The USNA NJ Parents Club is thrilled to announce our guest speaker will be Loree Draude, author, former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander & combat pilot. Loree will share her experience making U. S. Naval history as one of the first female combat pilots deployed. Her book, She’s Just Another Navy Pilot can be purchased in advance via amazon. There will be time to have books signed at the event.
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE LOREE'S BOOK
The spring dinner will be $75.00 per person. MIDNS & PLEBES TO BE will be free of charge. The dinner will also include recognition of the Class of 2023, cocktail hour with a cash bar, buffet dinner & dessert. Cocktail hour will start at 5:30 pm. Please click the button below to register for the event.
Registrations must be received by Wednesday, May 3, 2023. Please email pictures of you Midshipman & their service selection directly to Edward McCausland at emccaus06@gmail.com. Contact Ed with any additional questions.
You don’t want to miss this special event! We look forward to seeing you all.
Loree Draude CPCC, MBA
Loree earned her commission through the NROTC program at the University of San Diego, where she majored in mathematics. She began her naval aviation career as a support pilot at VAQ-34, flying F/A-18 Hornets at NAS Lemoore, CA. When the Combat Exclusion ban for women was lifted, Loree transitioned to a combat jet aviation squadron where she flew the S-3B Viking and completed two six-month deployments to the Persian Gulf on the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Kitty Hawk. Besides piloting jet aircraft, Loree was a Division Officer, responsible for leading teams of enlisted sailors, and the squadron's Aviation Safety Officer, responsible for ensuring her squadron followed safe operating procedures. During her second deployment, she became the first woman Air Wing-qualified Landing Signal Officer (LSO), a role awarded to a small percentage of naval aviators for the responsibility of helping fixed-wing pilots land safely on the carrier.
Loree spent over a year of her life deployed at sea, and accumulated over 300 carrier landings, including 100 at night. She completed her naval aviation career as a Fleet Replacement Squadron Instructor pilot, where she taught newly winged naval aviators how to fly the S-3B Viking and land it on an aircraft carrier. She also led the largest division in the squadron - a team of over 100 aircraft maintenance technicians.
After her naval service, Loree earned an MBA at the Wharton School at The University of Pennsylvania. She spent the past 20 years in Silicon Valley leading teams at startups and tech companies, including Google and Facebook, in marketing, operations and customer support organizations. In 2019, she started her own executive coaching and leadership development business to support leaders and teams in the tech industry. She is the host of the Supersonic Leaders and Teams podcast and a certified yoga teacher.
Loree wrote and performed a one-woman show called, “I Feel the Need,” about the various forms of flight in her life at the United Solo Theatre Festival off-Broadway and the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe Festival. She’ll perform her show this year at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in June.
Loree has also been laid off, had to shut down her own startup after running out of money, gotten divorced, has been fired, and quit a job. She also overuses commas in her writing.
When she is not supporting leaders or speaking on a stage, she enjoys painting (www.encaustech.com), traveling, yoga, hiking and visiting museums and restaurants in her new home, New York City.