Oklahoma Veterans Commission appoints new executive director

Retired Rear Admiral James Bynum will be the new Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs executive director, starting Aug. 1. (Photo provided by Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs)

OKLAHOMA CITY – The Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs has a new executive director.

Retired Rear Admiral James Bynum was announced Monday as the agency’s new executive director. He begins Aug. 1.

Brett Martin, Veterans Commission chairman, said Bynum is a qualified candidate.

“He’s dealt with Capitol Hill in D.C., … working with our legislation at our capitol should be a cakewalk,” Martin said. “The idea that he can run and be responsible for multi-billion dollar assets, I think he can handle seven homes and 1,500 employees at ODVA.”

Bynum has held executive positions as president of Bynum & Bynum Consultants, LLC, a lead consultant for mid-sized defense engineering and manufacturing companies, and a Senior Fellow at the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies.

His legislative experience includes being a military legislative assistant for the late U.S. Sen. John McCain and holding a position with the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington, D.C.

Bynum is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s ROTC program, where he also earned a bachelor’s in management of information systems.

His education also includes the Harvard Kennedy School, the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and the Naval Post Graduate School.

Bynum was also a Capitol Hill Fellow at Georgetown University.

He was deployed as part of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Bynum was also deployed as part of the U.S. Air Force’s 94th Fighter Squadron and commanded VFA-27, as part of the deployed forces in Japan.

Bynum will succeed former Executive Director Greg Slavonic, who served 15 months after Gov. Kevin Stitt removed the previous director.

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