I did not start out as a leadership coach. I started as a software engineer.

Over 20 years, I worked my way from QA and engineering into product management and eventually to VP of Development. Along the way, I led teams through a company turnaround, significant growth phases, and a successful acquisition. I made the mistakes most new managers make. I just made them while actually responsible for real outcomes.

What I kept noticing, again and again, was that smart, talented engineers became managers and immediately struggled, not because they lacked intelligence or work ethic, but because nobody taught them how to operate as a leader. The books help a little. The well-meaning advice helps a little. But the gap between knowing what to do and knowing how to do it is where most managers get stuck.

Holloran Leadership exists to close that gap.

The Philosophy

We are at an inflection point for software organizations. Management layers are thinning. The pace of change is accelerating. The managers who remain are more visible, more accountable, and more exposed than ever before.

The organizations that will navigate this well are not the ones with the best strategy documents. They are the ones with managers who can actually execute, adapt, and bring their teams with them. Managers who are not consumed by change but who drive it.

That kind of manager does not appear by accident. They are built deliberately, through reflection, practice, coaching, and accountability. That is what Holloran Leadership is designed to produce.

Stronger managers. Stronger organizations. The recursion is the point.

Credentials and Background

• 20 years in software and technology organizations

• Roles across QA, Engineering, Product Management, and VP of Development

• Led through company turnaround, major growth, and successful acquisition

• Certified Executive Coach, ICF ACC credential

• 10+ years in software management and team leadership

• Founder of Holloran Leadership

Coaching Background

Before launching Manager Atlas, Jonathan worked with individual coaching clients, primarily software managers navigating the same challenges the program addresses. That one-to-one work sharpened how he thinks about what actually changes behavior versus what just sounds good in a workshop.

Manager Atlas is the result of that experience: a structured, cohort-based program that delivers the depth of coaching with the reach and accountability of a group learning environment.