Patrick L. Sutton’s origin story began as a teenager when he appeared alongside Academy
Award Winners Sandra Bullock and Matthew McConaughey in the film A Time to Kill. Then,
while pursuing his B.A. in English from Tougaloo College, Patrick became the first student to
ever write, produce, and premiere a film project on campus. He went on to raise $20,000 to
finance his digital series, SCALES, which has received over 100 film selections.
Since then, Patrick has figured out the key ingredients to success as a leader: leaning into
creativity, while embracing the power of technology. His creative and technical talents have
merged into a dynamic leadership style that appropriately balances both people and processes.
Likewise, in his current position as Head of People at Financial Technology company,
MainStreet, Patrick is responsible for the core aspects like HR business partners, employee
relations, recruiting, talent management, learning & development, and DEI initiatives.
Essentially, he provides structure and administers human resource programs centered on
compensation and benefits, leave, and disciplinary matters.
Though work brings Patrick joy, traveling makes him happy. He appreciates a lazy beach
vacation or a visit to his favorite place, Barcelona, Spain. When a full-throttle vacation isn’t on
the menu, he’s perfectly content with a solo matinee trip. All he needs is the theater to himself
and an opportunity to talk to the screen. Of course, that makes total sense for the man whose love
for episodes of the Golden Girls runs so deeply that he owns a collection of Golden Girl swag - t-
shirts and table napkins included.
Aside from more travel and eventually screening a film project at Sundance, Patrick plans to
launch a leadership development program for at-risk youth across the United States. The
program’s target will be schools whose funding cuts impact students’ ability to meet learning
outcomes.
And if you think you may have seen Patrick on your television, you’re right. He and his husband,
Robert, were featured on an episode of HGTV’s House Hunters.