Michael Holthouse is best known in the business world as founder and President of Paranet, Inc.,
a computer network services company. As an INC. Magazine Entrepreneur of the Year
and a two-time “Inc. 500 Fastest Growing Company” winner, Michael grew Paranet in
6 years to 27 offices with 1400 employees and revenues in excess of $120 million and
ultimately sold the company to Sprint in 1997.
Since then he has focused on investments, philanthropy and a variety of business
interests. His investment company, Holthouse Interests, manages a variety of
investments including those in early stage technology companies. His family
foundation, The Holthouse Foundation for Kids, focuses proactively on the needs of
our countries most at-risk youth.
Community involvement is an enormous part of Michael’s life and he has served on
a variety of boards including Junior Achievement, Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers
and Sisters, The Children’s Museum and Boy Scouts of America. Other organizations
with which he has involved himself include Young Presidents Organization, Leadership
Houston, American Leadership Forum and the Center for Houston’s Future.
His largest philanthropic venture is called Prepared 4 Life which prepares youth
for life through fun, proactive and experiential programs infused with life skills,
character and entrepreneurship. Its flagship program is called Lemonade Day™
which is a community wide event that teaches youth how to start their own business,
using a lemonade stand. Created in 2007 Lemonade Day has received extraordinary
acceptance and is now in 31 cities serving over 300,000 youth per year. His goal is to
be in 100 US cities with 1 million lemonade stands in a single day by 2013.
The most treasured part of Michael’s life is spending time with his wife Lisa and their
four children.
