Make Sure Your Event Has a Smooth Takeoff

Retired US Air Force Colonel Dr. Samantha Weeks was the first female solo demonstration pilot on the United States Air Force Aerial Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds.

She served as an Air Force Fellow to the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and was chosen for the Lorenz Fellowship, where she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Military Strategy, with a focus on leadership development.

Dr. Weeks’s PhD research was critical to the success of the RAND Study and former Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein’s Focus Area One: Revitalizing the Squadron.

She is also a Fellow from the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation Fellows Program, where her capstone project was organizing the Air Force’s first-ever virtual women’s fly-in event.

Dr. Weeks’s career spans more than two decades of service, speaking, and consulting. Her culminating military assignment was the Commander, 14th Flying Training Wing, Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, where she led three thousand people and managed an operations and maintenance budget of $115 million, with capital assets exceeding $2.3 billion.

Retired US Air Force Colonel Dr. Samantha Weeks is all about propelling the next generation. She was the first female solo demonstration pilot on the United States Air Force Aerial Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds.

Dr. Weeks’s career spans more than two decades of service, speaking, and consulting. Some of her highlights include her time spent with youth. From Girls Scouts to Civil Air Patrol to Preflight Aviation Camp, Dr. Weeks aspires to help this generation’s dreams prepare for takeoff.

Samantha Weeks (Col, USAF (Ret.), PhD) was the first female solo demonstration pilot on the United States Air Force Aerial Demonstration Squadron, the Thunderbirds. She served as an Air Force Fellow to the Office of the Deputy Secretary of Defense and was chosen for the Lorenz Fellowship, where she earned her Doctor of Philosophy in Military Strategy, with a focus on leadership development.

Dr. Weeks’s PhD research was critical to the success of the RAND Study and former Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein’s Focus Area One: Revitalizing the Squadron. She is also a Fellow from the International Women’s Forum Leadership Foundation Fellows Program, where her capstone project was organizing the Air Force’s first-ever virtual women’s fly-in event.

Dr. Weeks’s career spans more than two decades of service, speaking, and consulting businesses and educational platforms like Women in Aviation International, the United States Air Force, and Savannah College of Art & Design, among others.

Her culminating military assignment was the Commander, 14th Flying Training Wing, Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, where she led 3000 people and managed an operations and maintenance budget of $115 million with capital assets exceeding $2.3 billion.

The Culture Equation

Leaders + Leadership + the People you Lead.

Culture plays a significant role in the effectiveness and success of any organization, but leaders often focus on strategy and execution without understanding the power of culture. Samantha saw, firsthand, the power of culture when she joined the elite aerial demonstration squadron, the Air Force Thunderbirds, as its first-ever female solo demonstration pilot.

The equation of a leader, their leadership style, and the people made a significant impact on Samantha’s leadership philosophy. Over the last two decades, she’s taken her time on the Thunderbirds and used the culture equation to succeed in the cockpit and the corporate boardroom.

Samantha illustrates the power of leaders to harness and cultivate their company’s culture for today and tomorrow.  She presents her audiences with action-driven ways to develop and evolve the culture they need to propel their people, performance, and profit to the max.

Creating Success: Connecting Trust & Teamwork

While flying 18 inches away from other high-performance aircraft, Samantha Weeks learned quickly how trust and teamwork can be the difference between life and death. Discover lessons from a Thunderbird and veteran Air Force fighter pilot in this dynamic keynote. Trust is critical to the success of teams, and it doesn’t just happen – it requires each of us to do our part. From a foundation of trust, authentic action, bold commitment, and empathetic leadership set high-performance teams on a trajectory to unparalleled heights.

Dr. Weeks meets your audience on ground-level, cultivating a map to navigate workplace environments to grow trust and teamwork, even when it seems impossible.

Email Dr. Weeks directly at