Trish Ward was elected national president of the American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) during the organization’s 103rd National Convention held Aug. 23-29 in New Orleans.

“I stand before you today incredibly honored to have been elected to the position of national president for the 2024-2025 administrative year and I thank you deeply and genuinely for your support and confidence,” Ward said from the convention stage. “As a dedicated and committed member of this organization, it’s hard for me to express the emotion of this moment. Yes, it is the opportunity of a lifetime, not only for me, but also and more so for my beloved Kansas.”

Before her election to the ALA’s highest volunteer office, Ward held numerous leadership positions in the organization at the unit, district, department, and national levels. At the national level, she served as chair of several programs, including Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation, Children & Youth, Constitution & Bylaws, Leadership, Legislative, ALA Girls Nation, Public Relations, and Membership. She also served as national vice president during the ALA’s 2023-2024 administrative year.

Ward is a member of John P. Hand Unit 250 in Louisburg, Kan. She is eligible for ALA membership through her father, John M. Brusati, and her grandfather, Edmund S. Lindberg. Her father served in the U.S. Army in World War II, and her grandfather served in the U.S. Navy during WWII.

In her professional life, Ward retired in 2023 as Senior Lead Project Manager at Lumen, a global technology and IT company. She holds bachelor’s degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Kansas. Her hobby is studying parliamentary law, and she is a member of the National Association of Parliamentarians.

Ward’s family is also involved in The American Legion Family organizations. She and her husband Steve bring children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to the Family experience.

2024-2025 National President Focus 
As a membership organization, American Legion Auxiliary members make a difference every day for our veterans, military, and their families.

Our membership numbers change from year to year for various reasons, which can impact the outreach we are able to do.

The American Legion Auxiliary has seen in recent years that small-town rural environments are struggling, leadership capacity is dwindling, membership is aging and churning, and infrastructure is weakening.

These reasons related to our membership have led Ward to an ALA national focus on helping reinvigorate our organization through membership — from the ground up.

Ward is visiting ALA departments (states) during her term as national president to share a content enablement experience to help departments help their units succeed. Leveraging her deep business acumen as a senior lead project manager and corporate trainer, Ward looks to bring her skills to empower departments to build organizational excellence. During the visits, she will focus on how to build leadership capacity and share knowledge on how to stop the trend of units surrendering their charters.

To help motivate and guide departments, Ward established the Department Merit Medallion Recognition. There are five established areas of focus that, if achieved, will drive business and operational excellence:

• Achieve 85% membership benchmark goal by June 30, 2025.
• Submit department impact report.
• Governance excellence (Constitution & Bylaws annual review, board responsibilities, disciplinary process, meeting and voting authority).
• Financial policies and process (990 compliance, audit standards).
• Financial donation obligations (ALA Foundation Veteran Projects Fund, Auxiliary Emergency Fund).

Members are also invited to join the Renew Crew. These are the people who get things done — with or without a title; people who, when asked, will jump in to help; people who are looking for actionable items and want to make an impact; people who are interested in moving the needle for our organization; and people who are positive, innovative, and visionary.

The Veterans Project Fund (VPF) was implemented in 2013 to help support projects that meet the needs of veterans, military, and military families. These grants are awarded to American Legion Auxiliary tax-exempt entities for projects that meet a one-time, new need benefiting multiple veterans, military, and their families. 2024-2025 ALA National President Trish Ward is raising funds for the VPF. For more information on VPF grants, visit https://alafoundation.org/veteran-projects-fund-grants. To donate, text “LEAD” to 1-844-940-3450.