Gail Harris
Captain USN (Retired)
CO, USRaised in the ghettoes of Newark, New Jersey, at the age of 5, Gail Harris saw a WWII themed movie called Wing and a Prayer starring Don Ameche. Mesmerized by a scene of the actor briefing Navy pilots before the climatic Battle of Midway scene, she decided that was what she’d do when she grew up. Unaware of the existence of a federal law which prohibited women from going into combat, one that would not be changed until 1994 she forged ahead with her dream. In 1973 she became the first woman in Naval History to serve as an Intelligence Officer in a Navy aviation squadron and at her retirement in December 2001 she was the highest ranking African American female in the Navy. Her career included hands-on leadership during every major conflict from the Cold War to El Salvador to Desert Storm to Kosovo and at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense’s newest challenges, Cyber Warfare. She was the first female or first African American for every job assignment and frequently hand selected for challenging jobs based on her outstanding performance.
Since her retirement she has worked in the Defense Industry as an Intelligence Subject Matter expert. She was a contributing author to Wake Up and Live Your Life with Passion which reached number 4 on the Barnes and Noble best seller list. She’s also had an essay “Reflections of a Retired Black Woman” published in Lies and Limericks Inspirations from Ireland in October 2006. A frequent guest on radio shows as a defense expert, she hosts her own weekly R&B show and is currently putting the finishing touches on her memoir War on Any Given Day.
She recently moved to Durango, Colorado where she’s living happily ever after.
Programs
- How to Take Command and Win
- Woman on Deck…Grooming Women Executives for the 21st Century
- Reflections of a Retired Black Woman…Thoughts on Saving the World and Ourselves
- Bloom Where You’re Planted…How to Succeed When Everyone (including you) Think You’ve Failed
Raised in the ghettoes of Newark, New Jersey, at the age of 5, Gail Harris saw a WWII themed movie called Wing and a Prayer starring Don Ameche. Mesmerized by a scene of the actor briefing Navy pilots before the climatic Battle of Midway scene, she decided that was what she’d do when she grew up. Unaware of the existence of a federal law which prohibited women from going into combat, one that would not be changed until 1994 she forged ahead with her dream. In 1973 she became the first woman in Naval History to serve as an Intelligence Officer in a Navy aviation squadron and at her retirement in December 2001 she was the highest ranking African American female in the Navy. Her career included hands-on leadership during every major conflict from the Cold War to El Salvador to Desert Storm to Kosovo and at the forefront of one of the Department of Defense’s newest challenges, Cyber Warfare. She was the first female or first African American for every job assignment and frequently hand selected for challenging jobs based on her outstanding performance.
Since her retirement she has worked in the Defense Industry as an Intelligence Subject Matter expert. She was a contributing author to Wake Up and Live Your Life with Passion which reached number 4 on the Barnes and Noble best seller list. She’s also had an essay “Reflections of a Retired Black Woman” published in Lies and Limericks Inspirations from Ireland in October 2006. A frequent guest on radio shows as a defense expert, she hosts her own weekly R&B show and is currently putting the finishing touches on her memoir War on Any Given Day.
She recently moved to Durango, Colorado where she’s living happily ever after.
Programs
- How to Take Command and Win
- Woman on Deck…Grooming Women Executives for the 21st Century
- Reflections of a Retired Black Woman…Thoughts on Saving the World and Ourselves
- Bloom Where You’re Planted…How to Succeed When Everyone (including you) Think You’ve Failed
