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Marie Gleeson
Marie Gleeson, former Irish Navy ship captain and founder of NavMar Leadership, translates command experience from leading LE Aoife and Atlantic patrols into coaching for senior teams. I recommend her work, evidenced by an Irish Times‑bestselling memoir, a regular Newstalk leadership slot and clients including Microsoft.
Marie Gleeson is a former Irish Navy ship captain who helps leaders make sound decisions under pressure, build teams that trust each other, and stay resilient when plans fall apart.
Marie joined the Irish Navy as a cadet in 1998 and served for over two decades, as one of its first female officers and later as Commanding Officer of LE Aoife. Her memoir, Be Like the Sea: Life, Learnings and Leadership from an Irish Navy Captain, made the Irish Times Bestseller List, and she's got a regular leadership slot on Newstalk with Claire Byrne.
Her career took her from Atlantic patrols and international drug interdictions to the Chadian desert, and through the loss of a colleague at sea. She uses those moments to show how high-performing teams are built on clear systems, commitment, and trust. As founder of NavMar Leadership, she works as a leadership consultant and coach with leaders across the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors, including Microsoft and the Irish Principals' Network. She's also a board member of BIM and the Marine Institute.
Audiences leave with a clearer way to make tough calls under pressure, practical ideas for building trust and psychological safety in their teams, and an honest view of how self-awareness shapes authentic leadership. Her keynotes and in-conversation events mix candour with humour, and she often stays afterwards to talk with attendees.
For events on leadership, resilience, or women in leadership, Marie brings hard-won experience from a world where every decision carries real consequences.
Topics, sessions and talks
Operating in high-tempo, high-risk environments where lives were on the line taught Marie Gleeson that high performance rests on systems, commitment, and clarity, anchored in trust. She explains how teams stay agile when crisis becomes the new norm, and focuses on what the idea of team demands of every member. Attendees leave with practical, real-world insights they can use to strengthen their own team’s performance and success.
To lead effectively, you have to know who you are. It sounds easy, however, developing the self-awareness needed to deliver for your team requires a depth of emotional intelligence that doesn’t always come easy. Marie Gleeson shares the key lessons she learned from leading at the highest level and how she learned the most from when she got it wrong. Authentic leadership is the critical success factor when you get it right.
Marie Gleeson faced and overcame many challenges and barriers as one of the first women in the Irish Navy. Her resilience was built through tough training, deployments in the middle of the Atlantic and in the heat of the Chadian desert. But the worst storm she faced was the one that was not forecast. She had all the skills to survive at sea in a life raft, but when life put her in a place of “sink or swim”, she had to dig deep to survive. Her insights on resilience resonate with attendees long after this session finishes.
Military Leadership Training in the 1990s did not feature classes on feelings or emotions. Mindfulness and Wellbeing were not part of the syllabus. An Officer was always to be in control of their ship and of themselves. Standards were high; life was tough. When you operate in high-risk environments with life and limb on the line, you carry the load on the inside. Marie delivers key insights for attendees on how you can set high standards, make tough decisions, and still lead with compassion.
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frequently asked questions
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Marie Gleeson builds her talks around specific moments from her naval career, such as Atlantic drug interdictions and the loss of a colleague at sea, and uses each one to draw out a principle on decision-making, trust, or compassionate leadership, told with candour and humour.
Marie Gleeson specialises in building high-performing teams, the journey to authentic leadership, resilience under pressure, and leading with compassion while holding high standards. She served over two decades in the Irish Navy, rising to Commanding Officer of LE Aoife as one of its first female officers, and her memoir Be Like the Sea made the Irish Times Bestseller List.
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