Sheriff Mike Chapman has devoted his entire adult life to public service. Raised by loving parents and a father who served as both a U.S. Marine and detective with the Metropolitan Police Department of Washington, D.C., Mike was inspired by the calling of service from a young age.

At 21, he was the youngest to graduate from the Howard County, Maryland, Police Academy. He went on to serve in a variety of capacities there before joining the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1986 at the height of the Colombian cocaine wars.

He began his 23-year DEA career in Miami, arresting major cocaine traffickers before relocating to Karachi, Pakistan, to focus on the deadly heroin trade. He later returned to Florida before taking a supervisory position on the southern border in McAllen, Texas.

Mike then honed his diplomatic skills as the narcotics adviser to the U.S. Ambassador in Seoul, Korea, and later served as DEA’s director of international public affairs. He relocated to Bangkok, Thailand, to direct DEA activities throughout East Asia, before concluding his service by directing enforcement operations in northern California.

Post-DEA, Mike became a law enforcement subject matter expert for Booz Allen, but still felt the calling to serve on the front lines.

In 2011, as a political novice, he took on the four-term Sheriff of Loudoun County, Virginia, and won. Mike would be elected three more times, and now leads the largest full-service Sheriff’s Office in Virginia.

Mike’s service as Sheriff has been driven by the desire to make a positive difference in the lives of county residents and those far beyond. His efforts have resulted in a 37 percent reduction in serious crime and Loudoun having the lowest major crime rate in the Washington metropolitan area. His agency has become a national leader on crisis intervention training, community policing, the battle against fentanyl and other dangerous drugs, and the use of leading-edge technology to fight crime. In 2023, Mike was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriffs’ Association.

Service to our nation runs deep in the Chapman family. Mike and his wife Ann are proud parents of six adult children, two of whom graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, one from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and another from the U.S. Air Force Academy.  One serves as a special agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and another is now in law school.