As a co-founder and the Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer, Craig helps lead the mission to support recalibrated veterans and their families while ensuring the long-term strength and sustainability of the organization.
Craig Buck serves as the Chief Operating Officer of the Travis Mills Foundation, where he provides strategic oversight across all departments and helps guide the organization toward long-term sustainability and mission-driven growth.
A Maine native, Craig grew up in Hallowell—just six miles from where the Foundation’s Veterans Retreat now stands. In 1998, a new professional opportunity led Craig and his family to relocate to Texas, where he took on an industry relations role with an international manufacturing company, representing North America and frequently traveling abroad to support global operations.
In 2012, during his third deployment to Afghanistan—and while deployed with Craig and Tammy’s son, Josh—SSG Travis Mills was critically injured. At the time, their daughter Kelsey and six-month-old granddaughter Chloe were living with them in Texas. In response to the family’s sudden and overwhelming needs, Craig made the decision to leave his job and support them through Travis’s long and uncertain recovery, relocating to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center during Travis’s intensive rehabilitation.
As Travis’s remarkable story spread—he was one of only five quadruple amputees from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to survive their injuries—national support grew. The Tunnel to Towers Foundation, the Gary Sinise Foundation, and the Carrington Charitable Foundation partnered to build an accessible home for Travis and his family. The only question was: “Where?” With Kelsey’s strong family ties in Maine and the support system already in place there, the decision was made to return to the state.
What started around the family’s kitchen table—collecting letters, donations, and shaping how Travis could give back—eventually evolved into the Travis Mills Foundation. As one of the organization’s three founders, alongside Travis and Kelsey, Craig played a pivotal role in establishing the nonprofit and contributing to the development of what would become the Veterans Retreat in the Belgrade Lakes Region of Maine.
An avid outdoorsman, Craig believes deeply in the restorative power of Maine’s four seasons and enjoys seeing veterans and their families experience nature—often for the first time. “We have it all—water, mountains, rivers, snow,” he says. “Being outdoors is good for everyone’s spirit.”
Today, as COO, Craig ensures that all departments operate cohesively and remain aligned with the Foundation’s immediate objectives and long-term mission. He played a key role in bringing the Foundation’s Health and Wellness Center from concept to completion, and he remains dedicated to establishing an endowment that will secure the organization’s future for generations to come. Craig places strong emphasis on stewardship, transparency, and responsible management of donor support.