About Us
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Matt Brancato
Co-Founder
Matt Brancato is the Co-Founder and President of Holbrook Farms Retreat. He is currently serving as a pilot in the Air National Guard at Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan.
Matt grew up in Aurora, Illinois, before attending the United States Air Force Academy in 1995, where he studied General Engineering. After graduating in 1999, he served on active duty at Aviano Air Base in Italy; Laughlin Air Force Base in Texas; Charleston Air Force Base in South Carolina; and later as an instructor at the Air Force Academy.
In 2008, Matt joined the North Dakota Air National Guard, where he and his wife, Micaela, settled in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota. After purchasing the Holbrook Farms Retreat property in 2010, the vision for hosting retreats for military survivors began in 2011, following the military-related fatalities of several friends.
From 2014 to 2016, Matt was assigned to the Air National Guard Readiness Center at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. He then moved to California for a command assignment from 2017 to 2019. In 2019–2020, he attended the National Defense University’s National War College, and afterward, took command of the 164th Airlift Wing in Memphis, Tennessee, serving until 2022. After a successful tour in Memphis, Matt was selected as the Senior Executive Officer to the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, a position he held from 2022 to 2023.
