Mr. Michael Hartley retired as University of Iowa Health Care’s emergency manager in 2021 after a 30 year career with the institution. As a member of the leadership team for the UI Special Pathogens Unit (SPU) from its inception in 2014, he served as its operations manager working with a multidisciplinary team in overseeing the design and construction of the unit, as well as the quarterly training of the unit’s core team and conducting annual exercises. At the onset of a recent SPU activation for the management of a Lassa Fever case, he was asked to return to UI and serve in a consulting role throughout the response. Educated at the University of Iowa, he initially worked for a decade in prehospital care as a critical care paramedic until joining the UI Department of Emergency Medicine in 1992 as an instructor and research coordinator. In 2008, he joined UIHC Hospital Administration as the institution’s first emergency manager.