Admiral Michael M. Gilday, USN, Retired

Admiral Mike Gilday retired from the U.S. Navy in 2023 as the 32nd Chief of Naval Operations and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mike’s 38-year career included command at every level – from warships to an aircraft carrier strike group, to the Navy’s cyber fleet. He also served in leadership positions on the Joint Staff, NATO, U.S. Cyber Command, and the White House.

He has worked and lived internationally, building relationships with senior defense officials and diplomatic professionals around the globe. Mike played a key leadership role in forging the historic AUKUS partnership with Australia and the United Kingdom and improved the U.S. Navy’s interoperability with allies and partners. He developed deep working relations with industry, from shipbuilding and aviation production to hi-tech start-ups specializing in AI-powered unmanned platforms, advanced manufacturing, and quantum computing. He recently assumed roles with companies including private equity firm, J.F. Lehman, Saronic Technologies, and HawkEye360.

He is the CEO of Crossover Solutions National Security USA, the defense division of a 20-year hands-on problem-solving team specializing in stabilizing, transforming, and scaling industrial suppliers critical to U.S. national defense. Their team of 1,200 manufacturing veterans, with an average 25 years firsthand experience, combine deep operational expertise, engineering rigor, and team building skills to restore throughput, quality, and delivery performance across the defense suppliers.

A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, he also holds Masters degrees from Harvard’s Kennedy School and the National War College in Washington, D.C. He has received numerous awards recognizing his contributions to national security and has been decorated by the governments of Japan, Singapore, France, Italy, Peru, and Columbia.