United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs - wikipedia United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs Secretary of Veterans Affairs of the United States Seal of the Department of Veterans Affairs Flag of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs Incumbent Robert Wilkie Acting since March 28, 2018 United States Department of Veterans Affairs Style Mr. Secretary Member of Cabinet Reports to The President Seat Washington, D.C. Nominator The President Term length No fixed term Constituting instrument 38 U.S.C. § 303 Formation March 15, 1989 First holder Ed Derwinski Succession Seventeenth Deputy Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Salary Executive Schedule, level 1 Website www.va.gov The United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs is the head of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the department concerned with veterans ' benefits, health care, and national veterans ' memorials and cemeteries. The Secretary is a member of the Cabinet and second to last at sixteenth in the line of succession to the presidency ( the position was last until the addition of the United States Department of Homeland Security in 2006 ). Until the appointment of David Shulkin in 2017, all appointees and acting appointees to the post were United States military veterans, but that is not a requirement to fill the position. When the post of Secretary is vacant, the United States Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs or any other person designated by the President serves as Acting Secretary until the President nominates and the United States Senate confirms a new Secretary. Contents 1 List of Secretaries of Veterans Affairs 2 Living former Secretaries of Veterans Affairs 3 See also 4 References 5 External links List of Secretaries of Veterans Affairs Parties No party ( 2 ) Democratic ( 2 ) Republican ( 5 ) Status Denotes acting Secretary No. Portrait Name State of Residence Took Office Left Office President ( s ) Ed Derwinski Illinois March 15, 1989 September 26, 1992 George H.W. Bush -- Anthony Principi Acting California September 26, 1992 January 20, 1993 Jesse Brown Illinois January 22, 1993 July 1, 1997 Bill Clinton -- Hershel W. Gober Acting Arkansas July 1, 1997 January 2, 1998 Togo D. West Jr. District of Columbia January 2, 1998 May 5, 1998 May 5, 1998 July 25, 2000 -- Hershel W. Gober Acting Arkansas July 25, 2000 January 20, 2001 Anthony Principi California January 23, 2001 January 26, 2005 George W. Bush 5 Jim Nicholson Colorado January 26, 2005 October 1, 2007 -- Gordon H. Mansfield Acting Florida October 1, 2007 December 20, 2007 6 James Peake District of Columbia December 20, 2007 January 20, 2009 7 Eric Shinseki Hawaii January 20, 2009 May 30, 2014 Barack Obama -- Sloan D. Gibson Acting Alabama May 30, 2014 July 30, 2014 8 Bob McDonald Ohio July 30, 2014 January 20, 2017 -- Robert Snyder Acting West Virginia January 20, 2017 February 14, 2017 Donald Trump 9 David Shulkin Pennsylvania February 14, 2017 March 28, 2018 -- Robert Wilkie Acting Virginia March 28, 2018 Incumbent Anthony Principi served as acting secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs September 26, 1992 -- January 20, 1993. Hershel W. Gober served as acting secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs July 1, 1997 -- January 2, 1998 and July 25, 2000 -- January 20, 2001. West served as acting Secretary from January 2, 1998 to May 5, 1998. Gordon H. Mansfield served as acting secretary in his capacity as Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs October 1 -- December 20, 2007. Living former Secretaries of Veterans Affairs See also : List of living former members of the United States Cabinet As of April 2018, there are six living former Secretaries of Veterans Affairs ( with all Secretaries that have served since 2001 still living ), the oldest being Jim Nicholson ( served 2005 -- 2007, born 1938 ). The most recent Secretary of Veterans Affairs to die, as well as the recently serving Secretary to die, was Togo D. West, Jr. ( served 1998 -- 2000, born 1942 ), on March 8, 2018. Name Term of office Date of birth ( and age ) Anthony Principi 2001 -- 2005 ( 1944 - 04 - 16 ) April 16, 1944 ( age 74 ) Jim Nicholson 2005 -- 2007 ( 1938 - 02 - 04 ) February 4, 1938 ( age 80 ) James Peake 2007 -- 2009 ( 1944 - 06 - 18 ) June 18, 1944 ( age 73 ) Eric Shinseki 2009 -- 2014 ( 1942 - 11 - 28 ) November 28, 1942 ( age 75 ) Robert A. McDonald 2014 -- 2017 ( 1953 - 06 - 20 ) June 20, 1953 ( age 64 ) David Shulkin 2017 - 2018 ( 1959 - 07 - 22 ) July 22, 1959 ( age 58 ) See also Administrator of Veterans Affairs ( United States ) Veterans Health Administration References Jump up ^ https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19 Jump up ^ Public Law 109 - 177 §. 503 ^ Jump up to : 38 U.S.C. § 304 : Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Accessed January 13, 2008. Jump up ^ `` Gober Takes Over Top Spot at VA '' ( Press release ). Department of Veterans Affairs. July 25, 2000. Retrieved September 29, 2009. Jump up ^ `` President Clinton Names Togo D. West Jr. As Acting Secretary Of The Department Of Veterans ' Affairs '' ( Press release ). White House. December 2, 1997. Retrieved September 9, 2009. Jump up ^ Staff ( May 1999 ). `` The Honorable Togo D. West Jr ''. United States Department of Veterans Affairs. Archived from the original on March 4, 2000. Retrieved September 9, 2009. Jump up ^ UPI. Peake sworn in as VA secretary Archived February 4, 2008, at the Wayback Machine., December 20, 2007. Accessed December 21, 2007. External links Official website Current U.S. order of precedence ( ceremonial ) Preceded by Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education Order of Precedence of the United States as Secretary of Veterans Affairs Succeeded by Kirstjen Nielsen as Secretary of Homeland Security Current U.S. presidential line of succession Preceded by Secretary of Education Betsy Devos 17th in line Succeeded by Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen United States Secretaries of Veterans Affairs Derwinski Brown West Gober ( acting ) Principi Nicholson Peake Shinseki McDonald Shulkin Agencies under the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Headquarters : 810 Vermont Avenue NW ( Veterans Affairs Department Building ) David Shulkin, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Thomas G. Bowman, Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Deputy Secretary of Veterans Affairs Board of Veterans ' Appeals Center for Women Veterans Office of Acquisition and Material Management Office of Information and Technology Office of Occupational Safety and Health Office of Policy, Planning and Preparedness Office of Regulation Policy and Management Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization VA Police Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Benefits Veterans Benefits Administration Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Memorial Affairs National Cemetery Administration Chairman of the Board of Veterans ' Appeals Board of Veterans ' Appeals Leaders of the United States federal executive departments Current Agriculture Commerce Defense Education Energy Health and Human Services Homeland Security Housing and Urban Development Interior Justice Labor State Transportation Treasury Veterans Affairs Past Commerce and Labor Health, Education, and Welfare Navy Post Office War Presidential line of succession in the United States of America Vice President ( Mike Pence ) Speaker of the House of Representatives ( Paul Ryan ) President pro tempore of the Senate ( Orrin Hatch ) Secretary of State ( John Sullivan ) Secretary of the Treasury ( Steven Mnuchin ) Secretary of Defense ( Jim Mattis ) Attorney General ( Jeff Sessions ) Secretary of the Interior ( Ryan Zinke ) Secretary of Agriculture ( Sonny Perdue ) Secretary of Commerce ( Wilbur Ross ) Secretary of Labor ( Alex Acosta ) Secretary of Health and Human Services ( Alex Azar ) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development ( Ben Carson ) Secretary of Transportation ( Elaine Chao ) Secretary of Energy ( Rick Perry ) Secretary of Education ( Betsy DeVos ) Secretary of Veterans Affairs ( Robert Wilkie ) Secretary of Homeland Security ( Kirstjen Nielsen ) Jump up ^ Sullivan serves as the Acting Secretary of State, and is thus ineligible for the presidency. Mike Pompeo has been formally nominated for the position by Donald Trump. Jump up ^ Although Elaine Chao is the current Secretary of Transportation, she is not a natural - born citizen ( acquired U.S. citizenship by naturalization ) and thus ineligible for the presidency. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=United_States_Secretary_of_Veterans_Affairs&oldid=835590662 '' Categories : Lists of members of the Cabinet of the United States United States Department of Veterans Affairs Cabinet of the United States United States Secretaries of Veterans Affairs Hidden categories : Webarchive template wayback links Use mdy dates from April 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Esperanto Français Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Русский Simple English Svenska Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 6 more Edit links This page was last edited on 9 April 2018, at 16 : 32. About Wikipedia

Question: who is the current head of the department of veteran affairs
Answer: Robert Wilkie