Emmit McHenry

Emmit McHenry is a well known black entrepreneur and company builder. He was born in Forrest City, Arkansas, on July 12, 1943, the grandson of a minister. Growing up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, McHenry attended Stewart Elementary School, Carver Middle School and Booker T. Washington High School. After graduating in 1962, he went on to receive his B.S. in communications from the University of Denver in 1966. He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, where he attained the rank of lieutenant. McHenry would go on to Northwestern University, where in 1979 he earned his M.S. degree in communications. Here, he would also complete the qualifying examinations for a doctorate. He started as an IBM Systems Engineer and later served as Assistant Dean and Instructor at Northwestern University. He then founded his first full time entrepreneurial venture: Network Solutions. The company commercialized the TCP/IP protocol for packet switched computer network interoperability and went on to become the manager of the global route domain for Internet and the domain name register. Mr. McHenry has been a part of founding a number of technology and non-technology focused companies. His companies have received recognition for innovation, quality service, and community involvement and advocacy from NASA, IBM, AT&T, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Marine Corp, and Government and NGO’s in the U.S. and Africa. His honors include an Honorary Doctorate from Shaw University, the Marine Corps Sunset Parade Guest of Honor for his contributions to the Nations C4 Capacity, and the Chairman’s Award from the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Foundation. He has traveled extensively in Africa, Asia and Europe. He is currently CEO, in partnership with his son Kurt, of Archura, a telecommunications systems integrator, and Chairman and CEO of Defense Manufacturing. He advises company founders on team building, governance, and marketing