Leadership

Jeremy Hunt serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors for Veterans on Duty (VOD)—a veteran-led 501(c)(4) policy advocacy organization. Mr. Hunt, a graduate of Yale Law School and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, guides VOD’s advocacy efforts to ensure our military remains ready, focused, and lethal and to fight for policies that keep America safe, strong, and free.

Previously, Mr. Hunt commissioned as an active-duty military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army. He deployed to Ukraine, where he was part of a multi-national mission to train the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Mr. Hunt eventually rose to the rank of captain and now serves in the U.S. Army Inactive Ready Reserve.

In 2022, Mr. Hunt ran for U.S. Congress, coming up only 700 votes short in the Republican primary runoff election. His campaign earned endorsements from former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Senator Tom Cotton (AR), and Congressman Mike Waltz (FL-06), as well as other sitting members of Congress.

Mr. Hunt’s work has been published in the Washington Post, Fox News, the New York Post, The Hill, and the Washington Times. He concurrently serves as a media fellow at the Hudson Institute, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit research institute in Washington, D.C. He frequently appears as a guest commentator on the Fox News Channel’s “Outnumbered,” “Fox & Friends,” and other national programs.

Above all, Mr. Hunt most enjoys spending time with his wife, Ky, and their two young children, Kinsley and Hayes.

Garrett Exner is an adjunct fellow at Hudson Institute, where he writes and comments on US national defense with a specific focus on the use of special operations forces and gray zone competition.

Mr. Exner is executive director of the Public Interest Fellowship, where he is responsible for the fellow selection process, fellow placements, relationships with partner organizations, and oversight of the development and education of fellows over their time in the program. Previously, he served as the military legislative assistant to US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), a counterterrorism policy advisor in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Policy), and as a special operations officer in the United States Marine Corps. He spent 14 years in the Marine Corps with deployments and operational experience in Iraq, North Africa, East Africa, and the South Pacific.

He earned his MA from the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and his BA from the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. He resides in Virginia with his wife and two children.

Hooff Cooksey currently serves as the Executive Director of Veterans On Duty - He has worked in the political and public affairs spaces for over a decade. During that time, he served in advisory and managerial roles for top tier presidential, gubernatorial, Senate, and House races across the country. In 2018, Hooff managed Governor Kim Reynolds’ successful bid for Governor of Iowa, making her the first female elected to the position. Hooff also advised a number of Senate battleground campaigns while at the NRSC before forming his own firm with a focus on political, independent expenditure, and public affairs projects. Hooff is a native of Alexandria, VA and received his B.S. from The University of Texas at Austin. He is an Officer in the United States Navy Reserves.