Carey Lohrenz

Carey Lohrenz Speaker Biography

First Female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot and Leadership Expert

Carey Lohrenz is a pioneering Naval Aviator, leadership expert, bestselling author, and one of the most sought-after keynote speakers on fearless leadership, high-performing teams, resilience, and succeeding under pressure. As the first female F-14 Tomcat fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, Carey learned to lead and perform in one of the most demanding environments imaginable—where decisions are made at incredible speed, teamwork is mission-critical, and inconsistent execution can have catastrophic consequences.

Keynote Speaker Carey Lohrenz at a Glance

• First female F-14 Tomcat fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy, breaking one of the military’s highest barriers while operating in one of the world’s most demanding, high-pressure environments.
• Internationally sought-after leadership speaker who translates lessons from the flight deck into actionable strategies for courageous leadership, high-performing teams, resilience, risk management, and winning under pressure.
• Bestselling author of Fearless Leadership and Span of Control and a combat-mission-ready Naval Aviator who mastered the discipline, precision, and decision-making required to fly the F-14 from aircraft carriers.
• Trusted by Fortune 500 companies and organizations worldwide to help leaders accelerate performance, navigate change and uncertainty, reduce errors, and build cultures of learning, accountability, and excellence.

First Female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot

As a combat-mission-ready U.S. Navy pilot, Carey flew missions worldwide and operated from the flight deck of an aircraft carrier, one of the world’s most complex and high-pressure working environments. Her groundbreaking career in the traditionally male-dominated world of fighter aviation required courage, preparation, resilience, adaptability, and the ability to make critical decisions under intense pressure. Those lessons translate directly to today’s organizations. Business leaders face rapidly changing markets, emerging technologies, evolving customer expectations, economic uncertainty, and constant pressure to perform. Carey shows audiences how the same fundamentals that drive success in fighter aviation can help leaders and teams navigate complexity, manage risk, accelerate performance, and deliver results when it matters most.

Fearless Leadership and High-Performance Expert

Carey’s leadership philosophy is built around the qualities required to perform at an elite level: courage, tenacity, integrity, resilience, preparation, trust, and disciplined execution. Her programs give leaders practical strategies for making better decisions under pressure, overcoming adversity, creating accountability, building high-performing teams, and maintaining focus amid constant distraction and change. Drawing on lessons from the cockpit, flight deck, boardroom, and her leadership research, Carey helps organizations create cultures where people communicate openly, learn continuously, adapt quickly, and execute with confidence. Her message is particularly relevant for organizations facing transformation, disruption, workforce challenges, rapid growth, safety concerns, and other high-stakes situations.

Leading Through Change and Uncertainty

Carey’s work increasingly focuses on one of the defining challenges facing today’s executives: how to lead effectively when uncertainty has become the norm. She helps leaders identify what they can control, eliminate distractions, establish clear priorities, and give their teams the confidence and direction needed to move forward. Her “Span of Control” approach provides a practical framework for maintaining clarity and effectiveness when leaders feel overwhelmed by competing priorities. Rather than wasting energy on circumstances beyond their control, individuals and teams learn to concentrate their attention on the decisions, behaviors, relationships, and actions that can produce results. Carey has also conducted national research examining fearless leadership and how leaders can successfully navigate uncertainty, bringing data-driven insights to the real-world lessons she learned in fighter aviation.

Two-Time Bestselling Author

Carey Lohrenz is the author of two Wall Street Journal and USA Today bestsellers. Fearless Leadership: High-Performance Lessons from the Flight Deck translates lessons from naval aviation into actionable strategies for developing courageous leaders, building stronger teams, executing effectively, and remaining resilient through difficult circumstances. Her second bestseller, Span of Control: What to Do When You’re Under Pressure, Overwhelmed, and Ready to Get What You Really Want, gives readers a practical framework for focusing on what they can control, reducing overwhelm, improving decision-making, and moving forward with greater confidence and purpose. Together, her books provide leaders and organizations with a powerful roadmap for performing under pressure while remaining focused, adaptable, and resilient.

Professional Speakers Hall of Fame Keynote Speaker

Carey’s impact from the keynote stage has earned her induction into the Professional Speakers Hall of Fame, one of the professional speaking industry’s distinguished honors. She has delivered leadership and strategy programs to thousands of Fortune 500, Forbes Global 2000, and other organizations worldwide. Her presentations combine riveting stories from the cockpit and aircraft carrier flight deck with practical leadership strategies audiences can immediately apply. Whether addressing senior executives, emerging leaders, sales organizations, healthcare professionals, women’s leadership groups, or company-wide audiences, Carey connects the extraordinary demands of fighter aviation to the everyday challenges of leading people and organizations.

Women in Leadership and Breaking Barriers

Carey’s experience breaking barriers in naval aviation also gives her a powerful platform for addressing women’s leadership, inclusion, confidence, and overcoming obstacles. Entering an environment where few women had gone before, she learned firsthand how to find her voice, earn trust, build strong relationships, overcome self-doubt, and perform at the highest level without losing sight of who she was. Today, Carey inspires women and emerging leaders to challenge limiting beliefs, take calculated risks, build confidence, and expand their perception of what is possible. Her story demonstrates that fearless leadership isn’t about being without fear—it’s about having the courage and preparation to move forward despite it.

High-Reliability Organizations, Risk and Safety

Carey’s experience in naval aviation makes her especially relevant to healthcare, manufacturing, energy, financial services, technology, and other organizations where safety, risk management, reliability, and operational excellence are critical. On an aircraft carrier, every individual has a responsibility for mission success and safety, regardless of rank. Carey translates these principles of preparation, communication, continuous learning, accountability, and teamwork into strategies organizations can use to reduce errors, strengthen safety cultures, manage risk, and improve performance.

Trusted by Leading Global Organizations

Carey has brought her leadership and strategy insights to organizations around the world and has worked with leading companies including Cisco, Dell, Deloitte, Verizon, AT&T, Kimberly-Clark, State Farm, TEVA, and many others. Her ability to connect the high-stakes world of fighter aviation with today’s business realities has made her a sought-after resource for organizations seeking stronger leaders, more resilient teams, and better execution. She has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, NBC, CBS, ABC, and NPR and has been featured in major media including Time, Inc., Vanity Fair, and The Huffington Post.

From Elite Athlete to Naval Aviator

Before becoming a Naval Aviator, Carey attended the University of Wisconsin, where she was a varsity rower and trained at the pre-Olympic level. After graduation, she attended the U.S. Navy’s Aviation Officer Candidate School and entered flight training, beginning the journey that would ultimately place her in the cockpit of the legendary F-14 Tomcat. Today, Carey is a CEO, board member, business owner, researcher, bestselling author, and leadership keynote speaker. Across each of these roles, her focus remains consistent: helping individuals and organizations summon the courage, tenacity, resilience, and agility required to lead through uncertainty, overcome adversity, perform under pressure, and achieve extraordinary results.