Bio

Michael Keane is a business executive, investment banker, university professor and author with experience in business strategy, corporate finance, investment banking and military affairs. He holds a law degree from the University of Texas School of Law, a MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California. He was selected as a fellow for the competitive Department of Defense’s National Security Education Program. In 2003, he was embedded with the US Army’s 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and in 2009 he was embedded at the headquarters of the Commander of the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul, Afghanistan. He is the author of Dictionary of Modern Strategy and Tactics (2005), and of the illustrated children’s Christmas books The Night Santa Got Lost: How Norad Saved Christmas (2015) and Charlie Brown's Christmas Miracle (2023). As a professor, he taught courses on investments and corporate finance for more than ten years at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, and taught foreign policy at Pepperdine University’s School of Public Policy. On the business side, he has worked as a corporate finance executive for several New York Stock Exchange-traded companies and was Managing Director of Investment Banking for Susquehanna International Group, Seidler Companies, Incorporated, and Kemper Securities. In 2010, he became Chairman of the Board for the international energy-focused company Group 42, Inc. From 2010 to 2012, he was a senior executive and Head of Strategy for the Hollywood-based visual effects and digital film studio. In 2015, he became Vice Chairman of the Board at VAALCO Energy, Inc. He has also served as a consultant for the World Bank on anti-money laundering and counterterrorism finance.