Born and raised in Naples, Florida, Armando now lives in Fort Myers with his wife of 22 years, Jina Hernandez, and their two children, Lilliana and Xavier. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 2002 before graduating from Naples High School in June 2003 and left for Marine Corps Basic Training at Parris Island, South Carolina, immediately after graduating. During his enlistment, he served from 2003–2007 as an Engineer Equipment Operator, which included a deployment to Fallujah, Iraq with 2^nd Combat Logistics Battalion in 2005.  

After his enlistment, Armando was honorably discharged and returned to Southwest Florida to pursue higher education. While majoring in Exercise Science at Florida Gulf Coast University, he was selected for a highly competitive internship with the Boston Red Sox Strength and Conditioning Staff for the spring of 2014.  

During his internship with the Boston Red Sox, Armando was introduced to Home Base, a Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital program dedicated to healing the invisible wounds of war for Veterans, Service Members, and Families. In 2014, he joined Home Base to help launch its health and wellness efforts and expand the program into Florida.  

Under Armando’s leadership, Home Base Florida grew from a regional initiative into a statewide program serving thousands of Veterans and Families. Armando expanded the Florida Warrior Health and Fitness Program from its Southwest Florida roots into a multi-region model now offered in Southwest Florida, Tampa, and Northwest Florida through partnerships with Florida Gulf Coast University, the Greater Naples YMCA, Tampa General Hospital, Shark Bite Fitness, and the University of West Florida. Armando also helped establish and strengthen Home Base Florida’s clinical network through collaborations with Lee Health, Tampa General Hospital, David Lawrence Centers, and Lakeview Center, increasing access to evidence-based behavioral health care, traumatic brain injury services, peer and family support, wellness programming, care coordination, and resource navigation. Other milestones include beginning outreach services in Puerto Rico in 2023, launching outpatient clinical services in Pensacola, and hosting Home Base Florida’s inaugural State of Veteran Brain Health event in Tampa in 2025. To date, Home Base Florida has delivered gold-standard, evidence-based clinical care to more than 560 Florida Veterans and served more than 4,500 Florida Veterans and their Families through Warrior Health and Fitness and Adventure Series events. 

After more than a decade leading Home Base’s efforts in Florida, Armando transitioned to Senior Director of National Network Operations & Strategy on the Network Development team in 2026. In this role, he applies his experience building and scaling Home Base Florida to oversee operations and strategic growth across programs in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and future expansion markets. His work centers on operational excellence, program growth, cross-regional alignment, and the continued delivery of world-class care and services to Veterans and Military Families nationwide. 

In addition to his extensive experience leading Home Base Florida, Armando earned an MBA from the Hough Graduate School of Business at the University of Florida.