Navy SEAL Commander & New York Times Bestselling Author
Rorke Denver: Biography at a Glance
- Commander Rorke Denver ran every phase of training for the U.S. Navy SEALs and led special-forces missions in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and other international hot spots
- Upon retirement as an elite Navy SEAL, Rorke founded Ever Onward, a cutting-edge training company that takes Navy SEAL principles and applies them to civilian life.
- He uses lessons from training with the SEALs to teach leadership, change management, teamwork, and adapting to and navigating disruption.
- Rorke is the New York Times bestselling author of Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior and Worth Dying For: A Navy Seal's Call to a Nation.
- He starred in the hit film, Act of Valor, and as a mentor on FOX’s competition series, American Grit.
Videos
Biography
Commander Rorke T. Denver has run every phase of training for the U.S. Navy SEALs and led special-forces missions in the Middle East, Africa, Latin America, and other international hot spots. He starred in the hit film Act of Valor, which is based on true SEAL adventures.
His New York Times bestseller, Damn Few: Making the Modern SEAL Warrior, takes you inside his personal story and the fascinating, demanding SEAL training program. In his second book Worth Dying For: A Navy SEALs Call to a Nation, Rorke tackles the questions that have emerged about America’s past decade at war–from what makes a hero to why we fight and what it does to us.
Rorke was most recently seen on FOX’s American Grit. The series followed 16 of the country’s toughest men and women as they faced a variety of military-grade and survival-themed challenges set in the wilderness.
As assistant officer in charge of BRAVO Platoon at SEAL Team THREE, he was deployed to SOUTCOM, the Central and South American Area of Operations. His platoon was the “alert” SEAL team for maritime interdiction, hostage rescue, counter-insurgency, and counter-narcotics. As SEAL officer aboard, Denver led his group’s response to a murderous uprising in the Ivory Coast nation of Liberia, launching advanced-force operations, conducting hydrographic beach reconnaissance, and helping to get U.S. Marines safely ashore.
In 2006, Denver was officer in charge of BRAVO Platoon of SEAL Team THREE in Iraq’s Al Anbar Province in one of the most combat-heavy deployments of any regular SEAL team since Vietnam. Stationed in Habbaniya, his team conducted over 200 missions including sniper operations, direct assaults, special reconnaissance, and ground patrols. Denver’s team has been widely credited with propelling the “Tribal Awakening” that helped to neutralize Iraq’s insurgency. Denver was awarded the Bronze Star with “V” for valorous action in combat.
After returning to the United States, Denver was appointed flag lieutenant to Admiral Joseph Maguire, commanding officer of Naval Special Warfare, traveling to Afghanistan and briefing Congress on SEAL operations. In 2009, he became First Phase officer of SEAL Basic Training including Hell Week, then rose to Basic Training officer. He went on to run all phases of training including advanced sniper, hand-to-hand fighting, communications, diving, and language.
Denver is the founder of Ever Onward, a fresh, new brand designed to use Navy SEAL principles to call leaders to take action, to suffer, and to be bold so they can perform at their highest levels. He is a highly-sought after speaker to companies and organizations and provides numerous innovative products and services to help teams and individuals live and perform at higher levels.
Denver is an honor graduate of the United States Army Ranger School. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Syracuse University, where he was an All-American lacrosse player, and captain of the varsity lacrosse team. He earned a Master’s Degree in Global Business Leadership from the University of San Diego.
Topics
The Pursuit: Tackling Goals & Achieving Peak Performance
Every team and individual has goals they want to achieve. Goals are important as a target, but systems, behaviors, and execution are what take you there. Sometimes these goals line up with the greater mission at hand, and often they don’t. In this talk, Commander Rorke Denver takes lessons from being the top-ranked Navy SEAL Commander and applies them to everyday life so that audiences can learn how to move ahead together while always honoring each person’s personal contribution. More than just inspiring, these custom messages leave audiences with actionable tips that help them perform and feel better.
Sell Like a SEAL
For every mission, Navy SEALs need to know how to sell themselves and their deliverables to their commanders
and comrades. The team must have complete buy-in to execute the mission successfully. Oftentimes, there are limited resources and SEALs need to rely on their own know-how to get everyone on board. These very same lessons can effectively apply to sales forces trying to get their mission accomplished and land a new customer.
Boots on the Ground
This powerful keynote talks about what it takes to be ready for battle every day. What do the best leaders ask of themselves and of their teams and how do teams operate best? Rorke learns about an organization’s goals and objectives and then customizes his message so that audiences can learn from the front lines of a Navy SEAL commander and put it into action right away.
Breakout Sessions
After one of Rorke’s dynamic and customized keynote addresses, audiences can also roll up their sleeves and go deeper into his powerful content. These sessions can be conducted in your typical breakout setting OR at a private campfire.
Calm Under Fire
What is the top skill the Army taught Commander Denver? Which leadership trait did a SEAL sniper teach on a high-mountain mission in Afghanistan? If taken hostage or prisoner, is there a skill you can use to escape your restraints...yes there is!
Mindset
What can you learn from JFK and a baroque English architect about purpose? What did “random acts
of instructor violence” teach aspiring Navy SEAL candidates in basic training? Can you steal someone’s physical power with one mindset trick....we will see.
Acts Of Valor
True stories from the battlefield and the lessons they teach us at work today.
On The Front Lines
Anything you’ve ever wanted to know about being a Navy SEAL and how it applies to your job.
Hands-On Workshop
It’s one thing to think like a SEAL, it’s another to get to act like one. In this hands-on workshop that is customized and accessible to diverse abilities, audiences will get to experience real SEAL training including breaking free of restraints, the secret drill that teaches SEAL snipers how to never forget anything, self-defense, and more. Best of all, Rorke takes each of these experiential lessons and makes a direct connection from the battlefield to the boardroom. Audiences see that the lessons they are learning are more than just fun and games and can actually serve as a catalyst to their own changes they want to see.
