User:Christieag/E. Matthew Buckley

E. Matthew Buckley is a former decorated Navy fighter pilot and is the founder and CEO of Strike Fighter Financial LLC, a private consulting firm providing executive level guidance to select clients. His firm has turned around companies like Options University and has played a crucial role in the launch of Top Gun Options, a unique financial training system launched in July of 2010 by Fox3 Options.

Executive Career
Prior to launching Strike Fighter Financial, he was the Chief Executive Officer of PEAK6 Media LLC, which founded the Options News Networkin March of 2008. He hosted several popular programs including “The Options Cocktail, " “Mad About Options " and “The Sidewinder Report ". Buckley was also featured in two national commercials for the Options News Network . He rose from the position of Managing Director of a leading Wall Street firm to CEO in one year at the age of 38. The sister company to the Options News Network is the retail brokerage OptionsHouse.

In July 2010, Buckley was the driving force behind a groundbreaking financial training system that applied the discipline and risk management methodologies he learned as a fighter pilot in combat situations over Iraq to his career on Wall Street and options trading. The program includes structured academics that model naval flight training called Primary, Intermediate, and Advanced. This training is designed to take someone who has never seen an aircraft before and make them a combat-ready Naval Aviator in the shortest time possible. Similarly, Top Gun Options can take individuals ranging from no knowledge of options to experienced options traders, and professionally train them or significantly improve their trading skills. More importantly, the program includes in-depth practical applications such as Live Trade Briefs, skill-based Trade Alerts, professional Wingman Coaching, and an Options Pocket_check_list (OPCL).

Prior to serving as the CEO of PEAK6 Media LLC, he was the Managing Director of Strategy for a leading Wall Street proprietary equity options trading firm called PEAK6. He was responsible for the strategic development, successful execution, and debriefing of all strategic plans across the firm and retail business units.

Buckley is a regular columnist on the financial website TheStreet.com and writes a column called “The Firing Line." From 2004 to 2006, he was the Director of Leadership for Afterburner Inc in Atlanta, Georgia, where he became a nationally recognized and highly sought after public speaker. He created and deployed leadership and strategic planning products and was an executive business consultant to many Fortune 500 companies, including GE, Cisco, GM, AT&T, Sears, First Industrial, GMAC, Panasonic, Washington Mutual, Capital One, MasterCard, Tyco, and Gilead Sciences. He has combined his unprecedented experiences in the military and in corporate America in the writing of From Sea Level to C Level: A Fighter Pilot’s Journey from the Front Lines to the Front Office. The work is currently unpublished and Mr. Buckley is represented by Kelly Mortimer.

Charity and Volunteer Work
Buckley is on the board of directors for the Monica Buckley Foundation, a non-profit charity dedicated to the memory of his sister who was tragically killed in an automobile accident while attending Villanova University. This foundation has been established to promote the education of children and adults with learning disabilities, provide scholarships for persons planning a course of study related to the field of special education, to promote services that aid or assist the mentally challenged and to support research in the field of learning disabilities.

He is a lifetime member of the Tailhook Association and is a football coach for the Boca Jets.

Lawsuit against PEAK6 Investments
On June 23rd, 2010, Mr. Buckley filed a federal civil lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois against PEAK6 Investments, L.P., PEAK6 Media LLC, PEAK6 LLC, PEAK6 Online LLC, Jennifer Just, and Matt Hulsizer. The lawsuit seeks damages in excess of $20 million and alleges that the defendants engaged in tortuous interference with prospective business advantage, tortuous interference with contractual relationship, breach of contract, intentional infliction of emotional distress arising under the laws of Illinois, and violations of the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act of 1994 (“USERRA”), 38 U.S.C. section 4301 et seq. Chief Judge James Holderman is assigned as the presiding judge and a jury trial has been demanded by Mr. Buckley.

Military Service and Airline Career


From 1991-2006, Buckley was a decorated Naval Aviator with United States Navy serving at multiple duty stations worldwide. He was an F/A-18 Hornet Instructor and Adversary Pilot with combat experience. He flew 44 combat sorties over Iraq and was awarded 2 Strike/Flight Air Medals. He was a Navy Fighter Weapons School (also known as TOP GUN) Graduate. His last squadron was Strike Fighter Squadron 201 (VFA-201), based at NAS JRB Fort Worth, Texas.

Mr. Buckley flew for FedEx for then months before moving to American Airlines. After completing training in August 2001, he was scheduled for his first flight as an American Airlines pilot on September 11th, 2001. Upon recognizing the attacks, he raced out to Naval Air Station Fort Worth, and got out to the base just as it was locked down and went to a combat posture. Another pilot in the squadron had made it onboard as well. The squadron's Commanding Officer was also an airline pilot and was on a trip, so he was unavailable. It didn’t matter. This was one of those moments where it was necessary to take the initiative and execute.

He called down to MC and was told by the Chief that there were four Hornets that were FMC. Buckley ordered them immediately prepped for flight a colleague worked the other line ordering weapons to be loaded. He coordinated with the Air Force Reserve F-16 squadron next door, the 457th Fighter Squadron (also known as “The Spad”) who was tied into NORAD, the North American Air Defense Command, and both squadrons stood up fighter alerts and the Spads launched on a non-responsive aircraft and flew combat air patrol over the southwest United States.

Buckley went from flying an airliner that day to possibly shooting one down. On September 13th, 2001, Buckley launched and forced an aircraft to land that was heading towards presidential restricted airspace. Since Buckley was one of the newest hires at American Airlines, he was immediately furloughed after the attacks, along with thousands of others.

He served as a Department Head in a fighter squadron responsible for the safe operation and combat capability of 12 F/A-18 Hornet aircraft worth over $500 million. His responsibilities included the supervision and management of 200 naval personnel and material assets during combat operations. He managed the career paths and professional development of officers and enlisted personnel, managed a $25 million operations budget, and was responsible for planning, coordinating, and directing allied assets in the Persian Gulf theatre as the Mobile Targeting Officer in Riyadh, KSA, under the command of Joint Task Force Southwest Asia. He conducted briefings for the highest levels of the National Command Authority and held a Top Secret/SCI clearance ). Buckley served as a senior LSO, or Landing Signal Officer. He was also awarded four Navy Achievement Medals.