Oakland McCulloch

Retired Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army

Lieutenant Colonel Oakland McCulloch, U.S. Army (Retired)

Oakland McCulloch was born in Loudon, Tennessee and raised in Kirkland, Illinois. After graduating from high school, he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point for two years. He then graduated from Northern Illinois University and received his commission as an Infantry Officer through the Reserve Officer Training Course in 1986.

In his 23-year career in the Army Oak McCulloch held numerous leadership positions in the Infantry and Armor branches. He assisted in disaster relief operations for Hurricane HUGO in Charleston, South Carolina and Hurricane ANDREW in south Florida. His operational deployments include Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, Peace Enforcement Operations in Bosnia and Peace Keeping Operations in Kosovo. He held numerous instructor positions at the US Army Ordnance School, the US Army Command and General Staff College, the Australian Command and Staff College and the University of South Alabama. His last position in the Army was a three-year tour as the Professor of Military Science at the University of South Alabama where he led the training and commissioning of Lieutenants and tripled the size of the program in his three-year tour.

LTC McCulloch retired from the Army in September 2009 with over 23 years of active service and joined the staff at the Bay Area Food Bank as the Associate Director during the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He was also the Vice Chair for Military Affairs on the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce and a member of the Mobile Rotary International Club. He left the food bank in December 2010 to become the Recruiting Officer for the Eagle Battalion Army ROTC program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. In his 15 years as the Recruiting Officer, he grew the program at Stetson University from 15 Cadets to over 100 Cadets and he more than doubled the size of the Eagle Battalion. Cadet Command selected Oak as the top recruiting officer, out of 274 recruiters, for 2019. In his 15 years of working with Army ROTC he was involved in the commissioning of over 550 Lieutenants for the United States Army.

In February 2021 LTC Oak McCulloch published his first book – “Your Leadership Legacy: Becoming the Leader You Were Meant to Be”. He is now an internationally recognized keynote speaker on Leadership and Success.

LTC McCulloch earned a Bachelor of Science degree in History from Northern Illinois University in 1987 and a Master of Military Arts and Science in Leadership and History from the United States Army Command and General Staff College in 2002. He received thirty-one military service awards including the Bronze Star, eight Meritorious Service Medals and the Humanitarian Service Medal.

LTC Oak McCulloch is married to the former Kelly Smyth of Wauconda, Illinois. They were married at Fort Sheridan, Illinois in 1987 and they have two children, Oakland Vincent McCulloch and Caileigh Nicholson. They also have a granddaughter, Ryleigh Jade Nicholson and two grandsons Christopher Bryce Nicholson and Oakland Maverick McCulloch.