Antwanye Ford

Mr. Ford is the President and co-founder of Enlightened Inc., an information technology (IT) consulting
firm specializing in Cyber Security, Systems Integration services, and Management Consulting.
Enlightened serves clients such as the United States (U.S.) Navy, Army, Office of Personnel
Management, U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services,
Criminal Justice Coordinating Council of the District of Columbia, and the state governments of Ohio,
New York and Illinois to name a few. At Enlightened, he is responsible for Corporate Vision and
Direction, Business Development, Strategic Planning, and Corporate Innovation.
Mr. Ford started his career as a small defense contractor and later moved to MCI. While at MCI, he
held several positions of increasing responsibility ranging from Systems Analyst to the Marketing
Product Manager for MCI’s Friends and Family®. In 1994, Mr. Ford joined INTELSAT, serving as the
Director for the Applications Support Organization. His devotion to his work, coupled with over 20
years of experience in IT, played an integral role in making his lifelong dream of becoming an
entrepreneur a reality and led to the founding of Enlightened, Inc.
Over the years, Enlightened has been recognized with numerous awards and accolades for its dedication,
hard work, and innovative solutions. In 2005, Mr. Ford was selected by the editorial board of Inside the
Minds™ as an author for the book, CEO Best Practices: Skills, Values & Strategies for Successful
CEOs. The work features top CEO’s representing the nation's leading companies. Mr. Ford contributed
a chapter to the book entitled, "The Spiritual Side of Leadership". In 2006, Reed Logic Studios™
developed a Video Leadership Seminar™ to provide IT executives and entrepreneurs with critical
information on starting a new IT company and growth strategies for success. The video a 60-minute
feature of Mr. Ford sharing his knowledge on what every entrepreneur should know about laying the
framework for success as well as the right types of ways to grow your business. In 2007, for the second
consecutive year, The Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) ranked Enlightened on its list of the
“100 fastest-growing inner city companies in America”. In 2009, Enlightened was recognized as one of
the “Top 100” Minority Business Enterprises by the Center for Business Inclusion and Diversity for the
Mid-Atlantic region. Morehouse College Entrepreneurship Center honored Enlightened with the
Innovative Creative Entrepreneur (ICE) award as a "2010 Outstanding Small Business". In 2012,
Washington SmartCEO magazine honored Enlightened with a GOVstar award in the “Technical
Trailblazer” category for service excellence and innovation in support of its federal, state and local
government clients.
In addition, Mr. Ford served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for the DC Chamber of
Commerce in 2013 and is currently an active Board Member. He also serves on the Presidential Council
for the U.S. Black Chamber, as well as, on the Board of Directors for the Downtown Clusters Geriatric
Day Care Center. He was formally on the Board for DC Works, the Network for Teaching
Entrepreneurship and the Washington Math Science and Technology Charter High School.
Mr. Ford’s corporate philosophy is rooted in his faith, “to whom much is given, much is required”. As a
native Washingtonian, he is an outspoken advocate of community service and outreach. He dedicates Biography - Antwanye Ford, President and Co-Founder of Enlightened, Inc.
his personal time to the Teen and Youth Ministry at his church, as well as, supporting large non-profit
organizations such as The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and The American Heart Association.
Mr. Ford received a B.S. in Computer Science and Information Systems and a M.S. in Information
Systems with honors from The George Washington University.