Rick Miller founded PHAROS Mission Critical Solutions, a combined consultancy and technology integration practice, to work collaboratively with enterprises to achieve success. PHAROS also partners with technology companies to design and build integrated, bespoke technical solutions to tough operational challenges. Rick also serves as CEO of MobileDOCK USA-Americas, focused on smart technology solutions in ground transportation logistics. Additionally, Rick co-founded Security Clearance Pathway and the Security Clearance Pathway Foundation, two organizations focused on helping develop the next-generation national security workforce.

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Prior to PHAROS, Rick led the Nautical & Safety Operations team at Carnival Cruise Line (CCL) where he was responsible for global nautical/marine operations for the largest cruise line in the world with a broad portfolio of functions. While there he also led the concept development, planning, design, construction and opening of Carnival’s Fleet Operations Center (FOC), the largest and most advanced facility of its kind in the maritime industry. Rick represented CCL in corporate-wide initiatives that developed enhanced policies and procedures across all nine operating lines and 100+ ships of the corporate fleet.

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The Carnival experience followed a successful career in the U.S. Navy including command at sea, with various shipboard and staff assignments across several specialties. Operationally, Rick was on extended deployments seven times across multiple regions, sailing all the world’s oceans. He participated in Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm, Operating Enduring Freedom, counter-piracy and counter-terrorism operations, and dozens of contingency operations in Europe and the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America. He was professionally qualified for multiple roles in both surface ships and submarines.

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Ashore, he led current operations for U.S. Southern Command. Rick was a proven specialist in both strategic planning and financial management, serving multiple Pentagon tours as part of both the Navy and Joint Staffs. He planned significant portions of the Defense Department’s programs and budgets, also guiding development of appropriations to support wartime activities and coordinating congressional engagements. He served on the personal staffs of both the Vice Chief of Naval Operations and Chief of Naval Operations, as well as leading special support on several issues for the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Additionally, he spent a year as a Federal Executive Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Rick previously served as an advisor to the Secretary of Navy’s Science & Technology Board, a Deputy Director at the Atlantic Council, is currently a member of The Consensus for American Security at the American Security Project, and Board Advisor to the U.S. National Drone Association. At the state-level, he serves as Vice Chair of the Florida Defense Alliance. In South Florida, Rick is Executive Director of the South Florida Defense Alliance and a member of Miami-Dade County’s Military Affairs Board. Supporting education, Rick serves on a local congressional military service academy selection committee and co-chairs a Safety and Security Committee at Nova Southeastern University School. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Economic Development Council of South Miami-Dade. He was instrumental in achieving the two spaceport territory designations in Miami-Dade County, development of the South Dade Aerospace Zone initiative, and a key project leader in the Florida Advanced Training Range initiative.

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A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, distinguished graduate of both the U.S. Naval War College and U.S. National War College, and the Catholic University of America, Rick’s degrees include engineering, international affairs, and strategic planning disciplines, as well as doctoral work in political economy. He is the author of over 30 articles, professional papers, and the book Funding Extended Conflicts, a history of U.S. war financing. He is a member of Pi Sigma Alpha, the National Political Science Honor Society. In his military career, Rick received multiple personal and team awards for superior achievement. He is a winner of the Naval War College’s B. Franklin Reinauer Defense Economics Prize and the U.S. Naval Institute’s Naval History Essay Prize. Early in his career, he designed, built, and raced a human-powered submarine that won the first ever international competition and was featured in a National Geographic television documentary, the Wall Street Journal, and Popular Science magazine.