Michael K. Kozik retired after 30 years of service as a Colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, last serving at the Department of Aviation, Headquarters Marine Corps in the Pentagon, Washington, DC. Mr. Kozik hails from Middlesex, New Jersey, and while at Purdue University joined the Marine Corps through the Platoon Leaders Class (PLC) in 1983, where he was awarded the Commandant’s Trophy as the honor graduate. He served for 14 years as an AV-8B Harrier pilot, flying combat missions with VMA-231 during Desert Storm. He served two tours as an instructor pilot with VMAT-203, developing training material and instructing new Marine Corps, Spanish, and Italian pilots in AV-8B operations. Returning to VMA-231, he was part of the first shipboard deployment of the AV-8B Harrier II+ radar aircraft, participating in non-combatant evacuation operations during Operation Silver Wake in Albania and Operation Guardian Retrieval in Zaire while deployed with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard USS Nassau.

During his Marine Corps career, Mr. Kozik served as an AV-8B instructor pilot, Logistics Officer, Quality Assurance Officer, Forward Air Controller, Aviation Safety Officer, Squadron Operations Officer, and in the Marine Corps Reserve the Senior Watch Officer in the 3d MAW Tactical Air Command Center during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, and Commanding Officer of Marine Wing Support Squadron 471. He later served as Program Manager for Continuous Process Improvement at Headquarters Marine Corps, leading the deployment across an enterprise of more than 260,000 active duty, reserve, and government employees. He also led a Marine Corps effort to identify the best F/A-18 Hornet aircraft for continued service and modification, developing an Analytical Hierarchy Process methodology to evaluate more than 540 aircraft based on capability, remaining service life, utility, and cost effectiveness. He was the first Marine to complete the United States Army Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt Course.

In civilian life, Mr. Kozik founded and led two process improvement consulting companies providing decision support, process improvement, strategic planning, risk management, modeling and simulation, and information technology consulting services. He retired from American Airlines following a 26-year career as a commercial airline pilot. Mr. Kozik is a graduate of Purdue University with a BS in Civil Engineering. He and his wife, Honna, have been happily married for 40 years. They have two sons, one daughter, two grandchildren, and another grandchild on the way.