About Us
The story behind the Portugal Golden Visa Directory.
Meet the founder, Patrick
In 2024, Patrick was recognized by the Birmingham Business Journal as a 2024 Leaders in Diversity Honoree. He has a deep bench of experience in community involvement and leadership. He served on the grant review committee for the LGBTQ Fund for the Community Foundation of Central Alabama, co-chaired the first LGBTQ advisory board for the Mayor of Birmingham, AL, and served as the first person from Alabama on the national board of directors of The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)—The USA’s largest LGBTQ civil rights organization in Washington DC—where he co-chaired the board’s public policy committee in the 2020 election cycle.
Professionally, Patrick retired from Southern Company after 28 years in 2025. At Southern, Patrick was instrumental in improving Southern Corporate Equality Index score from a 40 to 100–improving Southern Company’s LGBTQ employee support. Patrick was instrumental in the company forming Employee Resource Groups and served as the first president of Prism, Southern Company’s Alabama-based LGBTQ ERG.
Patrick is a graduate of Auburn University with a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering and a graduate of Samford University with a Master of Business Administration. Today, he and his husband live in Funchal (Madeira), Portugal. They are learning a new language, embracing a new culture, and are building a life in semi-retirement with their Welch Corgi, Millee.
For more of my writing, check out my blog at: https://portugalhonestly.substack.com/