Michael Pocalyko Michael Nicholas Pocalyko ( ) ( born December 24 , 1954 ) is an American businessman and writer . He is the managing director and chief executive officer of Monticello Capital , a boutique investment bank in Chantilly , Virginia . In business he specializes in corporate directorship and in high technology and green enterprises . He is a Sarbanes - Oxley public company audit committee financial expert and corporate board audit committee chairman . He is also known as a moderate Republican politician and public official . His novel " The Navigator " , a literary financial thriller , was published in 2013 by Forge Books , an imprint of Macmillan Publishers . Early life and education . Pocalyko is from the Lehigh Valley , born in Fountain Hill , Lehigh County , Pennsylvania . He grew up in Bethlehem Township , in a devout Hungarian Lutheran blue collar family . His father Walter Pocalyko was business manager of the public school districts in Bethlehem , Sharon , Antietam , and Bangor and a local Democratic political figure . His mother Anna M . ( Pagats ) Pocalyko was an office manager for the brokerage firm of Janney Montgomery Scott . Pocalyko ' s paternal grandparents were Ukrainians who immigrated first to Canada and then to the United States ; his maternal grandparents were Hungarians who arrived in the United States at Ellis Island . His paternal grandmother Dora Bendera ( ) was born in Galicia in the family of Ukrainian nationalist Stepan Bandera . He began writing for newspapers at the age of sixteen when his first article was published in the Bethlehem " Globe - Times . " His editor was John Strohmeyer . As a youth he earned the rank of Eagle Scout and received the Vigil Honor of the Order of the Arrow in the Boy Scouts of America . He graduated in 1972 from Bethlehem Freedom High School . While a student at Muhlenberg College in Allentown , Pennsylvania , Pocalyko was a union steelworker in the ingot mould foundry at the Bethlehem Plant of the now - defunct Bethlehem Steel Corporation and a professional musician . He is a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity . In college he published poetry in literary magazines and chaired a symposium on the work of novelist John Hawkes ; its proceedings became a widely cited book of literary criticism , " A John Hawkes Symposium : Design and Debris " that he co - edited with Anthony C . Santore for publisher James Laughlin at New Directions . Academic . Pocalyko graduated from Muhlenberg in 1976 . He received his Master in Public Administration degree from the Harvard Kennedy School in 1985 , where he was a classmate of UN Secretary General Ban Ki - moon . He earned his Master of Business Administration degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1995 . He was a Trustee of Fairleigh Dickinson University and named by the International Association of University Presidents to the United Nations Commission on Disarmament Education , Conflict Resolution and Peace . Pocalyko has published on subjects including the novels of John Hawkes , the poetry of Theodore Weiss , international affairs , US defense policy , strategic anti - submarine warfare , nuclear warfare , aviation safety , the Cuban Missile Crisis , the Persian Gulf War , leadership , labor rights , the legacy of César Chávez , the international economics of the steel industry , NATO expansion , Swedish foreign affairs , Russian and Ukrainian defense industry , economic conversion , US and European export control administration , Virginia legislative structures , the 1982 - 1984 Lebanon war , negotiation theory , the influence of Dietrich Bonhoeffer in the Lutheran Church , democracy in the Arab world , the role of the liberal arts college in American higher education , SEC compliance , the Dodd - Frank Act , and corporate governance . He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and was on the CFR ' s bipartisan independent task force co - chaired by Madeleine Albright and Vin Weber that authored the influential study " In Support of Arab Democracy : Why and How . " He has publicly credited economist Thomas Schelling and political scientist Richard Neustadt , both at Harvard , as his most influential teachers . Career . Navy . Pocalyko was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy in 1976 and qualified as a naval aviator in 1977 . He later became dual - warfare qualified at sea as a surface warfare officer . He served in the US Atlantic Fleet flying the SH - 3 , SH - 2 , and SH - 60 helicopters , deploying in destroyers and frigates in the LAMPS and LAMPS Mark III platforms . During his career as a pilot , Pocalyko made more than 1 , 000 helicopter small deck landings . He served in the Middle East in the Multi - National Peacekeeping Force in Beirut , Lebanon and was the pilot in command of the only helicopter airborne at the moment of the Beirut barracks bombing on October 23 , 1983 . He characterized the bombing on its twenty - fifth anniversary in a 2008 commentary for McClatchy as " the beginning of a pattern of internal political conflict and international discontent with America that includes our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan . " The same year he appeared in the documentary film " Standing Strong , " commenting on the legacy of Beirut and the bombing . He also commanded special intelligence missions in the Persian Gulf . Pocalyko had several tours as a military staff officer at the Pentagon . In the mid - 1980s he was desk officer for the Navy ’ s Forward Maritime Strategy and then special assistant to Vice Admiral Henry C . Mustin II in the office of the Chief of Naval Operations . In the early 1990s he was on the personal staff of Secretary of the Navy H . Lawrence Garrett III during the Tailhook scandal . In his 1998 book " Against All Enemies , " investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote approvingly about Pocalyko ' s role as a veterans advocate with respect to the controversial Persian Gulf War Syndrome during his years in the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1993 to 1995 . While a serving naval officer in Washington he was senior fellow of the Atlantic Council of the United States and a protégé of retired Army General Andrew J . Goodpaster , then the Atlantic Council ’ s chairman . A longtime observer of Russia , he traveled in the former Soviet Union with Goodpaster and Ambassador Paul Nitze and wrote then - controversial positions supporting Russia n and Ukrainian defense conversion ; economic development of the new nations formed from the Soviet Union ; NATO expansion ; and deep reductions in nuclear weapons as the Cold War ended . He retired from the Navy in the grade of commander in 1995 . Investment banking and business . Pocalyko formed a corporate financial advisory firm in Washington DC that became Monticello Capital , a privately held boutique investment bank and private equity firm based in Northern Virginia and from 2003 to 2008 with offices in New York City . He co - founded Monticello Capital with Stephen Frey , an investment banker and author of financial novels who had been a vice president at JP Morgan and Westdeutsche Landesbank . Since 1997 Pocalyko has been a managing director at Monticello Capital . His business interests are high - growth multinational corporation s in the advanced technology manufacturing , engineering services , defense and aerospace , and biomedical industries . In the National Association of Corporate Directors , where he is a Board Leadership Fellow , Pocalyko advocates for amplified corporate board audit committee responsibilities , corporate accountability to shareholders , and increased transparency . He is a certified fraud examiner . As an entrepreneur he initially concentrated in the US information technology , Internet , and medical systems and services industries , including the first attempt to commercially expand the Internet ' s domain name system . Later his business was international , operated in eleven countries , and focused on environmental services , water , and power grid technologies . He chaired the boards of Advanced Environmental Resources , Inc . in Reston , Virginia and Erdevel Europa S . à r . l . in Luxembourg and Saudi Arabia , whose " industrial focus was energy , the environment , and alternative energy technologies , " and building " water infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and throughout the Middle East . " He is a veteran director who has served on more than a dozen corporate boards and is a " public company audit committee financial expert " under the Sarbanes - Oxley Act . He was a director and audit committee chairman of defense contractor Herley Industries , brought in after that company ’ s chairman was indicted . He also chaired the board of TherimuneX Pharmaceuticals , a biotechnology company in Doylestown , Pennsylvania . Politics . In 1984 Pocalyko became one of the Heritage Foundation ' s " Third Generation , " the " young leaders of [ an ] army of conservative activists . " It was his " Third Generation Military Leadership " that first gained him national notice on the political stage . Pocalyko served terms on the Fairfax County Industrial Development Authority and on Virginia ' s Commonwealth Competition Council , appointed by Governor Jim Gilmore as the governor ' s representative and remaining during part of the administration of Governor Mark Warner . He was a district chairman for six years in the Republican Party of Virginia . 1999 Virginia House Campaign . In 1999 he was the endorsed Republican candidate for the Virginia House of Delegates from the 36th District , in Reston and western Fairfax County , and ran against incumbent Democrat Ken Plum , then chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia . Pocalyko campaigned as a " progressive Republican " in the left - leaning district with strong backing from Senator John Warner , a Capitol Hill mentor , and from Governor Jim Gilmore . He took conservative positions on limited government , fiscal matters and taxation ( although he refused to sign the Americans for Tax Reform " Taxpayer Protection Pledge " ) , law and order , Second Amendment rights , faith - based initiatives , and backing the death penalty , but was moderate on issues like the environment , immigration , and public education . He was among the very few Virginia GOP candidates who met with gay community leaders ; he pledged active support for expanded gay and lesbian rights and appeared at Log Cabin Republican events . Pocalyko lost to Plum by 61 . 83 percent to 35 . 42 percent of the vote . Writing . Since the 1970s Pocalyko has published newspaper features , academic papers , essays , reviews , and opinion pieces , notably for McClatchy , in " The Morning Call " , " The Florida Times - Union " , " The Virginian - Pilot and Ledger Star " , " Proceedings " of the United States Naval Institute and " NACD Directorship " . He is frequently quoted in print media and on - line as an expert on business economics , banking , and corporate governance . " The Navigator " . His novel " The Navigator " was published by Forge Books , an imprint of Macmillan Publishers . A fast - paced contemporary literary financial thriller , the book begins with the point of view of the eponymous navigator of a B - 24 bomber seconded to an intelligence operation as a liberator of a concentration camp in 1945 . The narrative instantly surges forward to the present day , as " Wall Street Comes to Washington " through the " story of . . . the Street ' s biggest technology deal with enormous risks that will save a wallowing global economy or consume it . " " Publishers Weekly " , in a profile of Michael Pocalyko published on the novel ' s launch , noted the book ' s significant political and cultural context " tackling the next big thing , " the " confluence of big government and big business . " " Booklist " highlighted the novel ' s themes of " Washington political intrigue " and " corporate espionage . " " The Navigator " was a " Top 100 Amazon Best Seller " in the category " Political Thrillers & Suspense . " Personal life . Pocalyko married his classmate Barbara Snelbaker after their college graduation in 1976 . They have two grown children , James and Kathryn . He lives in Reston in Northern Virginia and on the Blue Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley , where his mountain home " Hamatreya " is named for a poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson . He speaks German . Awards , Honors and Associations . In addition to numerous military decorations , Pocalyko received the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award from Muhlenberg College and the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award from the Boy Scouts of America . He is a Lutheran , a Freemason , and a member of the Cosmos Club .