Patrick Houlahan

Patrick Houlahan is the Founder and CEO of Strategic Leadership Consultants LLC. Founded in 2019, Strategic Leadership Consultants’ mission is to build inspired, compassionate, mission-driven leaders. Since its inception, Houlahan has conducted keynotes, led workshops, and consulted with numerous organizations such as State Farm, Technology Marketing Toolkit, Association of Inside Sale Professionals, 3M, and Mission Produce. Houlahan has had a distinguished career in both the military and business world.

Houlahan graduated from The Citadel in 1992 and was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. He was stationed in San Diego, CA, serving as a fighter pilot flying the F/A-18 Hornet. Houlahan graduated from the United States Navy Post Graduate Fighter Weapons School, known as “TOPGUN,” and served as an instructor pilot. In 2003, Houlahan was selected as the Instructor Pilot of the Year.

After leaving active duty in 2004, Houlahan joined the Marine Corps Reserves and established the first Reserve Training Unit. He continued to serve as an Instructor Pilot, deploying to Al Assad, Iraq, and again to the Western Pacific. He trained over 500 replacement aircrew, accumulated over 2800 hours of flight time, and rose to the rank of Colonel. Houlahan is a graduate of the United States Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School, the United States Marine Corps Command and Staff College, and earned his Master of Strategic Studies as a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Army War College. He has served in a variety of roles in the Marine Corps including as a Supply Officer, Maintenance Officer, Operations Officer, and Unit Officer in Charge.

In 2004, after Houlahan left active duty, he joined Afterburner Inc., where he quickly rose to become an Executive Consultant and Director of Seminars. In 2006, he was selected as San Diego’s MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Speaker of the Year. During his 13-year career at Afterburner, Houlahan led over 450 keynotes, workshops, and consulting engagements with leading corporations such as Verizon, ExxonMobil, Medtronic, DOW, VMware, and H&R Block.

Houlahan has also worked as the account manager for Southern California for Kratos Public Safety and Security, as the Director of Business Development for Citadel Defense Company, and as the Organizational Development Executive (ODE) for Brooks International. As an ODE, Houlahan worked with numerous executive leadership teams and was responsible for gaining consensus and alignment in support of the CEO’s imperative.

Throughout his career, Houlahan recognized that the organizations that succeeded in any endeavor possessed great leaders. Those that did not, failed. Recognizing the need for leadership training, Houlahan founded Strategic Leadership Consultants in 2019 to help organizations build inspired, compassionate, mission-driven leaders.