About Allan

Born and raised in poverty on a dairy farm in Ontario, Canada, Allan McDougall spent more than twenty years underground as a miner in the mineral-rich Sudbury Basin.

Numerous challenges and abuses lead him down a self-destructive path into alcohol abuse. At the moment of truth, he pulled himself out of his downward spiral and today his focus is, as he says, "Not to see through people, but to see people through."

Today, Allan's life continues to be redeemed through his years of work as a substance abuse counselor and as head of the United Steelworkers Emergency Response Team. Drawing from his real life experiences, Allan is a unique voice among public speakers, one capable of influencing, motivating, educating and inspiring audiences to take the actions required to change their lives for the better. He knows very well the road that many in his audiences have been down and he is able to touch chords that lie in all of us with his gentle demeanor, empathetic nature and inspiring message.

Allan retains his lifelong passion for hot rods and enjoys nothing more than driving his 1966 Shelby Cobra through the countryside near his Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, home while listening to the "doo-wop" music of his formative years.