The HistoryMakers

Electrical engineer and entrepreneur, John David Terry was born on September 29, 1966 in Norfolk, Virginia. He grew up in the Liberty Park Housing Projects in Norfolk with his single mother, Deborah Kathleen Terry, and two younger siblings. Terry dreamed of becoming a professional basketball player, but he had to quit his high school basketball team in order to start working part time. Terry developed a passion for technology and was encouraged by a high school guidance counselor who helped Terry win several scholarships. Terry attended college at Old Dominion University in Norfolk where he earned his B.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1988.

The next year, Terry was hired as an Experimental Research Engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. In this position, his work focused on experimental research on satellite communications. While working at NASA, Terry also attended graduate school, and in 1993, he earned his M.S. degree from Cleveland State University. A graduate fellowship from Old Dominion University allowed Terry to continue his education, and he received his Ph.D. in electrical engineering/research from Atlanta's Georgia Institute of Technology in 1999.

In 1995, Terry was hired by Texas Instruments, where he worked as a system engineer experimenting with a new type of satellite system. In 1999, he became a principal scientist at the Nokia Research Center in Dallas, Texas, where he worked to improve Nokia's wireless service.

In 2001, Terry founded his own company, Terry Consultants, Inc. (TCI). The company specializes in helping businesses develop and apply new wireless technologies. Terry is also owner or co-owner of more than seventeen issued and pending patents. In 2004, he spent a year as Director of WiQuest Communications with Baseband Systems Engineering, and in 2005, he co-founded Witivity, which helped customers in their use of broadband wireless technology.

Terry has published two books, Blind Adaptive Array Techniques for Mobile Satellite Communications (1999) and OFDM Wireless LANs: A Theoretical and Practical Guide (2001, with Juha Heiskala). He has received a number of awards including the 2002 Black Engineer of the Year Award for Outstanding Technical Contribution in an Industry. He has published several articles and taught classes at Southern Methodist University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Technology in Helsinki, Finland. Terry has also been very active in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineering (IEEE).

Terry and his wife, Barbara Terry, reside in Virginia. They have three sons, Amiel, William, and Shalamar and one granddaughter, Arianna.

Terry was interviewed by The HistoryMakers on August 13, 2007.