Steve Moran ‘81 is fearless
Steve Moran ’81 came to CMC from humble, blue-collar beginnings. After graduating from high school, he spent two years working as the family bread winner as a box boy and clerk at a local grocery store while his father convalesced after a serious accident. His family moved from Oil City, PA to Upland, CA in 1969. To his family’s surprise, Steve’s goal was always to obtain a college degree and be a commissioned Army officer. He received a ROTC scholarship that gave him a variety of opportunities. For a while he thought about attending one of the service academies as well as Harvard University. The fact that Harvard did not have an on-campus ROTC program and he would have to take ROTC classes at MIT ended that consideration and eventually, he decided on CMC. A family friend influenced that decision, Mike Thornton ’72, a star CMS swimmer and Olympic hopeful. CMC was a good choice based on the historical foundation of the college, the reputation of President George C. S. Benson’s prodigious military career and, not in the least important, his girlfriend and future wife’s attendance at nearby Cal Poly Pomona.
Steve describes himself as a “boring fellow.” He enjoyed the small classes and profited from courses taught by Drs. Harold Rood, Edward Haley, and Winston Fisk. His major was Political Science and International Relations. His senior thesis was “Armageddon at the Persian Gulf,” a topic written long ago, but so topical in today’s world. Steve was gregarious, good looking, and well liked and aside from a little intermural football, he emersed himself in ROTC.
Steve states that “ROTC changed my life and my military service presented opportunities that were far beyond my expectations.” At CMC, he co-founded a Pershing Rifles Fraternity Company, was on the rifle team, and served as Cadet Battalion Executive Officer, S1, and S3. He was rewarded twice with the Academic Achievement Award, Superior Cadet Award, Excellence in Military History Award, Distinguished Military Graduate, Regular Army Commission and Army Fellowship Award for graduate study. The intense experience at the ROTC summer camp challenged him physically and intellectually and he came away with newly developed skills in leadership, military bearing, discipline, and tactics.
Another life-changing experience that occurred after summer camp was marrying his high school sweetheart, Lisa. The couple lived off campus during Steve’s senior year. Lisa’s father was a 30-year career Marine Corps officer and eventually became convinced that his daughter was in good hands after careful evaluation of Steve’s success in ROTC. A highlight of Steve’s time in ROTC occurred in 1977 when he had the honor to escort General Omar Bradley to his seat at an honor ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. When it came to branch selection, Steve first focused on Infantry, but received advice from two ROTC cadre MI officers that based on his academic experience, Military Intelligence would be a better choice offering greater diversity, and experience with global strategy.
A week after graduation and commissioning, Steve and Lisa were driving to Ft. Carson, CO for a short stay before moving on to his Officer Basic Course at Ft. Huachuca, AZ. He was successful in his classes and training and developed the career goal of becoming a “strategic intelligence officer.” Graduating at the top of his class, the couple returned to Ft. Carson, where Steve was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) (the Iron Horse Division). As a Second Lieutenant, Steve held several senior officer positions including serving as the S2 for the 4th Battalion, 40th Armored Regiment, 3d Brigade. His Battalion Commander’s policy was that every officer in the unit needed to know how to operate every piece of equipment so Steve learned to get his hands dirty. He learned fast that it was the NCOs who ran the show and on one occasion when Steve was assigned as a tank commander, he was told by the First Sergent to, “shut up and don’t touch anything!”
As a 1st Lieutenant and later as a Captain, Steve served as the G2’s Chief of Intelligence Collection Management & Dissemination as well as the NORAD Liaison Officer. In this role he had the opportunity to deploy to the National Training Center at Ft. Irwin, CA for desert training, to Wiesbaden for III and V Corps exercises, and to Hammelburg, Mannheim, and Homberg, Germany for “REFORGER 85 - Central Guardian,” the cold-weather, multinational field training exercise (FTX) to rehearse the capacity of U.S. Army forces to reinforce Europe in the event of a Russian attack. It was also during this period that Steve had the opportunity to spend time at NORAD’s Cheyenne Mountain, tracking Soviet SLBMs (submarine-launched ballistic missiles). He had the responsibility of weekly briefing his Division Commanding General, John Hudachek and his Assistant Division Commander, General Colin Powell on the global intelligence assessment. Steve admired Powell tremendously as a brilliant visionary and very strategic officer who always asked tough questions. Steve found himself often traveling in the back of a jeep with the General as they checked on officers, soldiers and units ensuring that operations were carried out as planned.
At the conclusion of his four-year active duty obligation, Steve decided to leave the Army for his reserve duty obligation. He was confronted with another life changing decision and after some solid advice from MI colleagues, he applied for and received an inter-service transfer to the Naval Reserve and was assigned to Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego in 1985, then to FIRSTPAC (Fleet Intelligence Rapid Support Team) in Los Alamitos, CA in 1987, and was honorably discharged in 1994.
At about the same time, he landed a job with Lockheed Aircraft Service Company in Ontario, CA where he worked from 1985 to 1989 as a senior Operations Research Analyst. He conducted classified threat assessments for enhancing the survivability of Special Operations aircraft in various global threat environments and managed R&D projects in conjunction with the U.S. Air Force. In this position Steve gained an appreciation for how to quickly adapt to change and create thorough contingency plans. His experiences also taught him to think carefully and strategically and to learn from the mistakes that history taught. He was recommended for and accepted the Lockheed paid graduate work-study program that allowed him to begin night law school at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.
Working days at Lockheed, attending night classes at Loyola, and his Navy Reserve service turned out to be totally exhausting. Steve rarely saw his wife and two children. Ultimately, his wife convinced him that it was in their best interest to sell their house and move in with her father and mother so he could attend law school full time. Steve made law review and finished his Juris Doctor Degree in 1990, passed the California bar on his first attempt, and was admitted to the bar in 1991.
From 1992 to 1996, in his first in-house counsel role, Steve worked for ITT Cannon, a $600 M electrical components manufacturing division of ITT. He led the successful formulation of a $20 M joint venture in China, traveling extensively to China over two years as well as to Japan, England, France, and Germany. These international experiences taught him how indispensable cultural sensitivity was when negotiating and closing foreign transactions. He found ways to create win-win opportunities and work with both international commercial and Communist enterprises. In 1994, he was selected, from among many other more senior attorneys in the ITT system, to his first of many General Counsel roles. Also in 1994, he was sponsored by the General Counsel of ITT Defense & Electronics Division for his in-person admission to the Supreme Court of the United States, where he remains admitted today.
From 2000 to 2003, Steve served as the first General Counsel for Intersil Corp. He led a team of seven attorneys to a successful $575 M IPO on Nasdaq. It was the largest IPO ever for a U.S. based semiconductor company. He then led the capital raise of $1.1 B in two follow-on offerings. This was Steve’s first IPO and he has led 2 more IPOs since then. This experience taught him to be bold and unafraid to take risks. He learned that a passion for one’s chosen vocation and a strong work ethic can derivatively reap economic benefits.
Another highlight of Steve’s General Counsel career occurred from 2023 to 2024 as PublicSquare’s first Chief Legal Officer. He led the company through a successful IPO on the NYSE and treasures that most memorable bucket list day including the pre-reception, ascending the podium, ringing the bell, signing his name on the wall, walking the trading floor, the post-bell luncheon, and culmination in their first board meeting in the ornate NYSE boardroom.
As a General Counsel or Chief Legal Officer for 12 companies, Steve attributes his success to applying the Army’s 5-paragraph OPORD to his legal work: Situation, Mission, Execution, Sustainment, and Command & Signal. From mergers and acquisitions, to litigation, to transactions, the OPORD format has enabled him to plan strategically, execute tactically, successfully manage risk, and achieve overall mission success.
Steve has no plans to retire, and currently serves as General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer & Data Privacy Officer for Wellspring Worldwide Inc. He is blessed to have his entire family living within a 2-block radius of their home in Orange County, CA. He and his wife of 45 years, Lisa, have 2 children, Chris and Kate, son-in-law Jeff, daughter-in-law Adelle, and 5 grandchildren, Adelyn (12), Luke (12), Emma (9), Gavin (9), and Madison (3). In his off time, Steve enjoys attending his grandkids’ myriad events and continues his studies as a lifelong student of our Constitution that began under CMC’s Dr. Fisk. Having travelled all over the world, Steve and his wife are happy remaining close to family.
Steve’s Life Lessons acquired from the Army are summarized as the following:
- Lead by example. Achieve desired goals by rolling up your sleeves, getting your hands dirty, learning the details of the work, and closely interacting with the people who actually do the necessary work
- The Army’s 5-paragraph Operations Order. This is an excellent template for success in any endeavor of life, personal and professional.
- Maintain composure under pressure. When conditions are unfavorable, never panic, then rapidly discern, and triage the critical from the important and the important from the unimportant, then dig in and focus on mission success.
- KISS: “Keep it Simple Stupid.” You can benefit from practicing “Occam’s Razor,” in decision making but be cautious not to oversimplify.