Get Off the X

MICHELE RIGBY ASSAD is an international corporate advisor and keynote speaker. She parlayed a ten-year career as a CIA operative in the Middle East to consulting for multinational companies facing complex geopolitical challenges. Her extensive experience in the Arab World drives her ability to interpret and navigate risk to design safe and effective operations.

Michele has played a pivotal role in high-stakes missions both as a counterterrorism official and as a human rights defender in the civilian world, culminating in the 2015 airlift operation and relocation of 149 persecuted Iraqi Christians. Michele also provides security advice to nonprofit organizations working against human trafficking and in support of women rebuilding their lives.

Hailing from a small town in Central Florida, Michele determined that her simple beginnings would not define her future. She quickly learned how to push through fear and other obstacles to defy her own expectations and live a life of meaning and purpose. Her early pushes off the X to serve on college mission teams and study abroad in Egypt, Israel, Russia and Ukraine, resulted in a lifetime of travel to over 52 countries.