The El Paso VA Health Care System has a new, permanent director after the job was filled by interim directors for 1½ years.
Mark Rielo, who served twice as interim director of the El Paso VA system, has been appointed as the new director, overseeing a staff of 1,500 people and an operating budget of $735 million.
The El Paso system oversees health care services for more than 44,000 enrolled military veterans in El Paso and Las Cruces, New Mexico.
A new, $700 million-plus VA Health Care Center is under construction for the El Paso VA system. It will be the new base for a multitude of health care services.
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Rielo has worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs for 19 years, according to his LinkedIn profile. He most recently was associate director of the VA health care system in Amarillo, Texas.
The El Paso system director’s title has been changed from executive director to medical center director, but the duties remain the same for the system’s top executive, a VA spokesperson said.
The El Paso system has been without a permanent director since Froy Garza left as director in September 2024 to become interim director of the VA Central California Health Care System in Fresno, California. He was appointed permanent director of the Fresno system in November 2025.
Garza directed the El Paso VA system for just over two years, from June 2022 to September 2024.
Rielo held the interim director title from September 2024 to October 2025, when Shane Soto was named interim director. Soto currently is associate director of resources for the South Texas Veterans Health Care System in San Antonio.
Rielo also held the El Paso interim director job for five months in 2022, when Michael Amaral retired and prior to Garza taking the job.
Prior to Amarillo, Rielo held leadership positions at the VA health care system in Loma Linda, California and at the Long Beach, California-based Veterans Integrated Service Networks, or VISN 22, which operates eight VA health care systems in New Mexico, Arizona and Southern California.
Rielo has two master’s degrees from California schools: A master’s degree in public health from Loma Linda University and a master’s degree in economics from the University of California, Riverside.
The El Paso VA system will have a new home in the future. A 493,000-square-foot El Paso VA Health Care Center is being built next to the mammoth, almost 5-year-old William Beaumont Army Medical Center in East El Paso.
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The new VA facility was projected to open in late 2028 or early 2029 when a groundbreaking ceremony was held in August 2024.
It will replace the cramped, 30-year-old VA medical center at 5001 N. Piedras St., in North-Central El Paso. The El Paso system also operates medical clinics in various areas of El Paso and in Las Cruces.
Vic Kolenc may be reached at 915-546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on X, and @vkolenc.bsky.social on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Amarillo VA official is new director of El Paso VA Health Care System
Reporting by Vic Kolenc, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
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