Peck in his Long Beach office, July 2008. Photo by Ryan ZumMallen.

10:00am | After fourteen years of leading the Long Beach veterans housing complex—known as U.S. Vets – Long Beach—that assisted more than 550 people at any one time, Stephen J. Peck has been appointed President of U.S. Vets.

“I am honored to be appointed as President of U.S. VETS,” said Peck, in a press release. “I am committed, along with the U.S.VETS management team, to continue moving the organization forward in a positive direction and to continue to provide quality services to veterans.”

Peck is a former Marine Corps Lieutenant and Vietnam veteran who began his work with veterans services by helping establish the inaugural U.S. Vets site in Inglewood in 1993. In 1996, he became the organization’s Director of Community Development and served as the first Site Director for the Long Beach complex, known as the Villages At Cabrillo which would eventually grow to become the organization’s largest site.

The staging-live.lbpost.com profiled Peck and the site in this July 2008 article. He talked extensively about the struggle to become known in the veteran community, and the method they use to assist those who need help.

“We want to create a continuum of care so they can move seamlessly from one program to another,” Peck said when interviewed for that article.  “The goal is to get them back to the workforce.  They sooner they can do that, the sooner they’ll begin feeling better about themselves.”

Peck also developed multiple U.S.VETS signature programs such as the Non-Custodial Fathers Program, ADVANCE Woman’s Program, and the Veterans Re-Entry Project (VRP).

After being appointed Senior Vice President earlier this year, Peck takes over the largest non-profit veterans services organization in the country. Former President and CEO Dwight Radcliff passed away earlier this year.

Disclosure: staging-live.lbpost.com publisher Shaun Lumachi is a U.S.VETS – Villages at Cabrillo advisory board member.