A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Dave is a retired Navy Captain. He was a Commanding Officer on three occasions and served as Director of the Navy's premier site for leadership and management training. In this role he personally conducted seminars for prospective commanding and executive officers as well as senior government service employees.

During the Vietnam era, while flying a combat mission over North Vietnam, his aircraft was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. He spent the following five and a half years as a P.O.W., incarcerated in numerous North Vietnamese prisons. His P.O.W. experience taught him timeless lessons that are applicable to leaders and managers at all levels.

Among Captain Carey's military service awards are the Legion of Merit, five Bronze Stars, two Meritorious Service Medals, the Purple Heart, eight Air Medals and the Navy Commendation Medal.

Today Dave relates his experiences as a P.O.W. to help people better understand the prison-like aspects they may experience in their personal and professional lives. His personal story inspires and empowers others to overcome seemingly insurmountable difficulties and gain a renewed sense of purpose, satisfaction and control over their circumstances.

In addition to running a successful speaking business, Dave is the Director of Development for the SYMLOG Consulting Group. He has extensive experience as a trainer and consultant in both the private and public sectors. He is one of only thirteen consultants certified by the State of California to conduct teambuilding programs for law enforcement agencies throughout the state. His programs on value centered leadership, teambuilding and organizational change are powerful, practical and filled with performance-improving content.

Leadership - Turning Ordinary People Into Extraordinary Teams:
Leadership, team building and conflict resolution are critical success factors in all organizations. Working together effectively determines the level of sustainable success. Using a research-based profile of high achieving leaders, participants identify behaviors that contribute or interfere with effective teamwork and design concrete plans that address their unique strengths and weaknesses.

Meeting Your Challenges:
When you are faced with what seems like insurmountable obstacles, it is easy to lose sight of the best within you. Carey's motivational and humorous message teaches that each of us has the opportunity and the power to make every day a little better in spite difficulties. You will be shown how to convert crisis into opportunity and to manage change through innovation, rather than reaction.

Ethics - Knowing What Is Right And Doing It:
Dave Carey's motivational and humorous story of personal survival and experiences shared with other prison comrades serves as a real life example of the irrepressible American spirit and human triumph over adversity. His five-point message teaches us to: Do what you have to do; Do your best; Keep your sense of humor; Choose to grow: Keep the faith. All of which gives us the power to turn crisis into opportunity. Dave uses the simple yet profound lessons of his P.O.W. experience as the groundwork to help individuals and organizations redefine priorities, grow, achieve higher performance and meet personal and professional challenges. Dave is a widely acclaimed management consultant, speaker and trainer. His most recent book is The Ways We Choose: Lessons for Life from a POW's Experience.