Graham Pulliam ’94

Graham Pulliam ’94 has lived his adult life aligned with the two mottos he learned as a young man at Mayfield Junior School and Loyola High School. Mayfield’s motto, “Actions not words,” and Loyola’s “Men for and with Others” were demonstrated when he decided to join the United States Marines, when he volunteered to lead an Embedded Training Team (ETT) in Afghanistan and when he became a business owner in Los Angeles. Those ideals are still present in his ongoing work helping Afghan refugees and supporting veterans as they acclimate to civilian life and look for jobs. Graham has made decisions and acted with the welfare of others in his heart.

Although his father had served in the Korean War, this self-described “EMO kid who listened to music nobody liked and hung out in comic bookstores” never imagined the path he would take. Graham graduated from Loyola in 1998 and started the architecture program at the University of Southern California (USC). It never felt right, and with his father’s struggle with Parkinson’s disease escalating, he decided to work and continue his education at community college, eventually completing his undergraduate degree at Cal State Los Angeles. By this time, the Iraq War was intensifying, and Graham decided to join up. “I felt there were a lot of people in harm’s way,” he explained. That winter, he found himself at the Marine Corps Officer Candidate School (OCC) at Quantico. “I really didn’t think I would be in the Marines for that long - it is a 4-year commitment as an officer- but the work was so compelling.” Graham received orders for the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, an elite unit down at Camp Pendleton, then volunteered to go to Afghanistan, joining a small team embedded with the Afghan army. “It was the greatest job ever,” he said. “I worked with well-trained individuals who sought out the job and who really believed in the mission.” Graham’s team lived and worked with about 70-80 Afghan soldiers. “All our knowledge and capabilities combined with their knowledge of culture and country - it was the most effective thing I saw on the ground.”

In 2011, Graham married Brooke, his childhood crush, and returned to Afghanistan almost the next day as a Reconnaissance Company Commander. When he finished his service and returned to the United States, he worked for a tech start-up and continued his education, earning his MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management. Partnering with a fellow former Marine, Graham started searching for a company to buy. He was motivated by a study that found the transition for veterans coming out of this war was often met with “an ocean of goodwill in a sea of apathy.” Graham said, “We were hoping to get back in the company commander seat in the private sector and hire vets.” The perfect opportunity never came through, and they were just about to level up when the pandemic hit. Working through the next few years as a controller, succession planner, and in business development, he decided to consider a franchise and soon opened a Paul Davis Restoration.

Although he is busy with his family (Graham and Brooke have two young sons), and building his business, when Graham learned Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, their parish, was organizing a group to assist the Sharifs, an Afghan family seeking asylum, he immediately got involved. Graham joined a group of volunteers who have helped with childcare, provided transportation to ESL classes, and connected the Sharif family with organizations that offer legal support. Graham has employed the family patriarch at Paul Davis as his warehouse manager and does what he can along with another MJS alum, Chris Gibbons ’96, who manages mitigation for the business.

Looking forward, Graham feels optimistic his new business will grow and give him more time to do more and give back. He’d like to help the Sharif family reach a more stable status and return to his plan to develop better networks for veterans seeking jobs. As a man of action, there is no doubt he will find a way.


Profile originally published in the Maypoll 2022-2023 Annual Report Issue