Name: Callahan, Leslie.
Title: Founder of Crossroads Cattle Company
Texas A&M Class: 1990
Inducted: 2024
Biography
Born and raised in the Austin, TX area, Leslie Callahan grew up working in his family’s businesses, Callahan
General Store and Capital Feed and Milling. While earning a B.S. degree in Agricultural Economics from Texas A&M University in 1990, he spent his summers working for Capital Land and Livestock in Schwertner, TX and Texas Beef Producers Feedyard in Dumas, TX.
Following graduation, Callahan worked for Harris Ranch Beef Company in Selma, CA in their packing
division, learning the meat packing side of the industry. He returned to Central Texas and from 1994-2000 he worked for Capitol Land & Livestock in Schwertner TX selling and managing feeder cattle procurement. From 2000 to 2003, he served as Vice-President of Livestock Procurement at Emerge Interactive, Inc. There, he helped build sales to the point that the company was taken public in 2001. In 2003, when eMerge exited the cattle business, Callahan and Jennings Steen ’90, a coworker and an Aggie classmate, founded Crossroads Cattle Company based in Austin, TX.
Today, Crossroads Cattle Company trades 300,000 to 325,000 yearlings and runs 20,000 to 25,000 stocker
calves annually in Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. In addition, they own Cross R Ranches, with 185,000 acres in New Mexico where they produce all-natural beef with a herd of 1,800 to 2,400 cows depending upon the range conditions. Most recently, they started Crossfire Holdings, Austin, TX., investing in real estate and assisting young entrepreneurs in start-up businesses across Central Texas. Callahan is actively involved in the cattle industry as a long-time member of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, and the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association.
Active in his community, Callahan served as Vice-President of the Dripping Springs Youth Baseball
Association, and coached youth soccer, basketball, and baseball for many years. He was President, VicePresident, and served six years as a member of the Board of the Austin Walburg School. In addition, he taught a class in money management and basic economics at the school. Along with his wife Debra, Callahan is an active supporter of the Seedling Foundation in Austin and has spent time mentoring children with incarcerated parents.
Callahan is an advocate and supporter of the Weston AgriFood Sales program and the Rister Agribusiness
Entrepreneurship Program in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Texas A&M University, having
contributed to the establishment of endowed chairs in both programs. He is an active mentor to students in these programs as well as to other students in the Department of Agricultural Economics and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. He is a member of the Industry Advisory Board to the Weston AgriFood Sales Program, and he is a fan of Texas Aggie athletics, particularly Aggie Baseball.
Callahan married his high school sweetheart, Debra ’92, in 1991. Currently residing in Dripping Springs, they are the parents of triplets Ben ’22, John, an Alabama graduate, and Elizabeth ’24, a Furman University graduate who is completing her graduate program at the Bush School of Government and Public Affairs.