Hector Morales-Negron
Leadership Consultant
Dr. Morales-Negron is an innovative applied performance psychology consultant and coach who has used mental performance skills, tools, and strategies to build his championship experiences as an athlete, coach, and leader. He came to the mainland from Puerto Rico as a non-English speaking private, the lowest rank in the U.S. Army, and rose to retire as a Lieutenant Colonel and an Academy Professor at the U.S. Military at West Point. He brings over 30 years of leadership, teaching, championships at every level, and student-athlete development experience as an Army officer, international coach, mental performance consultant, academy professor at West Point, and Director of Mental Performance and International Development with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
As an Army officer, he successfully led platoons, companies, battalion, and division-level staff sections supporting multiple peacekeeping and support operations. As an academy professor, he was responsible for multiple sections in the physical program, including instruction of over ten courses and course directorship of five courses, budget management, personnel administration and training, transportation operations, and facility management.
As a coach in the sport of Judo and an Army Master Combatives Trainer, he has contributed to developing student-athletes warrior ethos, perseverance, and will to fight. He led the West Point Judo program to their first-ever National Collegiate Judo Championship in 50 years, coached the U.S. Armed Forces team to six World Military Championships, and certified thousands of cadets and soldiers as combatives instructors for the Army.
As a certified mental performance consultant, he has served and volunteered with non-profit organizations to assist minority student-athletes in improving the mental aspects of their approach to sports and academics. He has worked with instructional, travel, and collegiate baseball programs, helping parents, players, and coaches understand elements of peak performance. Dr. Morales has degrees and certifications in exercise science, sport, and exercise psychology and is a 6th Degree (RokuDan) Black Belt in Judo. In addition to connecting an athlete's head and heart, he understands the physiological connections to efficient performance. He is going into his 13th season with the Pittsburgh Pirates Baseball Club.
He completed his undergraduate education in the University of Puerto Rico with a degree in Kinesiology and a Minor in Leadership through the ROTC program. He completed his masters in Kinesiology from the University of Georgia, and his PhD in Educational Psychology with a focus in sport and exercise Psychology from Florida State University. Currently, is in the finals stages of completing a Masters in Pastoral Catholic Theology at St Joseph College of Maine.
He has been married to Marisol for 36 years and has three adult children. Meagan, a high school English Teacher in Japan, Hector Jr., an assistant manager in hospitality, and Francisco, a sophomore college student at Temple University Tokyo Campus.
