Ashton Hayward

Ashton J. Hayward, president of the Andrews Research & Education Foundation, brings more than two decades of executive leadership experience to advancing the field of sports medicine.

Hayward, a graduate of Florida State University and a Pensacola native, began his career in New York as an executive for the AT&T Corporation and the Financial Times. In 2003, he returned to his hometown and founded a real estate development company which he oversaw until his election as mayor of Pensacola in 2010.

During his two terms as mayor, Hayward used the newly constituted executive position to spur urban development and restructure city finances. Hayward turned the Pensacola downtown area into a pedestrian and bike friendly urban space, recruited private business representing millions of dollars in capital investment and overhauled the city’s pension programs to the benefit of taxpayers. Hayward worked with U.S. District Judge M. Casey Rodgers to promote Re-Entry Alliance Pensacola (REAP), an innovative mentoring program to assist and provide opportunities for people released from incarceration.

In 2019, Hayward returned to the private sector to lead Andrews Research & Education Foundation. As president of the foundation, Hayward works to expand Dr. James R. Andrews’ world-renowned orthopedic research and innovations throughout the country.

Hayward serves on several boards including those of the Trustmark Bank (Pensacola), the University of West Florida Hal Marcus College of Science & Engineering, the University of West Florida College of Business, and Mr. Robbins Neighborhood, a local youth sports nonprofit.

Hayward was appointed by former Florida Gov. Rick Scott to the Florida Commission on Community Service, also known as Volunteer Florida. He is a member of Leadership Florida’s Cornerstone Class XXXVI. Locally, Hayward has supported the First City Arts Center, the Gulf Coast Kids House, the West Florida Council on Aging, and the PACE Center for Girls.