Not a résumé. The long version.

Where It Started

I joined Civil Air Patrol at fifteen and earned its highest cadet honor before ever putting on an Air Force uniform. Two years later I entered the U.S. Air Force Academy to fly, and ended up as an Astronautical Engineer.

• Spaatz Award #895 (1988) — CAP's top cadet honor
• Cadet leadership roles, Wing and Group level
• B.S., Astronautical Engineering, U.S. Air Force Academy (1987–1991)

Satellite Engineering

I was commissioned as a developmental engineer and, at twenty-one, assigned as Milstar's first Lead Engineer — work that set the standard other satellite operations still follow.

• First Lead Engineer, Milstar satellite system — wrote its first operational procedures, the first "operationalized checklists" for satellite operations in Air Force Space Command, still the standard today
• Chief of Training — prepared the first crews for Milstar's first launch (1994)
• First space operator selected to cross-train into the newly merged Space and Missile Operations career field

Missile Operations

From there I crossed into operations as a Minuteman III missile combat crewmember at Malmstrom AFB, where Air Force and Civil Air Patrol ran side by side for the first time.

• ICBM Crew Commander, Flight Commander, and Instructor, Minuteman III missile system — 10th Missile Squadron, Malmstrom AFB — holding launch authority over billions of dollars in strategic assets
• Commander, Malmstrom Cadet Squadron, Civil Air Patrol — concurrent with active-duty crew duty

Air Force Intern Program

I was selected as one of the top fifty captains Air Force–wide for the Air Force Intern Program — a fast-track into two years of Pentagon staff work and a master's degree, earned at the same time.

• Staff tours with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (Developmental Test, Systems Engineering & Evaluation division) and Air Force Secretariat
• M.A., Organizational Management, The George Washington University (1997–1999)

Space Surveillance

I spent this stretch of my career embedded in Space Operations, tracking everything orbiting the Earth.

• Space Surveillance Analyst, then Director of Training, then Chief of the Space Analysis Center — NORAD/Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, Colorado (1999–2002)

Omaha Staff Work (STRATCOM)

From there, I helped merge two major commands into one.

• Transition Team Executive Officer and Command Secretariat, U.S. Strategic Command — Offutt AFB, Nebraska (2002–2004)

• Lanes in the Road: Untangling STRATCOM's Org Chart After the Merger
• The AO Program: Teaching STRATCOM's New Staff the Job, and Writing Down What Mike Never Got

Greenland

That stretch closed with commanding the Air Force's northernmost outpost.

• Commander, Thule Tracking Station, Greenland (2004–2005) — the Air Force Satellite Control Network's largest and northernmost site, 750 miles from the North Pole

Commanders Connection + AF Forums

People still talk about a lot of things I did — this is just the one that stuck. After my Greenland command tour, I came back stateside for school at Air University and stayed on as faculty for the next five years, working to fix a problem I'd seen firsthand from command: a lack of professional development for squadron commanders. That work became Commanders Connection, the Air Force's first professional forum.

• Master of Military Operational Art and Science, Air Command and Staff College (2005–2006)
• Chief, Squadron Commander Professional Development, Air Command and Staff College (2006–2009)
• Director, Air Force Forums Research Project — built Commanders Connection, a $1M social-learning platform connecting Air Force professionals worldwide
• Adjunct Instructor, Air Command and Staff College Distance Learning Division (2006–2009) — taught Leadership and the Staff Environment I (fall semester), Leadership and the Staff Environment II (spring semester), and Leadership and Command (spring semester)

• Social Learning for the Air Force

31st Student Squadron Command

This command ran concurrently with, but separately from, the Commanders Connection work above.

• Commander, 31st Student Squadron, Squadron Officer School (2009–2010)

Chief Learning Officer

Retirement didn't mean slowing down — for several years I ran three companies of my own alongside a full-time role as Chief Learning Officer of a nationwide knowledge management firm.

• Chief Learning Officer, Strategic Knowledge Solutions (2011–2015)

The Mike Hower Company

The longest-running thread was advisory work for Air University's graduate professional-education programs, which wrapped in September 2026.

• Founded True North Solutions, LLC — focused on providing tools and curricula for full-range leadership development
• Founded Right Edge Consulting, LLC — a consulting firm to help organizations improve leadership and processes
• Founded The Mike Hower Company, LLC — to support Air University's distance-learning programs

• The ASU Feasibility Study: Testing Whether Air University's Online Curriculum Could Live Inside a University's Own Systems