Cindy Kuehner serves as Chair of the Board of Trustees for Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. (PHW), helping guide the organization’s mission to support Veteran healing and well-being through fly fishing, meaningful connection, community, and time on the water. Through her engagement across PHW programs and events, she remains closely connected to Veterans and volunteers whose experiences continue to shape and strengthen the mission.
A retired Rear Admiral, Cindy concluded nearly 34 years of active-duty service in 2023. Her final assignments included Commander, Naval Medical Forces Support Command and the 26th Director of the U.S. Navy Nurse Corps. Her career spanned clinical practice, operational medicine, and executive leadership worldwide, including command of U.S. Naval Hospital Okinawa—the Navy’s largest overseas medical facility—and service as Executive Officer of Naval Medical Center San Diego, where she was the first Navy Nurse to hold that role.
Her operational service included deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom, where she served in senior medical leadership roles in Iraq and Afghanistan. These experiences, alongside decades of caring for service members and their families, continue to inform her perspective on service, transition, and long-term Veteran well- being.
Cindy holds a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree and maintains board certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP-BC) and Advanced Nurse Executive (NEA-BC), reflecting a lifelong focus on healthcare leadership and the systems that support people through demanding environments.
Following her naval career, Cindy remained committed to serving those who have served. She was drawn to PHW’s mission through a shared belief that the transition from military service—while often uncertain—also offers opportunity for connection, restoration, and renewed purpose. Through her time with PHW, she has met and learned from many Veterans whose personal journeys reflect the profound, and often life-changing, impact of community and time on the water.
A lifelong mariner, Cindy has spent decades sailing, fishing, and diving, with a deep respect for the water as a source of both challenge and renewal. She values the way PHW brings together the natural environment, skilled volunteers, and Veteran community to foster practical, enduring healing—and has seen firsthand the difference that connection can make.
As Board Chair, she works alongside trustees, staff, and volunteers to ensure PHW remains a strong, credible, and mission-focused organization—one that honors the trust placed in it by Veterans, donors, and partners.
Cindy and her husband Karl, also a retired Navy Veteran, raised their three children during their dual military careers and remain closely connected to a multigenerational legacy of service.