Antwanye E. Ford is President & Chief Executive Officer of Enlightened, Inc., a leading Information Technology and Management Consulting firm founded in 1999.  Enlightened serves federal, state, and local government agencies, and provides cyber security, software development and integration, management consulting and business process outsourcing services.  In 2016, the Company expanded its service offerings to support the transportation and healthcare sectors.  As co-founder of Enlightened, Antwanye has led the Company’s growth from a start-up business to a diverse organization with over 200 employees.  He continually leads the Company’s corporate vision, strategic planning, and innovation efforts.  As a thought leader with a keen eye on emerging trends, his passion is to develop and deliver business solutions to problems of global, national and local significance.

Prior to Enlightened, Antwanye served as Director of Applications Support for INTELSAT, leading the business unit’s development of applications, consulting projects and document management infrastructure.  He served as a Development Project Manager at MCI where he was responsible for the design, build and delivery of systems that invoiced over $20M per month, and as Product Manager for the Company’s Flagship Friends and Family product.

Antwanye Ford is the Vice Chair of the US Black Chambers, Inc. a national organization which provides leadership and support for African American Chambers of Commerce and business organizations in their work of developing and growing Black enterprises.  In January 2018, DC Mayor, Muriel Bowser, appointed Antwanye to Board Chair of the District of Columbia Workforce Investment Council (WIC).  The WIC is a convener of local and regional workforce system partners assembled to enhance the capacity and performance of the workforce development system.  In March 2019, Antwanye was appointed to the Board of the National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB), a national organization dedicated to the continuous improvement of work in the workforce development industry.  Officially launched in July 2019, Antwanye serves as a founder and the President of The Greater Washington Black Chamber of Commerce, Inc. (“GWBCC”), the leading Voice for Black Business in the Greater Washington Area.  Antwanye also serves the Board Chair of the - CyberSecurity Education & Research Center at Howard University.  In addition, He is a former Board Chair of the District of Columbia Chamber of Commerce and On-Ramps to Careers, a non-profit business-education partnership that makes the educational on-ramps to technology jobs more attainable to youth in the Nation’s Capital.

An advocate for community investment, youth mentorship and corporate philanthropy, Antwanye’s personal philosophy is “To whom much is given, much is required”.  He spends much of his personal time mentoring youth and overseeing the management of a robust and award-winning internship program at Enlightened.  He also serves on the Advisory Board for the Howard University School of Business, Information Systems.   He has authored several chapters in business books on leadership and life’s challenges.

A native Washingtonian, Antwanye earned his Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Information Systems Technology from The George Washington University with honors.  In June 2019, he obtained a MS., Divinity, Lancaster Bible College, June 2019 (Summa Cum Laude).