Thom Hartmann is a progressive radio talk show host, author, and retired businessman who was born and grew up in Michigan. He was born on May 7, 1951 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was one of Jean and Carl Thomas Hartmann’s four children. Hartmann has spent much of his life working with and for the International Salem relief organization. In 1979, he and his wife Louise founded New England Salem Children's Village, which provides a home and a nurturing environment for neglected and emotionally disturbed children. Hartmann served as the Executive Director for five years, and on its board for over 25 years. Through his affiliation with the German Salem International organization, he has helped start international relief programs in several countries.
Hartmann is the four-time Project Censored Award-winning, New York Times best-selling author of 25 books currently in print in over a dozen languages on five continents. He is an internationally known speaker on culture and communications, an author, and an innovator in the fields of psychiatry, ecology, and economics. Hartmann has led national innovations in the areas of residential treatment for abused children and private/public education for learning-disabled children. He was the originator of the revolutionary "Hunter/Farmer Hypothesis" to understand the psychiatric condition known as Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Hartmann is also the co-founder and former Executive Director of The New England Salem Children's Village and The Hunter School. He has helped set up hospitals, famine relief programs, schools, and refugee centers in several countries through the German-based Salem International program.
In 1998, The New England Salem Children's Trust established The Hunter School, which serves children who struggle in traditional education settings because of the educational and behavioral differences associated with ADHD. The school is a small, non-profit residential and day school where young boys and girls with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD), Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Asperger's Syndrome are nurtured, educated and celebrated.
Hartmann's radio show is syndicated on for-profit radio stations nationwide by WYD Media, on non-profit and community stations nationwide by Pacifica, across the entire North American continent on SiriusXM Satellite radio, on cable systems nationwide by Cable Radio Network (CRN) and Free Speech TV, on its own YouTube channel, via subscription podcasts, worldwide through the US American Forces Network, and through the Thom Hartmann App in the App Store. The radio show is also simulcast as TV in realtime into nearly 60 million US and Canadian homes by the Free Speech TV Network on Dish Network, DirectTV, and cable TV systems nationwide. Hartmann has been named the most important progressive talk show host in America for the past decade, and for three of the past five years the #1 most important progressive host, in Talkers Magazine’s “Heavy Hundred” ranking.
As an entrepreneur, Hartmann has founded several successful businesses which still are operating. He has lived and worked with his wife, Louise, and their three (now adult) children on several continents. He was born and grew up in Michigan, and retains strong ties to the Midwest, although he and Louise have lived in New Hampshire, Vermont, Georgia, Germany, Washington DC, and Oregon.