Derek Gentry - BiographyDerek Gentry - Biography

Derek Gentry Birth Derek Gentry Birth

Born in Phoenix, AZ, Derek Gentry was born to Maryann Conner (Maryann Gentry) on July 6th 1971.  Raised as an only child but his single mother since birth, Derek strived to be social and stay studious, the struggle of all young kids. 

At age 8 he submitted an application to the “I Can Draw” College Scholarship and won the scholarship. 

EducationEducation

At age 11 his mother had the foresight that computers were going to be something big in the world, and enrolled him into a programming class at The Learning Store.  The course was a 6-month class on BASIC programming and structure.  After two weeks Derek finished the book and when asked what the next lesson was, they were instructed that there was no more. 

Maryann knew that he had a knack for technical skills.  He used his skills to program his bowling team’s scores and calculate averages in Lotus 1-2-3. After that he started consulting at age 13 for the Phoenix Boys Choir, where he was a member for 4 years, and showed them how to use Dbase IV to manage all of their member and parent records.

Career Career

In 1994 he was hired to Fry’s Food Stores as a Network Administrator and that started his career in Information Technology. 

Moving up to Director of IT, Derek wrote and copyrighted the software called KidTrax that was used to manage all of the kids in the in-store day care centers.  That was then expanded to other Kroger’s stores across the country and the software was used at over 30 stores nationwide.

CTO OF Many Companies

Over the next several years, Derek moved his was up to Director of IT, VP of Technology and then CTO of many companies.  He help write and patent a software application called VaultWare for the apartment industry that was the first real-time availability engine for the industry. 

After that he decided that his skills were best used as a consultant and started working for himself, assisting others that needed technology help.  He was the chief designer and architect for Yahoo, Inc’s global security architecture for 2 years. 

BusinessesBusinesses

Currently Derek resides in Irvine, CA as a father of eight children, with his wife Erin Gentry.  He is currently running Black Tie IT, an IT Consulting firm, that is quickly growing as Derek is bringing his 30+ years of experience to small to medium sized businesses and helping them gain efficiencies that are mostly only available to large corporations.

ThanksThanks

Derek Gentry1835 Newport Blvd, #A109-274

Costa Mesa, CA 92627Website : http://www.blacktieit.com/