Cedric Knight never underestimates the power of hard work.
Knight BSA ’74 transferred to the University of Georgia his junior year; after graduating, he served two decades in the Navy and retired as commander. In 1995, at the cusp of the internet age, he launched New Directions Technologies Inc. (NDTI), an IT, software, engineering, and cybersecurity services company, where he’s still CEO.
During his military service, he saw potential in emerging technologies.
“In the ’80s, it became obvious to me that computers were going to be a part of the future,” Knight recalls. “I just didn’t have any idea how fast, how big, or how bright that future would be.”
His vision was ahead of its time: Knight wanted to create an enterprise resource planning (ERP) tool for managing government contracts. These tools organize various aspects of a business, from the human resources side of the house to finances. While in the Navy, one of his roles was navigating these contracts, and he wanted to use that experience to create new software.
Knight’s company began by offering internet connections to residents in Ridgecrest, California, back when the World Wide Web was still a novelty. He’d settled in Ridgecrest, a city of about 28,000 east of Bakersfield, after the Navy. The project grew so quickly, a local cable company purchased it from him.
After that, it took almost a decade to grow his software as a service company and gain the funding he needed to finally build his ERP solution.
“Being an internet service provider allowed me to start visualizing my concept of what is possible for ERP software,” Knight says.
Since then, NDTI has continued to provide solutions to the Navy, NASA Kennedy Space Center, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Department of Defense. Knight jokes that it may have taken him 30 years, but the company has consistently had the best year to date—every year. NDTI now employs roughly 360 people in 13 states.
Knight has no plans on retiring anytime soon. His father retired at the age of 91, and at only 71, Knight has a lot left to give.
His brain is an impressive reservoir of life connections. From securing a scholarship to attend UGA and getting into pharmacy school—even though he switched majors after one year—to the brothers he made in Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity and all that he learned as a logistician in the Navy, if Knight met someone at any point along his life journey, he remembers their full name and exactly how they helped him.
“I left the pharmacy school, which was a disappointment for the people who fought to get me there, but I filed that away for later in life,” Knight says.
It’s these memories—and the hard work of those who offered support—that propel him to give back to his communities, including endowing two scholarships for UGA students.
“Do things that allow you to turn back and make a contribution to improve life for those who don’t have the same opportunities,” Knight says. “That’s what I owe all of the people who sacrificed so I could have the opportunity to be a student at UGA.”