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Timothy Keating    

First Navy Officer to Head Northern Command and NORAD

Admiral Timothy J. Keating is a 38-year veteran of the United States Navy. He retired in December 2009 after serving for three years as the commander, United States Pacific Command (CinCPac), headquartered in Honolulu, Hawaii, where 325,000 U.S. armed forces were under his command. This is the largest combatant command in the U.S., and his area of responsibility included over 3.4 billion people and half of the geographic surface of the earth. While in command, Admiral Keating visited over 30 countries, meeting diplomats, military officials, and commercial leaders in order to emphasize active engagement with national and international partners in preserving the security and stability of the Asia-Pacific region.

With his extensive military experience and his background leading a very complex organization, Admiral Keating addresses management and getting things done, leadership, teamwork, geopolitics, our country’s relationship with China and the Asia-pacific region, politics and the military, and the importance of service.

Other Commands. Prior to his tour at Pacific Command, Admiral Keating was commander of the United States Northern Command and NORAD, responsible for protecting the nation’s homeland and providing support to federal, state, and local officials in time of crisis. He was also commander of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, providing aerospace warning, air sovereignty, and defense for the United States and Canada during the same period.

Previous tours include service as the director of the joint staff in the Pentagon; commander of the United States Fifth Fleet and all naval forces in the United States Central Command headquartered in the Kingdom of Bahrain; deputy chief of naval operations for plans, policy and operations in the Pentagon; commander of the USS Kitty Hawk Battle Group stationed in Yokosuka Japan; and deputy director for operations for current operations on the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.

Admiral Keating held command positions at the Naval Strike Warfare Center, a Carrier Air Wing, and an F-18 Squadron. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy and was a chief of naval operations fellow with the Strategic Studies Group in Newport Rhode Island. He has accumulated over 5,000 hours of flight time in tactical jets and has landed on Navy aircraft carriers over 1,200 times. In addition to numerous awards from the United States, he has received military decorations from Great Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Singapore. He is a proud honorary master chief petty officer in the United States Navy.

Life Post-Military. Admiral Keating serves several organizations as an international consultant, is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and is a board member of a number of corporate and non-profit organizations.

Speech Topics

Leadership, Management, Teamwork, and Driving Results

Admiral Keating led the largest U.S. combat command in the world. It covered half of the geographic surface of the earth and included more than 3.4 billion people. The incredible breadth of his responsibility gave Keating a unique look at leadership, management, teamwork, and driving results in a large and disparate organization. He addresses how to effectively manage and communicate during challenging times, shares field-tested leadership lessons, and offers techniques for driving change in an organization slow to adopt new processes. Throughout his talk, he interweaves incredible stories and firsthand examples from his time serving in the most geopolitically-important area of the world.

Geopolitics in the Hot Spots of the World

Admiral Keating takes audiences around the globe as he points out the geopolitical hotspots of the world, including China, Iran, Turkey, Israel, Iraq, and more. He discusses the changing relationship between China and the U.S. and what it means for international business and the evolving threat of cyber security. Keating sees Turkey as a rising power and ally in the region and questions whether we should allow Iran to gain nuclear capabilities (and addresses the ramifications of the decision from either side). He also includes an assessment of how our actions regarding security and defense affect our reputation internationally (and in consequence, how that reputation also affects our geopolitics).

The United States’ Relationship with China and the Asia-Pacific Region

Admiral Tim Keating candidly discusses the nuances of our country’s complex relationship with China and the Asia-Pacific region. He shares insights learned from leading the U.S.’s largest and most geopolitically-crucial combat command as he discusses issues like what the shifting balance of power between China and the United States means for business and security (covering issues like cyber terrorism, intellectual property rights, the rising costs of defense, and our tied economic interests). He also addresses other countries in the region, like Japan, North and South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore; what role they play on the world stage; and how that role affects U.S. interests.

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