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An award-winning leader with the heart of a social worker and the spirit of a combat veteran, Colonel (U.S. Army, retired) Jeff Yarvis, PhD, LCSW, BCD, ACSW, is currently an action-oriented, hands-on leader. A responsive and flexible team member, Jeff has built, transformed, restored, and grown large organizations and optimized their performance using high-reliability principles. He has decades of experience in executive medicine, including labor relations efforts, securing significant research and program funding, fostering interagency collaboration, and restoring the integrity of failing programs. He has been described by students, superiors, and subordinates as an honest, ethical, big-hearted, “real,” and servant leader who inspires teamwork, coalition building, and mission success. He is an unconventional ex-military leader who gets things done with infectious passion. His ability to leverage unique skills and translate them to any setting makes him an ideal candidate for the most challenging organizational leadership environments. Always seeking to improve his leadership repertoire, Jeff has four additional master’s degrees, including in executive leadership and strategic studies, as well as board certifications in transpersonal life coaching and executive coaching.
With over 10,000 hours of clinical experience and more than 4,000 hours of coaching, the following awards speak to his ability to navigate the complex psychological terrain of individual and group dynamics within organizations and to create psychologically safe and cognitively diverse spaces. Leadership and advocacy awards include: DiversityMBA.org Top 100 Executives Under 50, NASW Social Work Pioneer, Top Doctor in Texas, Global Health and Pharma Excellence Award in Veterans PTSD, Outstanding DSW Faculty Award (Tulane University), Researcher of the Year (Texas A&M University–Central Texas), Uniformed Social Worker of the Year, U.S. Army Social Worker of the Year, and ISTSS Mental Health Professional of the Year. Board certifications include Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy, and he is a Fellow of the APA. Jeff was the first active-duty Army social worker to command a Combat Support Hospital, Medical Brigade, and Hospital Center. With over 130 peer-reviewed publications, Jeff is proud to announce the publication of his new book with Oxford University Press, Combat Social Work: Applying the Lessons of War to the Realities of the Human Services, co-authored with world-renowned scholars Drs. Charles Figley and Bruce Thyer.
Jeff’s accomplishments are in large part due to the support and love of his wife, Laura, of 28 years, and their social justice–minded children: Jacob, a brilliant social worker for the Department of Defense, and Olivia, an Emmy-nominated journalist for The Boston Globe. Jeff is an avid marathoner, veterans’ advocate, and voice for trauma victims, and he attacks life and family with the same focus, dedication, and passion that he brings to work.
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