DULUXGroup Ltd chief executive officer Patrick Houlihan credits a Warrnambool science teacher and the “down-to-earth” approach he learnt growing up on a Winslow dairy farm for setting him on his path to become a captain of industry.
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Mr Houlihan, 47, said the late John Hingston, who taught at Christian Brothers College (now part of Emmanuel College), inspired not only him but also his four brothers and a sister to study science.
Mr Hingston “ingrained a sense of curiosity and helped us understand that science is an enabler of so much of what we enjoy in society,” Mr Houlihan said.
Now head of the Melbourne-based DuluxGroup — an Australian Stock Exchange Top 100 company that produces a range of home improvements products — Mr Houlihan said growing up in Winslow had advantages and disadvantages.
His country upbringing taught him resilience and independence, he said.
Living in a small town where everyone knew everyone else also taught him how to engage well with others and take a down-to-earth approach with people.
However, it did confine his aspirations until his teachers encouraged him to broaden his horizons.
“In year 9, I remember one of the teachers asking me what I was thinking about in terms of university and I had never heard of university,” Mr Houlihan said.
“I think I had only been to Melbourne three days in my life before I came to study, so as a country kid growing up in that environment it is interesting how your life plays out,” he said.
Mr Houlihan regularly visits Warrnambool to see his family and plans to return next month to catch up with schoolmates at the 30-year reunion of the 1984 year 12 class at Christian Brothers College (CBC) Warrnambool.
Mr Houlihan said his generation was fortunate to get more opportunities to study and pursue high-level careers than their predecessors.
He paid tribute to his parents, Bill and Beverley Houlihan, now of Warrnambool, for giving him the chance to pursue university studies.
His father initially worked part-time at a Warrnambool supermarket while still running the dairy farm at Winslow to help put the family’s six children through school.
Mr Houlihan’s father later leased out the farm to work full-time at local supermarkets.
The resilence that Mr Houlihan learnt growing up on the Winslow farm has held him in good stead in his career as he weathered numerous changes in company ownership, job roles and locations to progress to his current position as DuluxGroup CEO.
He got his first job as a chemist with multinational chemical company Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI), after gaining a science degree with honours at Melbourne University, and has stayed with that business through its many transformations.
After working with ICI for a few years he was transferred to the company’s headquarters in Cleveland in the United States, where he met his wife, Susan. When they returned to Australia he completed an MBA at University of Melbourne.
Not long after, ICI sold off its Australian operations that were restructured to become chemical and mining company Orica.
Orica later demerged Dulux into a separate company and the DuluxGroup has expanded beyond paint manufacturing to also include Yates garden care, Selleys household DIY products, Cabot’s woodcare products and B&D garage doors.
Mr Houlihan said that after training as a chemist, he never expected to move into sales, marketing or management.
However, mentors such as former Orica chief executive Graeme Liebelt drove him in his career by “pushing him outside his comfort zone” and encouraged a “never-stop-learning attitude”.
“I found the more I challenged myself to move outside my comfort zone, the more I have realised what I was capable of,” Mr Houlihan said.
“Opportunities arise when you least expect them.
“The ball will come your way and you have to decide whether you grab it and run with it or do you pass it on to someone else.”
Mr Houlihan recently told the story about his local upbringing and career to the Australian Financial Review’s Boss magazine as part of its coverage of the ‘Pathways to CEO’ research done by the University of Sydney Business School.
The research analysed the backgrounds of the ASX100 chief executives and revealed a disproportionate number came from regional areas.
Twenty-one of the top 100 chief executives — or 38 per cent of those born in Australia — grew up in the country.