Keynote Speaker – Stephen Coonts (U.S. Navy, Ret.)
KEYNOTE Speaker—Stephen Coonts, U.S. Navy pilot, author of Flight of the Intruder
Stephen Coonts is a retired U.S. Navy Commander and the author of 15 New York Times bestsellers, the first of which was the classic flying tale, Flight of the Intruder. Upon graduation from West Virginia University, he was commissioned in the Navy and received his pilot wings in August, 1969. His nine years of active duty service included two combat tours in Vietnam flying the A-6 Intruder aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise His first novel, Flight of the Intruder, published in September 1986 by the Naval Institute Press, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list and was made into a popular movie, released in January 1991. Mr. Coonts is now acknowledged as one of the Grand Masters of modern techno-thriller fiction. Although he has been a full-time author for over two decades, he maintains strong ties to the military and is a strong supporter of our men and women in uniform.