STEPHEN PECK, M.S.W
PRESIDENT & CEOStephen J. Peck, who served as a Marine officer in Vietnam, heads the nation’s largest nonprofit fighting on the frontlines to help veterans and their families transition from homelessness to independence.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1993, U.S.VETS has grown to 32 residential and services locations across the country, serving 5,500+ veterans and families each day. Each year U.S.VETS helps more than 9,000 veterans find housing or get the services they need, and over 1,000 veterans gain full-time jobs.
Peck says he learned in the Marine Corps, “If you don’t go where the trouble is, you can’t solve the problem.”
As the issues of veteran unemployment, homelessness, post-traumatic stress, and other reintegration issues have reached critical levels, twenty veterans a day commit suicide in the United States.
“Our job at U.S.VETS is to engage the enemy at home — the enemy of homelessness, disillusionment and disappointment — to let these men and women know there is a path forward,” says Peck. U.S.VETS strives to empower each veteran to take responsibility for his or her success, guiding them towards independence in the community, developing their workforce skills and supporting recovery.
Peck graduated from Northwestern University in 1968 and entered the Marine Corps that same year. In Vietnam, he was a first lieutenant in the 1st Marine Division, serving as a forward observer outside of Danang in 1969, receiving the Navy Commendation Medal.
After his service Mr. Peck became a documentary filmmaker, but a series of films on homelessness and veteran’s issues compelled him to change careers. Peck went to work helping the Veterans Administration place homeless veterans into housing, and in 1996 joined U.S.VETS as Director of Community Development. His job focus was program design and funding, developing partnerships, and advocating on a state and national level to bring attention to solutions for homeless veterans. He was also the inaugural Director of U.S.VETS’ largest site in Long Beach and was eventually appointed president and CEO in August 2010. Peck earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work from USC in 1997.
Mr. Peck is proud to serve on the Board of Directors of the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans and he is also the President of the California Association of Veteran Service Agencies (CAVSA) a consortium of seven nonprofit veteran service providers working in partnership to address the needs of California’s veterans.
He has been honored by the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans, the USC School of Social Work, Northwestern University, the American Legion Auxiliary, and the City of Long Beach. He was awarded a Doctorate of Humane Letters, honoris causa, by the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in 2012.
Peck and his wife, Kristine Kidd, a food writer and culinary consultant, and the former Food Editor of Bon Appetit magazine, live with their Labrador retriever, Atticus, in the Los Angeles community of Topanga Canyon. He has a grown son, Ethan, an actor; and a grown step-daughter, Marisa, a writer.