Mr. Hal Pittman is a member of the Senior Executive Service and served as the Director of the Defense Media Activity (DMA) at Fort Meade, Maryland. DMA is a mass media and education organization that creates and distributes Department of Defense content across a variety of platforms to audiences around the world. Prior to DMA, Mr. Pittman was an executive with Arizona’s largest utility company, Arizona Public Service. Previously, he was President and CEO of Special Olympics Iowa, leading sports training and wellness efforts for 11,000 children and adults with intellectual disabilities, and prior to that, served a full career as a U.S. Navy officer in assignments all over the world, rising to the rank of Rear Admiral.

In uniform, Mr. Pittman led public affairs for some of the military’s most visible operations. He twice served as Communications Director at the U.S. Central Command during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan; commanded the Joint Public Affairs Support Element; and served in the Pentagon as a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and as Special Assistant to the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In his last active-duty deployment, Mr. Pittman led communications for the 140,000-strong NATO International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

During his active-duty service, his teams won numerous media industry awards, including the Public Relations Society of America Silver and Bronze Anvils, the International Association of Business Communicators’ Gold Quill, and the Folio Show Editorial Excellence Award "The Eddy." After his service on the U.S. Central Command staff, he was recognized as “PR News” Government Public Relations Person of the Year; he has also received the American Business Award "The Stevie" as America’s Best Corporate Communicator and in 2012, he was named "Advisor for Life" to the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee for his efforts assisting Afghan sports federations.

In 2016, Mr. Pittman founded the Arizona Corporate Council on Veteran Careers promoting veteran workforce development and hiring, and grew this Arizona business coalition to more than 35 companies. He is also Founder and Past President of the national utility industry non-profit Veterans in Energy, and has served with Boards of Directors for other non-profits and start-up companies. He is a past recipient of the Amateur Athletic Union’s Brother Bennett Award for Volunteerism, and the Arizona Governor’s Lifetime Community Service Award; and in 2020, he was selected to the Arizona Veterans Hall of Fame.

Mr. Pittman earned his undergraduate degree from Appalachian State University, a master’s degree in journalism from American University, was an MIT Seminar XXI Fellow in foreign politics and international relations, and is a graduate of the Dartmouth Tuck Business School Advanced Management Program.