Blas Villalobos

Dr. Blas Villalobos currently serves as the Veterans Affairs director at Chapman University, where he provides resources and services for the student veteran population and their families. Previous to his current position, Dr. Villalobos managed Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office of Veterans Affairs. Under this position, Dr. Villalobos developed, and implemented, Mayor Garcetti’s strategic vision to leverage private and public resources to assist veterans and their families reintegrate into civilian life, managing the 10,000 Strong Initiative, a program that helped more than 12,000 veterans find full-time employment. Dr. Villalobos also served as the Executive Director of Community Programs and Veteran Services for U.S.VETS Patriotic Hall, where he managed the Outside the Wire program, the Career Development Initiative, and the Supportive Services for Veteran Families program. Dr. Villalobos also serves as a member of the Veterans Administration Advisory Committee on the Readjustment of Veterans and was appointed to the committee by VA Secretary Shulkin in 2018. As a member, his role is to promote the effectiveness and adequacy of VA programs, to include the availability, ease of access, quality, and consumer satisfaction with the delivery of services designed to meet the readjustment needs of America’s war Veterans, by providing consumer-based recommendations to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Dr. Villalobos served in the United States Marine Corps from October 1999-October 2003. During his military service, he was deployed to Iraq during the invasion in March 2003, where he served as a Squad Leader during combat operations earning several awards, including the Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Meritorious Unit Commendation, Iraq Campaign Medal with two bronze campaign stars, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Humanitarian Service Medal. After his military service, Dr. Villalobos attended Long Beach City College, then graduated from Cal State Long Beach with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, and received a master’s degree in social work from the University of Southern California with a concentration in community organization, planning and administration, and a sub-concentration in military social work. Dr. Villalobos also completed his doctoral program in social work at USC.