Jack Hammond, a retired and decorated U.S. Army Brigadier General and a private sector CEO who has served on advisory groups for presidents, governors, and businesses will kick off a new speaker series at the Manchester Public Library.
Hammond has presented his leadership programs at the White House, the UK’s Parliament, presidential libraries, and with national companies working in defense, construction, biotechnology, marketing, and more. Since 2012, he’s been the executive director of HomeBase, a unique nonprofit partnership between the Boston Red Sox and Massachusetts General Hospital that provides clinical care, wellness, education, and research to veterans of all eras, active service members, military families, and the families of fallen soldiers.
Hammond’s appearance from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 1 is the first in the “Manchester-by-the-Sea Distinguished Speakers Series.” The series features a lineup of five distinguished local individuals whose expertise spans performance management, corporate strategy, philanthropy and service, and housing and food insecurity. Presented by the Library and the Manchester-by-the-Sea Cultural Council, the inspiration for the series is to broaden education, awareness, and empathy via the fine tradition of learning from knowledgeable people. The series runs through May 16.
As the head of HomeBase, Hammond and his team have established the nation’s first private sector Center of Excellence for the Invisible Wounds and developed innovative solutions for mental health and brain injuries. They have also leveraged the faculty and clinical resources of MGH and Harvard Medical School to reimagine veteran mental health and brain injury care. All these treatments are provided at no cost to those they serve.
General Hammond has led U.S. and NATO forces in combat and counter-terrorism operations in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This includes simultaneously commanding two separate Battalion level task forces on more than one hundred successful intelligence-fused counter-terrorist operations in Iraq, responding to both WMD (“weapons of mass destruction”) events and mass casualty suicide bombings, and an attack on a US Embassy.
From his long, distinguished career of military service, Hammond has earned the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit Medal for combat service, the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, two Valorous Unit Awards, the Combat Action Badge, the French Medal of National Defense, and the Bulgarian Medal of Mission Support.
