Michael Hartford.

Michael W. Hartford, MHA, FACHE, CAPT, USN (Ret.) is a healthcare consultant who serves as Special Projects Healthcare Consultant for Avalon Action Alliance, a post-trauma wellness network for veterans and first responders, where he works to expand access to life-changing brain health treatments. A featured speaker at The Mac Parkman Foundation's Veteran Town Hall on veteran brain health, he supports the Foundation's mission of raising awareness of the impact that repeated head impacts and repeated blast exposure have on the brain and mental health of children, athletes, and veterans. Hartford brings decades of military and civilian healthcare leadership to the fight against traumatic brain injury in the military community.

Hartford's career in uniform spans 39 years. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1974 and went on to serve in the Air Force Reserve and Army National Guard before accepting a commission as an Ensign in the Navy Medical Service Corps in 1986. Over a 27-year Navy career he was mobilized for Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, served as Director for Administration at Navy Hospital Jacksonville, and worked as a liaison officer with the Navy Safe Harbor Wounded Warrior program at Tampa's Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center. He retired from active duty in 2013 as a Navy Captain, with his final assignment as Deputy Director for Navy Reserve Medicine at Defense Health Headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia; his decorations include the Legion of Merit and the Meritorious Service Medal.

In his civilian career, Hartford spent 22 years with the Department of Veterans Affairs, rising to Director/CEO of the VA Health Administration Center in Denver, and later held senior healthcare positions with the Florida Department of Health, Healogics, Inc., and Zeiders Enterprises, where he directed the company's Veterans Division. When the Marcus Institute for Brain Health was stood up at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus in 2017, he served from day one as its Chief Operations Director and Chief of Staff before transitioning to healthcare consultant — work that, alongside the Gary Sinise Foundation's Avalon Network, has helped open veteran TBI treatment sites in Florida and across the country. He holds a bachelor's degree in health management from Northeastern University and a master's in health administration from the University of La Verne, and is a Board Certified healthcare executive and Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Hartford's advocacy for wounded warriors has reached the national level: he contributed language on wounded warrior care management to the 2008 National Defense Authorization Act and received White House appointments to the Veterans Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation and the PREVENTS Task Force on veteran suicide prevention. He serves on both the Florida and Colorado Governor's Challenge task forces addressing service member and veteran suicide, and in 2021 he was inducted into the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame.