First Sergeant (Retired) Calen Allen Bullard is a leadership development professional, executive coach, and instructor with more than two decades of experience leading people, building teams, and developing leaders in environments where standards are fixed, accountability is learned, and outcomes carry real consequence.

Calen served 21 years in the United States Army, retiring in 2019 after a career spanning conventional, airborne, and special operations units. He held senior leadership roles including First Sergeant, Company Operations NCOIC, and brigade-level senior advisor, as well as formal instructor and leadership development positions within U.S. Army Special Operations training commands. Across these assignments, he was responsible for the readiness, discipline, and professional formation of thousands of personnel at multiple organizational levels.

His operational experience includes leadership in complex and austere environments across Iraq, Afghanistan, the Southern Philippines, and the Indo-Pacific region. Calen’s background spans combat operations, civil affairs, joint and interagency coordination, foreign partner engagement, and large-scale leadership development. These experiences shaped a leadership philosophy grounded in a simple truth: leadership is behavior. Accountability is not assumed, it is taught. Teams are not built through charisma or position, but through clarity, trust, and disciplined execution.

In addition to operational leadership, Calen is a formally trained instructor and leadership developer. He served as a Battalion Leadership Development Instructor and as an instructor within the Civil Affairs Qualification Course, where he designed and delivered instruction focused on leader behavior, decision-making, and responsibility under pressure. His teaching emphasizes application over abstraction and prepares leaders to function when ambiguity is high and margin for error is low.

Following military retirement, Calen continued serving leaders through Veteran Services roles at both the state and federal levels. He worked within a local mental health authority’s Veteran Services program as a Peer Service Coordinator certified by the Texas Veterans Commission, and later served as the Granbury Region Healthcare Advocate. In these roles, he coached and mentored veterans navigating military transition, VA healthcare access, disability compensation, education benefits, and complex institutional systems. This work required translating policy into action, advocating within large bureaucracies, and supporting individuals during high-stress personal transitions.

This combination of operational command, formal instruction, and advocacy work uniquely positions Calen to coach leaders through change, growth, and organizational complexity. Whether working with executives, senior managers, or emerging leaders, his approach centers on self-awareness, ownership, communication, and execution. He helps leaders align behavior with responsibility and build teams that operate with trust, discipline, and shared purpose.

Calen holds a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership along with additional certifications in business administration, operations leadership, negotiations, and instructor development. As the founder and sole instructor and executive coach of New Dawn Leadership, he works directly with every client and cohort. Engagements are intentionally focused and personal, ensuring direct accountability, honest dialogue, and leadership development grounded in lived experience rather than abstract theory.

Calen is currently enrolled in the Maxwell Leadership Certification Program, where he is deepening his ability to coach, teach, and mentor leaders using practical, values-based frameworks that translate into everyday behavior and measurable growth. Through this training, he is strengthening his leadership communication, facilitation, and coaching methodology so he can better serve individuals and teams with clarity, consistency, and purpose.

In addition, Calen is pursuing a professional coaching certification through the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs VR&E program. He expects to enroll in a certification track by March 2026 and complete it before 2027.

New Dawn Leadership exists to form leaders who act with clarity, lead with integrity, and build teams capable of sustained performance.