She’s known as the creative one, the out-of-the-box thinker, the strategic planner. She often uses skills from her previous day job to help the American Legion Auxiliary grow and achieve its goals.

2024-2025 American Legion Auxiliary National President Trish Ward is the third ALA national president from the Department of Kansas and is a Paid Up For Life member of John P. Hand Unit 250. 
 
Ward shares about her family, Auxiliary involvement, the 2024-2025 national focus, and why the ALA is so important to her.
 
Family first
Ward is eligible for membership through her father, World War II U.S. Army veteran John M. Brusati, and grandfather, WWII U.S. Navy veteran Edmund S. Lindberg. 
 
“I’m really proud to be a daughter of the generation known as the Greatest Generation,” she said. “I really feel the responsibility of honoring that generation.” 
 
She and her husband, Steve, bring children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to The American Legion Family. 
 
Born and raised in California, Ward eventually ended up in the Midwest. So why the Sunflower State?

“I met a wonderful man who is from Kansas, and got married,” she said. “I left home, left family, left friends — left everything. I loved him. We strategized a future for us in Kansas.” 
 
In her professional career, Ward was employed as a senior lead project manager at Lumen, a global multinational technology and IT company, before retiring to focus on her national president duties. She holds bachelor’s degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Kansas. 
 
Together, she and Steve carved out a life in the suburbs of Kansas City. They operated a small business, but she still felt lost in a new town and new state. Their realtor was the one who suggested they join The American Legion Family. 
 
Path leads to Auxiliary involvement
Taking her realtor’s advice, Ward joined the ALA and became a member of the Department of Kansas.
 
“I am very fortunate that Unit 250 was so welcoming,” Ward recalled of those early ALA days. “They very much embraced a new kid from California. They made me feel valued and welcomed, and that I had something to contribute.” 
 
Having a place to hang out and meet people was the initial reason for joining the American Legion Auxiliary, Ward said. 
 
“I didn’t know about the programs,” she recalled. “Then they became more important than a place to hang out. I became very interested in the programs of the organization.” 

As she became more active in her unit, Ward was asked to be unit president, and her involvement and interest in the ALA continued to grow from there. 
 
“Leadership capacity is so needed,” she said. “We need people to step up and give their time, get interested, and do the best they can.” 
 
She started attending district meetings, ran for office, and was elected. Ward really wanted to lead as department president someday. 
 
“I am here as national president today because JoAnn Cronin saw something in me,” she said. “She was national president at the time and came to visit Kansas. I was district president, and she invited me to the first strategic planning experience in 2006. That was my welcome to the national organization. I met a lot of people.”
 
Ward was also an American Legion Auxiliary Foundation Board of Directors charter member when it was created in 2007, and was its first secretary. She crafted the ALA Foundation’s original minutes and bylaws.
 
“It gave me a really great foundation about the Foundation itself,” she said. 
 
Later, Ward was Department of Kansas president in 2010-2011, National Executive Committee member in 2011, and then was appointed national Membership Committee chair by 2011-2012 National President Kris Nelson.
 
Ward has served in several unit-, district-, and department-level positions. At the national level, she served as committee chair of Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation, Children & Youth, Constitution & Bylaws, Leadership, Legislative, ALA Girls Nation, Public Relations, and Membership; as Central Division National Vice President; National Executive Committee member; American Legion Auxiliary Foundation Board of Directors member; and served on the ALA Centennial Strategic Plan Team.
 
“I’m grateful to have had the experience to chair those committees,” she said. “Every one of them prepared me for this opportunity.” 
 
Ward said she has always loved language and is keenly interested in words, drawing her to the Constitution & Bylaws Committee. However, National Security is her favorite program. 
 
“I love National Security for the opportunity that activities within the program’s components enable our members to connect and work with active-duty military and their families, support our communities through recognizing and aligning with first responders in support of community preparedness and finally — and probably most importantly — playing a role in remembering our POW/MIA and assuring we will strive to make sure those missing all come home,” she said. “I love the work our Legion Family does to make sure those missing in action are never forgotten. Until all are home, we will continue to advocate on their behalf and support their families.”
 
A national focus on strengthening membership for 2024-2025
“I believe strongly with all my heart — do not stop what you are doing. Do not stop the great work accomplished by prior administrations,” Ward said. “Do not stop supporting adaptative sports, do not stop supporting caregivers, don’t stop supporting NVCAF companions, and don’t stop supporting Be the One.” 
For the 2024-2025 administrative year, Ward wants to add on to the previous administrative year focus areas the American Legion Auxiliary already does well. 
 
“We want to invest back in you — invest back in our departments and units to be more successful in growing this organization,” she said. “We must do that. These units are the fabric of America. This administrative year is about investing back.”
 
To help with this, Ward created the Department Excellence Initiative, which is divided into two parts. The first is that Ward will be visiting departments and delivering content to help units and departments have greater awareness, knowledge, and understanding how they can impact the organization at the grassroots level. 

Ward said she is going to focus on four truth statements:
• Small-town rural environments are struggling
• Leadership capacity is dwindling
• Membership is aging and churning
• Infrastructure is weakening

“I’m going to share best practices on how departments and units can head in a more positive trajectory and stop units from surrendering charters,” she said. “Every truth statement will have a resource page with articles, websites, and more. I want to leave them better than I found them.” 
 
The second part of the Department Excellence Initiative is the Department Merit Medallion. There are five established areas of focus that, if achieved, will drive business and operational excellence:
• Achieve 85% membership benchmark goal by March 15, 2025
• Submit department impact report
• Governance excellence (C&B annual review, board responsibilities, disciplinary process, meeting and voting authority)
• Financial policies and process (990 compliance, audit standards)
• Financial donation (ALA Foundation Veteran Projects Fund, Auxiliary Emergency Fund) 
 
“Let’s build on and try to work together to really shore up the foundation of this organization,” Ward urges members. “It’s investing back in ourselves so we can position for the future to help those we serve.” 
 
At its most basic level, the content delivery is all about members and helping them in any way possible.
 
“Units need more tools to be successful,” she said. “We are helping them by giving them the resources they need.” 
 
Ward said she hopes the delivered content is successful and helps departments and units make critical adjustments for the ALA’s future. 
 
“It’s important we get this figured out, or we are going to lose more units,” she said. “Some are very strong and doing well. Everywhere we need people to step up, and we don’t have that. People are afraid of stepping up in leadership roles.”
 
Moving the mission forward 
The national focus ties into Ward’s vision for the 2024-2025 administrative year: “leading the way.” The inspiration comes from the North Star — the brightest in the sky — that often leads the way for travelers.  
 
“There are two things this organization needs at the grassroots level — greater inspiration and aspiration,” she said. “I hope to leave our members renewed and empowered that they have what they need. It is the people in these little units doing big things every day, and we cannot lose them.”