Keynote Speaker
America’s 1st Female Combat Fighter Pilot; U.S. Senator and Representative (2015-2020); Author
“The one thing that has made my life turn out differently from what I expected is that I stopped waiting for the perfect moment, the perfect set of conditions, and the perfect answer.” – Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.)
Martha McSally'S SPEAKING FEE $25K - $40K
Colonel (ret) Martha E. McSally is a pioneering combat-proven leader, inspiring speaker, and celebrated author. McSally is a compelling example of overcoming adversity and fear to achieve extraordinary feats. Losing her dad at the age of 12 and surviving sexual abuse and assault, she persevered to become the 1st woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat. Along her journey, McSally had to overcome significant obstacles including U.S. law prohibiting women from flying combat jets. She persevered, held onto her dreams, continued to excel, and shattered glass ceilings.
During her 26-year military career, McSally deployed six times to the Middle East and Afghanistan, flying 325 combat hours and earning the Bronze Star and six Air Medals. As a commander of her A-10 squadron, she oversaw $500M in assets and $40M in annual resources and was responsible to deploy her unit worldwide with just 24-hours’ notice. McSally was deployed to Saudi Arabia on 9/11 and became a key leader in planning and executing initial air operations in Afghanistan. As a Colonel, she was hand-picked as initial cadre to stand up U.S. Africa Command from scratch, building a complex organization with limited time and resources. She then led oversight of all African continent operations, including counterterrorism and disaster relief. This experience built on her expertise in strategic planning, process creation/improvement, knowledge management, logistics, and operations.
Colonel McSally is a values-driven trailblazer who demonstrates courage and integrity in her leadership, even when coming at a personal cost. She bravely took on the Pentagon in an 8-year battle to overturn discriminatory policies towards servicewomen deployed to Saudi Arabia—and won.
McSally knows how to build excellent teams founded in camaraderie, trust, and the ability to perform under pressure when the stakes are extremely high. She now takes these lessons from the cockpit and the skies of Afghanistan to equip your team to reach maximum potential as high performing individuals and significantly contributing teams within your organization.
McSally holds a Masters in Public Policy from Harvard University’s JFK School of Government, a Masters in Strategic Studies from the Air War College where she graduated #1 in her class out of 261 senior military officers, and is a distinguished graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy. As a continuation of her service to our country and others and commitment to not walk by a problem, she served four years in the U.S. House of Representatives and two years as a U.S. Senator, which is not the focus of her writing. (She often quips it was the least interesting thing she has done in her life!) She is the author of Dare to Fly—Simple Lessons in Never Giving Up, which motivates readers to overcome fear and adversity to achieve their full potential. McSally lives in Tucson, AZ where she enjoys hiking with her rescue Golden Retriever Boomer, running, and paragliding.
Through determination, discipline and grit, McSally has run over a dozen marathons, won three national military triathlon championships, and competed in two Ironman triathlons including the grueling Hawaii Ironman world championship where she won the women’s military division and placed 12th in the world in her age group. She also summited many peaks including Mt Kilimanjaro (highest mountain in Africa at 19,340 ft) and Mt Blanc (highest in Western Europe). She is a force of nature who inspires you to find your courage and fly!
COVID-19, cyber-attacks, disasters, what’s next? With so much uncertainty in the world, it has been a challenging few years to say the least. Colonel McSally is no stranger to challenges and is deeply impacting audiences through masterful storytelling and actionable takeaways to help your team thrive and succeed.
As the first woman in U.S. history to fly a fighter jet in combat and command a fighter squadron in combat, Colonel (ret) McSally has proven she has the right stuff to survive and excel in high-pressure, high-risk, dynamic environments. This pioneering A-10 pilot is also an endurance athlete, mountain climber, and sexual assault survivor who tragically lost her father at 12. In her extraordinary life filled with triumphs, tragedies, successes and setbacks, McSally authentically inspires and more importantly shows us how to be vulnerable, persevere, overcome fear, be resilient, and soar to our full potential.
McSally has the uncanny ability to emotionally connect with any audience. Through humor, transparency, and edge of your seat storytelling, she brings you into the A-10 cockpit for her most complex and dangerous mission and through her devastating traumas that are all too common. McSally’s raw approach connects people with their own fears and trials and provides a realistic and optimistic flight plan to build courage, trusted teams, and a resilient mindset.
In this awe-inspiring program, Colonel McSally equips your team with step-by-step guidance to choose courage, create a “wingman” mentality, and have a mindset of agility to overcome adversities and succeed in an uncertain world.
Tell us about your event and the speaker you are interested in booking and we will be in touch right away.