four years. Before that, he held the position of Second Vice President.

The Florida State Council is the second largest VVA state council, with 5,825 members and 30 chapters as of April 2024.

Newman, the founder and former president of VVA Col. William G. Byrns Chapter 1059 in Clay County, was inducted in 2018 into the Florida Veterans’ Hall of Fame.

He also founded Chapter 1080, the incarcerated chapter at Union Correctional Institution, and currently serves on the VVA’s Veterans Incarcerated and In the Justice committee. He was recognized in 2017 by the VVA for his work with incarcerated veterans.

A recipient of the VVA’s Special Achievement Award of 2022, he is the former Florida Veterans Assistance Foundation president.

He was the 2017 Florida State Council John Koprowski Member of the Year, and in 2015, he received the VVA President’s Special Recognition Award for a new Veterans Treatment Court in Clay County.

Newman replaces John McGinty of Chapter 1084, who held the FSC’s president position for four years.

Marc Goodell, President of Thomas H. Corey Chapter 25 in West Palm Beach, was elected First Vice President, and Jerry Klein, Vice President of Thomas H. Corey Chapter 25 in West Palm Beach, was elected the Second Vice President.

David Treffinger, President of Col. William G. Byrns Chapter 1059, was elected secretary, and Stuart Berman, Secretary-Treasurer of Chapter 594 in Fort Myers, was elected treasurer.