John Foley

John Foley Profile

John Foley received a degree in mechanical engineering from the US Naval Academy. During which he played defensive back for the Midshipmen in a team that had one of the best records in its history. He was rated in the top ten carrier pilots six times; he then became a Marine Instructor pilot and finally fulfilled his childhood dream of joining the Blue Angels display team. After leaving the service Foley gained three Masters degrees, in business management and in international policy studies, both from Stanford University, and in strategic studies from the Naval War College.

Foley is now one of the most sought-after speakers on the conference circuit, with more than a hundred keynotes delivered a year. He is founder and CEO of CenterPoint Companies, a training organization that focuses on the how to achieve high performance. Additionally he founded the “Glad To Be Here Foundation,” facilitating charitable donation from its clients.

Bringing the lessons of teamwork and high performance he learned in the military, added to his experience as an entrepreneur, Foley provides an inspiring program based around three essentials. Firstly, he exhorts his audiences to be grateful for what they have, an attitude he calls: Glad To The Here. Secondly, Foley infuses his program with his incredible energy, encouraging High Performance, and lastly he gives a workable model for using the precision team working learned in the Blue Angels into more earthbound workplaces.

What Foley offers is best summed up in his own words: “What I learned most from being with the Blue Angels had nothing to do with flying itself. I learned that the process of engaging at this high level, when my very life depended on successful communication, accurate information, trust and follow-through, is the same process leaders and successful individuals use to achieve excellence.”

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  What if the legendary Blue Angels Culture of Excellence could be replicated and scaled?

  Since 2015, John Foley has been recognized as one of the top 10 most in demand speakers. John has spoken to some of the highest performing organizations in the world such as, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Goodyear, Chevron, Lowe’s, Marriott, Hilton, NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, NCAA, Penske Racing, Sprint, Motorola, Merrill Lynch, Mass Mutual, AMC Theatre, Norton Lifelock, Capital Group, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, GE, American Hospital Association, Mayo, Merck, Palo Alto Networks, Sunovion, Gillette, McDonalds, Stanford Business School, Global Sports Summit, and numerous CEO Summits to name a few.

  He is the former lead solo pilot of the Blue Angels, Bestselling Author of Fearless Success, an expert in the How of High Performance teams and ‘The Guru of Gratitude.’ As a Blue Angel, John consistently performed in an extreme, high-stakes environment, flying at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour in formations as close as 18 inches apart. To survive in those circumstances he relied on a culture of high trust, leadership and teamwork. John employs the intense realities of his aviation career as a metaphor to inspire – breath life into – teams to reach for their highest potential and sustain excellence under dynamic change.

  In 2011 John founded the Glad To Be Here Foundation. John donates 10% of his speaking fees to charities through the foundation. The program has donated over $2 million to 380+ charities and impacted thousands of lives globally including sponsoring 47 children in 47 countries. It’s part of his mission to connect a shared ‘purpose larger than self’ with every organization.

  John Foley has spent nearly a decade sharing practical and inspirational messages on high performance with audiences around the world. The former lead solo pilot for the famed Blue Angels flight-demonstration squadron is among the most sought after conference speakers, presenting keynote messages at more than 100 events a year. He also is the founder and CEO of CenterPoint Companies, which provides in-depth training on the How of High Performance.

  Foley’s personal path to High Performance began as a child, when he stood alongside his father at an air show featuring the Blue Angels. From that moment, Foley knew deep in his heart that someday he’d be carving up the skies as a member of the Blues. Eventually, he lived that dream, but getting there wasn’t easy. In fact, Foley’s journey from an awe-struck child at an air show to the cockpit of the Blue Angels’ F/A-18 Hornet is a study in persistence, hard work and the will to overcome obstacles and setbacks.

  Those ideals fit within three overriding traits that mark Foley’s presentations: First, a contagious attitude of thankfulness that he calls Glad To Be Here®. Second, an energizing delivery that inspires High Performance and service to others. And, third, a practical model for living out his message that works in other organizations as well as it works for the Blue Angels.

  The model and the message are byproducts of Foley’s ongoing pursuit of continuous improvement. As a Blue Angel, Foley was part of a team that consistently performed in intense, high-stakes environments. With thousands of hours as a carrier pilot and hundreds of hours as an instructor pilot, Foley was an elite aviator when he joined the Blues. But to perform with this team—flying at speeds of more than 500 miles per hour and in formations as close as 18 inches from his teammates—Foley had to improve his performance by 300 percent!

  Foley’s post-Navy experiences as a Sloan Fellow at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and as an entrepreneur put him in a unique position to reverse-engineer the culture of team excellence found in the Blue Angels and create a model that helps others on their journeys toward High Performance.

  “What I learned most from being with the Blue Angels had nothing to do with flying itself,” Foley says. “I learned that the process of engaging at this high level, when my very life depended on successful communication, accurate information, trust and follow-through, is the same process leaders and successful individuals use to achieve excellence.”

  Foley graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with a degree in mechanical engineering. He also was a defensive back for the Midshipmen, playing in two bowl games and helping Navy to one of the best four-year records in its football history. As a pilot, Foley was a “Top Ten Carrier Pilot” six times before becoming a Marine instructor pilot and a Blue Angel. He holds master’s degrees in business management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business (as a Sloan Fellow); in international policy studies, from Stanford University; and in strategic studies, from the Naval War College. He makes his home in Sun Valley, Idaho.