Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
A ground-breaking leader during her 35-year career in the U.S. Navy, Michelle Howard was the first female to achieve the rank of four-star admiral and the first woman to be appointed to the position of vice-chief of naval operations (the second highest rank in the Navy). She was also the first African-American woman to reach the rank of three-star and four stars in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and the first African-American woman to command a ship in the Navy. A veteran of operations that included NATO peacekeeping, Indonesia tsunami relief, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, she was thrust into the international spotlight in 2009 as leader of the counter-piracy task force that rescued civilian Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. The rescue was later depicted in the film Captain Phillips.
To book now: apbspeakers.com/speaker/admiral-michelle-j-howard-retired
A ground-breaking leader during her 35-year career in the U.S. Navy, Michelle Howard was the first female to achieve the rank of four-star admiral and the first woman to be appointed to the position of vice-chief of naval operations (the second highest rank in the Navy). She was also the first African-American woman to reach the rank of three-star and four stars in any branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and the first African-American woman to command a ship in the Navy. A veteran of operations that included NATO peacekeeping, Indonesia tsunami relief, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom, she was thrust into the international spotlight in 2009 as leader of the counter-piracy task force that rescued civilian Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates. The rescue was later depicted in the film Captain Phillips.
To book now: apbspeakers.com/speaker/admiral-michelle-j-howard-retired
