Nathaniel Fick

Nathaniel Fick
Nickname(s)	Nate
Born	(1977-06-23) June 23, 1977 (age 44) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1999–2004
Rank	Captain
Commands held	Weapons Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marines 2nd Platoon, Bravo Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion
Battles/wars	International Force East Timor War on Terror War in Afghanistan Iraq War

Nathaniel C. Fick (born June 23, 1977) is an American technology executive, board member, author and former active duty United States Marine Corps officer. Since 2012 he has been the CEO of Endgame, Inc., a cyber security software company based in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco, CA. He is also an Operating Partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. He came to public notice for his writing on military life and the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.^[1] Fick is the author of One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, a memoir of his military experience published in 2005 that was a New York Times bestseller, one of the Washington Post's "Best Books of the Year," and one of the Military Times' "Best Military Books of the Decade."

Early life and education[]

Fick was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1977, and attended Loyola Blakefield high school in Towson, Maryland. Fick went on to attend Dartmouth College. He later graduated with degrees in classics and government in 1999. While at Dartmouth, Fick captained the cycling team to a U.S. National Championship and wrote a senior thesis on Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War and its implications for American foreign policy.^[2] After leaving the Marine Corps, Fick earned both an MPA and MBA from Harvard University.

Career[]

In 1998, after his junior year at Dartmouth, Fick attended the United States Marine Corps Officer Candidates School and was commissioned a second lieutenant upon graduating college the following year.^[1]

Fick was trained as an infantry officer and was eventually assigned as a platoon commander to 1st Battalion 1st Marines. He was an officer in the Amphibious Ready Group of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit based in Darwin, Northern Territory training with the Australian Army for humanitarian operations deployment to East Timor until the September 11 attacks. He then led his platoon into Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom to support the War on Terror. Upon his return to the United States in March 2002, he was recommended for Marine reconnaissance training. He also completed Army Airborne School.^[3] He subsequently led Second Platoon of Bravo Company of the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Fick left the U.S. Marine Corps as a captain in December 2003,^[4] and Captain Brent Morel took his place as platoon commander. Morel was killed in a firefight in Fallujah in April, 2004. One Bullet Away is dedicated to Morel.

After leaving the Marines, Fick used the GI Bill to attend Harvard Business School and the Harvard Kennedy School.

Fick became the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at the Center for a New American Security in 2008 and later was appointed CEO in June 2009.^[5]

Endgame's endpoint security platform is widely deployed across commercial and government customers. In 2018, Endgame was named one of the "100 Best Cloud Companies in the World" by Forbes,^[6] and Nate was recognized by Fast Company Magazine as one of the "Most Creative People in Business."^[7]

He comments frequently in the media on technology and national security matters, and his writing has appeared in the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He appears regularly on business television, including CNBC and Bloomberg TV. Fick has testified before the United States Senate on Iraq^[8] and spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 28, 2008, the night Barack Obama accepted the presidential nomination.

Fick was elected to Dartmouth College's Board of Trustees in April 2012.^[9] He also serves on the Military & Veterans Advisory Council at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Personal life[]

He resides in Portland, Maine with his wife, , and two daughters.^[9]

In popular culture[]

Fick and his platoon were the subjects of a series of articles in Rolling Stone and the book Generation Kill by the embedded journalist Evan Wright. The articles won the National Magazine Award in 2003. Generation Kill was adapted by David Simon and Ed Burns into a miniseries of the same name for HBO, in which Fick was portrayed by Stark Sands.

See also[]

• List of United States Marines

References[]

External links[]

• Appearances on C-SPAN