Martha McSally

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.)

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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!

Featured Videos

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) Speaking Reel

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) – Make Me Proud

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) on Tapping Into Your Misery Database

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) on Courage

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) on Breaking Barriers

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) on Trusting Your Abilities

Martha McSally

Col. Martha McSally, USAF (Ret.) on Finding Your Wingman

Martha McSally’s Speech Topics

Soar Like a Top-Gun Pilot: Leadership Lessons

Does your audience need inspiration, motivation, and actionable takeaways to push through adversity, overcome fear, and kick productivity into afterburner? Colonel McSally has proven she has the right stuff to survive and excel in high-pressure, high-risk, high-stakes environments.
I AM… How to Soar as Your Best Self

In this powerful and deep moving keynote speech, Martha McSally leads the audience through a transformative personal journey to discover who they really are so the can operate with authenticity, connection, and freedom in their lives and work. This speech will have your teams ready to take off and take on the world.
How to Overcome Adversity and Adapt to Reach the Next Level

In a highly competitive world, you need to learn how to overcome adversity to win. Greatness comes from learning that nothing can stop you and when you can move through anything in your path, then success is inevitable. This confidence that comes from those wins allows you to reach levels of success you never dreamed possible, and it is leadership’s role to teach and push their teams to feel this way.

What other organizations say about Martha McSally

Martha has an uncanny ability to emotionally connect with any audience and deeply impacted our gathering of hard-charging entrepreneurs with actionable transformational takeaways for their lives and businesses.
Business Conferences / Audiences

What other organizations say about Martha McSally

By the time we finished Martha’s presentation, it was evident what type of skills and psychology is needed to succeed. Martha was able to demonstrate how to succeed despite any circumstances or what life might throw at you. She painted a picture of what success looks like and how all of us can continue building character to get there. This wasn’t just a presentation but who she is.
Technology

What other organizations say about Martha McSally

Martha crushed her keynote speech to our first national gathering of over 1000 people since COVID. Our themes were courage and mental agility and we were honored to have a pioneering combat hero like Martha deliver a powerful message that profoundly impacted so many. She naturally connects with people of all ages with relevant, compelling lessons for our business and lives.
Business Consulting

What other organizations say about Martha McSally

Colonel McSally delivered again! She is a national pioneer and combat-proven leader who shares so many actionable nuggets of wisdom in her presentations. Martha is a passionate, brilliant communicator who helped develop the next generation of leaders in this large county Sheriff?s office over the last decade. Her impact has been powerful.
Security

Works by Martha McSally

Martha McSally
Dare to Fly: Simple Lessons in Never Giving Up

Martha McSally Topics & Types

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Martha McSally

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Featured Videos

Martha McSally’s Speech Topics

Soar Like a Top-Gun Pilot: Leadership Lessons

I AM… How to Soar as Your Best Self

How to Overcome Adversity and Adapt to Reach the Next Level

Works by Martha McSally

Martha McSally

Martha McSally Topics & Types

REQUEST AVAILABILITY