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.