Get to Know Mike Prendergast
Colonel Prendergast is a native of Tampa and a graduate of Clearwater Central Catholic High School. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1978 and earned a commission through Officer Candidate School. With more than 31 years of service, he retired in 2009 as U.S. Central Command's Provost Marshal, a military position similar to a civilian Commissioner of Public Safety and International Chief of Police. Colonel Prendergast served with distinction in various important command and staff assignments throughout the United States and abroad, to include combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, and humanitarian missions in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Cameroon, and Zaire. Prendergast also served as a Senior Policy Advisor for Defense, Intelligence, and Foreign Affairs as an American Political Science Association Congressional Fellow in the office of U.S. Senator Bob Graham.
Prendergast has earned a Bachelor of Arts degree with Special Honors and a dual major in Political Science and Sociology from Jacksonville State University; a Bachelor of Science degree with a concentration in Psychology from the University of New York; a Bachelor of Social Science degree from Campbell University; a Master of Arts degree with a major in International Relations and a Certificate in African Studies from the University of Florida; a Master of Public Administration degree with a concentration in Public Management from Troy State University; and a Master of Strategic Studies degree from the U.S. Army War College with a major in Public Diplomacy and a concentration in Campaign and Strategic Crisis Planning.
Colonel Prendergast and his wife Naomi returned to Florida in 2008 in preparation for his transition from active duty and in anticipation of him serving the Tampa Bay area where his leadership skills can do the most good for his hometown. The Prendergasts have two children and three grandchildren. Their daughter, Melissa Ann, lives in Savannah with her husband Caleb (a “Nightstalker” with the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment presently deployed to Afghanistan) and son Dylan. Their son, Robert Anthony (a Fort Stewart Military Police Soldier presently deployed to Afghanistan), lives in Hinesville with his wife Elisabeth, son Robert Jr. and daughter Charlee Sue.
