COL Brett H. Venable, FACHE, is chief of staff, Medical Readiness Command West, Fort Bliss, Texas.

He also serves on the Board of Governors of the American College of Healthcare Executives, an international professional society of more than 48,000 healthcare executives who lead hospitals, healthcare systems and other healthcare organizations. With comprehensive programs in credentialing, education, career counseling, publications and research, ACHE works toward its goal of being the preeminent professional society for leaders dedicated to advancing health.

Board certified in healthcare management as an ACHE Fellow, COL Venable has served as a member of the Army ACHE Regent’s Board of Senior Advisors since 2019. Previously, he served on the ACHE Ethics Committee from 2015 to 2017. He has also served as a leader in various local chapters to include the Central European Healthcare Executives.

Before his current role, which he has served in since 2023, he was commander/CEO, William Beaumont Army Medical Center, from 2021 to 2023; deputy to the assistant surgeon general for Resources, Infrastructure and Strategy in the Office of the Army Surgeon General and Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff, G-8/9, for the United States Army Medical Command, from 2020 to 2021; CEO/commander, Keller Army Community Hospital, West Point, N.Y., from 2018 to 2020; CEO/commander, Kenner Army Health Clinic, Fort Lee, Va., from 2015 to 2017; chief of staff/COO, Reynolds Army Community Hospital, Fort Sill, Okla., from 2014 to 2015; CEO/commander, Medical Task Force Shelby, Camp Shelby, Miss., from 2013 to 2014; CFO, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Landstuhl, Germany, from 2011 to 2013; and chief of staff/COO (2011) and CFO (2008 to 2010), Heidelberg Army Health Center, Heidelberg, Germany. Earlier, COL Venable held leadership positions with the U.S. Army in Iraq, Colorado, Alaska, Kentucky and Korea.

In addition to his service to ACHE, COL Venable is a member of the Harvard Veterans Alumni Organization, Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, the Order of Military Merit, the American Society of Military Comptrollers and Beta Gamma Sigma International Business Honor Society. He has earned numerous awards during his career, including the Legion of Merit twice, the Bronze Star Medal, the Army Surgeon General’s Excalibur Award for process improvement, ACHE’s Military Excellence in Healthcare Management Award and ACHE’s 2015 Army Senior-Level Healthcare Executive Award.

COL Venable earned an MBA and a master’s degree in public administration from Syracuse (N.Y.) University, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va., where he graduated magna cum laude. While at Old Dominion University, he received an Army ROTC scholarship, the G. William Whitehurst Leadership Award and the MacArthur Leadership Award. In 2018, he was a National Security Fellow at Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.