Louis Masterson

Louis Thomas Masterson has written three books. Operation Cua Thu – The Last Mission in Vietnam is the first one published with two to follow. All three books are thriller-espionage-action stories with an historical event serving as background: the Fall of Saigon (Operation Cua Thu – The Last Mission in Vietnam), the Iranian Hostage Crisis Hostage Intervention – The Dirty Bomb Plot), and the Falkland Islands War (Falkland Islands War Interruption – The Denial of the Fourth Reich).

He is currently writing his fourth book, Western Hemisphere Dilemma – a Nuclear Standoff Avoided.

Lou writes story lines that captivate the reader and bring him eye-to-eye with the action and suspense, always with a surprise twist at the end. When not writing, Lou runs his executive search business focused on presidential searches for independent community hospitals.

After graduating from the University of Notre Dame with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Mathematics, Lou joined the US Navy where he was initially assigned to a destroyer (USS Morton, DD-948) as Main Battery Officer. From there he went to Vietnam as an Officer-in-Charge of a Swift boat, PCF-75. After that tour of duty, he served in the US Naval Investigative Service Headquarters, on several Special Assignment teams from the Pentagon: in Turkey transferring three small patrol boats to the Turkish Navy and then on the Commander, Caribbean Sea Frontier staff.

Lou has a Master of Business Administration, Marketing and Finance, from the University of Chicago.

Lou has been President of LOUIS THOMAS MASTERSON & COMPANY, an executive transition services firm – retained search and outplacement – for over thirty years.

Prior to his involvement in search and outplacement, Lou was in key management roles with The Sherwin-Williams Company, Wickes Furniture, and Ivey’s; and a management consultant with a national service organization.

Before starting his own firm, Lou was a Senior Vice President and member of the nine-man Executive Committee for the then-largest executive transition firm in the United States.

Lou has served several community and civic organizations. He was a member of The Fairview Council at Fairview General Hospital; was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Epilepsy Foundation of Northeast Ohio, serving as President in 2000 and 2001; was on the Board of Directors of Westwood Country Club, and served as its President in 1995 and 1996; and was a member of Legatus, an international organization of Catholic business leaders, serving as the Vice President of the Cleveland Chapter in 2007 and 2008 and President in 2009 and 2010.

He also volunteered as a tutor at the West Side Catholic Center in Cleveland.

Lou was also a member of the Walsh Jesuit High School Board of Trustees for six years and headed their first-ever strategic planning process. He also served as the Chairman of the Upper School Annual Fund parent segment at Laurel School for three years.

In addition, Lou has been widely quoted – including FORTUNE and Business Week – on a variety of Human Resources issues; and he has published a number of articles on senior executive job transition. Also, Lou has been a three-time guest lecturer at the Krannert Graduate School of Management at Purdue University speaking on staffing, selection, and outplacement.

Lou and his wife, Lynn, are the parents of two daughters, Holly and Loren. Holly teaches English as a second language, and Loren is Chief of the Department of Vascular Surgery at The Cleveland Clinic, Akron General Medical Center.