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TOPGUN - What Elite Teams Teach Us About Success, Teamwork, and Winning
Guy Snodgrass
Renowned Leadership Expert, Former TOPGUN Instructor, CEO, Defense Analytics
- 20-year military commander and executive leader now leading a national security, technology, and strategic advisory firm
- Advised the U.S. Government’s highest-ranking officials on strategy development, navigating high-risk issues, and communications strategy
- Extensive global experience, including as a TOPGUN Instructor, the Pentagon’s Director of Communications, Chief Speechwriter to Defense Secretary James Mattis, and Chief Strategy Officer for advanced technology firm
- Received U.S. Navy’s Pilot and Leader of the Year awards, and featured on Fox, CNN, Bloomberg, Forbes and numerous other channels
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Guy is currently CEO of Defense Analytics, an international strategic advisory and consulting firm. He is a national security, operations, and technology expert who brings a wealth of experience spanning strategy development, long-range planning, strategic communications, and digital transformation. A Forbes contributor, Guy also appears as a commentator for Fox News, CNN, SiriusXM, Bloomberg, and similar outlets.
Before transitioning to private industry, Guy served as an award-winning fighter pilot, TOPGUN Instructor, and U.S. Navy commander. His tours of duty include combat missions in the Middle East during Operation Iraqi Freedom and as commanding officer for a Japan-based fighter squadron. His experience spans the Americas, Europe, Indo-Pacific, and Middle East. Recognized as one of the best fighter pilots in the U.S. Navy, Guy earned Pilot of the Year, Tactical Aviator of the Year, and Michael Hoff Attack Aviator of the Year awards across three successive years, an unprecedented feat. He was also valedictorian and distinguished graduate of his Naval War College class, earning multiple awards for his written work.
While serving as the Pentagon’s Director of Communications and Secretary of Defense James Mattis’s chief speechwriter, Guy authored America’s publicly released 2018 National Defense Strategy. This strategy set strategic and investment priorities for a $720B national security organization, specifically advocating for game-changing technological investments to safeguard America’s digital infrastructure and defend security interests at home and abroad.
Guy most recently authored his second book, TOPGUN’s TOP 10: Leadership Lessons from the Cockpit, which explores life and leadership lessons through the lens of the high-performance fighter pilot community. His first book, Holding the Line: Inside Trump’s Pentagon with Secretary Mattis, explores America’s military and the challenging dynamic between Mattis and Trump during a dynamic period in U.S. history.
Guy earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science from the United States Naval Academy, two master’s degrees from MIT (computer science and nuclear engineering), and a third master’s degree in national security and strategic studies from the U.S. Naval War College.
Guy has experience in a wide variety of fields spanning technology, construction, medicine, energy, renewable energy, cyber, and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. He is an active speaker, providing keynote remarks on leadership, high-performing teams, and personal growth.
Speaker Video
What the Navy’s TOPGUN program really teaches you
Guy Snodgrass - Big Think Promo
Fostering Leadership, Resilience and Elite Teams: Building and sustaining elite organizations isn’t a given. It’s a process fostered through the hard work, dedication, and relentless pursuit of excellence from each member of the team. Guy brings attendees inside the walls of the U.S. Navy Fighter Weapons School—more commonly known as TOPGUN—to share how elite teams are created, fostered, and sustained. Guy’s previous keynotes have spanned across a wide variety of industries, from small groups seeking to leap forward in personal abilities to large Fortune 500 and association groups seeking to inspire their members. Leaning heavily on videos and photos, these keynotes are engaging, insightful, and actionable.
Change Management: If there’s one constant in this world, it’s ‘change.’ Drawing from his experience as a TOPGUN Instructor, award-winning fighter pilot career in combat, and as a senior leader in U.S. Government and industry, Guy shares the lessons that make all the difference for high performers and their teams. Elite teams focus on being brilliant at the basics: anticipating challenges, assessing the current and predicted operating environment, and putting in place long-range planning strategies with near-term deliverables that lead to consistent and repeatable success.
Technology, Cyber and AI/ML: Guy’s not only an award-winning TOPGUN Instructor and fighter pilot. He also holds a Master’s in computer science from MIT. During his tenure at MIT, he studied under one of the fathers of AI (Marvin Minsky), robotics and automation (Rodney Brooks), and worked at the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory. Guy also spent time working with U.S. intelligence agencies, providing an up close and personal look at cutting-edge technological capabilities…along with the perils posed by cyber espionage, hacking, and offshoring. Guy ties these two key elements together: the high-octane world of TOPGUN fighter pilots with game-changing technological capabilities, to provide the audience with key skills it takes to succeed in the fast-faced IT space.
