CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Paul Toolan

Special Forces Airborne Ranger Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Paul Toolan joined the Army as a Private in 1986. Over the course of more than three decades in uniform, he has risen through the ranks and completed every elite school in the US Army. He is a Special Forces Airborne Ranger, and started his Special Forces career as a Detachment Commander in 3rd Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. He has held nearly a dozen leadership positions in multiple Special Forces Groups, including Detachment Commander, Company Executive Officer, Battalion Operations Officer, Support Company Commander, Company Commander, Group Operations Officer, Group Executive Officer, Battalion Commander, Chief of the Special Forces Training Division, and the Director of Operations at 1st Special Forces Command. He has worked at the National Counter-Terrorism Center as a Special Forces advisor, and worked as a Special Forces consultant in the United States Army Special Operations Commander’s Initiatives Group. He last duty assignment was the Deputy Commander of the 1st Special Warfare Training Group at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where Green Berets are assessed, selected and trained.

Paul deployed to combat eight times. Once to Kosovo in 2001, six times to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2013, and most recently to Syria, where he commanded the first Special Forces Battalion Headquarters just nine miles from ISIS front line. He has been on the leading edge of conflict, and responsible for carrying out National Security Policy at the ground level for over 20 years. He has been decorated more than thirty times, including three Bronze Stars and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. 

Paul has been married to Christine Carlisle for 20 years. Christine is a kindergarten teacher’s assistant and owns two small craft businesses. They have two sons. Their oldest son Paul is a high school senior. He is on the cross country and swim teams and holds the Jack Britt High School 400 meter relay record. Their youngest son Benjamin is in the tenth grade and is an honor roll student and member of the Integrated Systems Technology Academy of Engineering.