Michael Seelman M.A.

Biography

Michael F. Seelman is a volunteer instructor in the USU Leadership Education and Development (LEAD) program. He serves the global community as a leadership coach, consultant, and inspirational speaker. He is a member of Marshall Goldsmith’s (World’s #1 Executive Coach) elite team of certified executive coaches. He has coached over 100 leaders in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia to bring out their best performance and a more fulfilled life.

Michael's clients include executives in major corporations such as Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Salesforce, and Reddit as well as leaders in organizations such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, The American Heart Association, and the National Institutes of Health. They have executive roles in information technology, biotechnology, marketing, human resources, administration, operations, and other functions. He listens deeply to clients and tailors his methodology to their needs. He employs 360-degree leadership assessment data, powerful questions, mindfulness techniques, music, action plan development, leadership theories, happiness research, leadership articles and videos, improv comedy training, and more to serve clients and their goal(s) fulfillment.

Michael is an inspirational speaker on topics of leadership, happiness, innovation, and collaboration. He brings deep expertise and improv comedy playfulness to the presentations he delivers. He has trained corporate executive teams on leadership, FBI supervisors on communications and leadership principles, delivered two university commencement addresses, spoken about the future of collaboration on an international leadership panel with a Member of the UK Parliament, and expertly facilitated discussion with audiences as diverse as police chiefs, high school student leaders, Italian coaches, Harvard University alumni, Australian corporate leaders, and international intelligence agency executives.

Michael is always learning and growing so that he can increase the impact of his service. He is currently conducting original research into leading human-machine (artificial intelligence) teams. His team was selected by the International Leadership Association (ILA) to present their initial findings at the ILA’s Global Conference 2018. Recently he became one of the first coaches certified in psychological safety assessment and team coaching and was selected as one of a handful of coaches in the world to be certified to train others in psychological safety assessment. In 2019 he presented at the ILA's Global Conference on promoting healthcare leadership through executive coaching and creating a climate of psychological safety. In addition, he has earned the Professional Coach Certification (PCC), the second-highest credential from the International Coach Federation.

Previously Michael served for 19 years in the Federal government including leadership positions at the White House, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) – with roles in information technology, innovation, communications, employee engagement, intergovernmental liaison, knowledge management, human resources/leadership development, administration, and high-profile multi-agency initiatives. For more than a decade at the FBI he served as the first global chief of internal communications, as the deputy chief knowledge officer (intersection of people, processes, IT systems, and innovation), as a principal business advisor reporting directly to the CFO, and the co-director of a multi-agency law enforcement team leading violence reduction efforts in the country’s most violent cities.

Michael did his undergraduate thesis and collaborated on a book with leadership scholar and Pulitzer Prize-winning author James MacGregor Burns and Georgia Sorenson at the University of Maryland. He received his master's degree in public administration from Harvard University where he did his master's thesis project with leadership scholar Ronald A. Heifetz. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.

He served as the Vice President of the Board of Trustees for a youth leadership development nonprofit and in many training, mentoring, and facilitation roles for nearly three decades as a volunteer. In 2012, he graduated from the U.S. military’s prestigious Advanced Management Program and received his Chief Information Officer (CIO) certification from the National Defense University.