EXPERT ON:
◉ Leadership Development
◉ Overcoming Adversity
◉ Team Building & Collaboration
◉ Inspirational Life Story
◉ Customer Experience & Branding
EXPERIENCE:
◉ Former Navy fighter pilot who flew 85 combat missions over North Vietnam, survived being shot down, and endured eight months as a POW in the “Hanoi Hilton.”
◉ Chief Pilot at Southwest Airlines and leadership speaker sharing hard-earned lessons on survival, faith, discipline, and resilience under extreme pressure.
◉ Author of Hope and Courage, inspiring audiences with a life story forged through combat, captivity, and unwavering determination.
Mike began the pursuit of his dreams flying Navy fighter aircraft while in high school, watching them fly from Naval Air Station, Dallas, and vowed to let nothing stop him from flying fighter jets in the Navy.
Working full time while attending college full time, he was in a rock band and then a full time police officer in Ft. Worth, Texas. A college degree is a prerequisite for selection as a Naval Aviator, and nothing else would suffice. Mike learned then, as is paramount in Naval Fighter Aviation, “there are no points for second place”.
Flying 85 combat missions over North Vietnam, he was shot down and captured. Mike’s 8 months in the “Hanoi Hilton” gave him a Masters in survival, honor, attitude, humility, service, choices, faith, belief, life and death. Spending 9 years of active duty service in the US Navy and 3 in the Navy Reserves, Mike left the military service in 1978 for the airline world, and became a Chief Pilot with Southwest Airlines.
Mike also became a professional public speaker in 2004, with American Speaker’s Bureau in Florida and recently an author, featuring “Hope and Courage: A POW’s Guide to Life, Recovery, Success, and Peace of Mind.” Mike still considers himself just “Dad” to his 3 children, and “Pop” to his 5 grandchildren, and resides in Houston TX, with his lovely wife, JJ.
