MICHAEL J. HARDY
Deputy Chief Government Relations Officer and Director of Federal Relations
Michael J. Hardy is an award-winning government relations professional with experience on Capitol Hill, state government and in multiple government relations positions. Currently, he serves as the Deputy Chief Government Relations Officer & Director of Federal Relations for Texas A&M University, including its locations in Galveston, McAllen and Fort Worth. In addition to supporting the development and implementation of government relations strategies for Texas A&M University, he organizes and leads the university’s federal strategy to ensure that students, faculty, and staff have the federal resources they need to pursue excellence.
Michael is also actively involved with several higher education organizations on behalf of Texas A&M including the American Council on Education (ACE), Association of Public Land-Grant Universities (APLU) and the Association of America Universities (AAU). Within AAU, he currently serves as the vice-chair of the Council on Federal Relation’s (CFR) and has previously served as the co-chair of the CFR Higher Education Task Force and served on the CFR Steering Committee for two years (2022-2023).
Since 2020, Michael has served as chair of the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Government Relations group, where he helps coordinate legislative efforts with his government relations colleagues at the 13 other SEC schools along with SEC officials, including the commissioner and associate commissioner.
Prior to joining Texas A&M University, Michael spent more than six years at The Association of Former Students where he re-established and then ultimately led the Texas A&M Advocacy Network. In less than a year, Michael recruited more than 1,500 former students and friends of the university to join the effort as advocates for Texas A&M. In his final year at The Association, Michael served as the Director of Fundraising where he led The Association’s Annual Fund efforts. At the time, it was the single largest annual fund raised in the organization’s 138-year history.
Michael began his career in 2004 working on the successful re-election campaign of President George W. Bush where he led a team that was responsible for recruitment efforts of college students in Florida. Following the election, Michael spent time on Capitol Hill, followed by six years in the Virginia Legislature – as the Legislative Director to a Member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Northern Virginia and Deputy Chief of Staff to the 39th Lieutenant Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Bill Bolling. In this capacity, he was responsible for policy initiatives and research, along with shepherding the Lt. Governor’s legislative agenda through the Virginia General Assembly.
In 2022, the AAU’s CFR awarded Michael the New Innovator Award, which recognizes excellence in a CFR Member who has served less than 5 years for their active engagement and leadership on higher education issues. In 2017, Michael was awarded the 40 Under 40 Award by Georgia Southern University, his alma mater, which recognizes alumni that are leading the way in business, leadership, community, educational and/or philanthropic endeavors – a distinction fewer than 1% of alumni hold.
Michael, holds a BS in Political Science from Georgia Southern University and a Master's of Public Service and Administration from the Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University. Michael and his daughter live in College Station. In their free time, they enjoy visiting America’s 63 federally designated National Parks.