Loree Draude

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...

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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 in NYC, and has been invited to perform her show in August 2022 at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Loree has also been laid off from a startup, had to shut down her own startup after running out of money, gotten divorced, has been fired, and, during the pandemic, gained 15 pounds of pure sourdough-infused fat that she is still working off. 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, hiking, and flying around the Bay Area. Loree lives in Palo Alto, CA with her two teenagers and two cats.

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