When he was 18 years old, Rod McDaniel was running computer networks for Metro Nashville Public Schools and was the school system's first student to earn an industry certification before graduating.
Eighteen years later, McDaniel will chair the organization that is the gateway to the Nashville region's rapidly growing technology scene.
The board of the Greater Nashville Technology Council has appointed McDaniel as its chairman-elect, effective Jan. 1. After a year of warm-up, McDaniel will serve his two-year term as chair in 2025 and 2026.
"I think he's the right man for the moment," said Elise Cambournac, the organization's CEO. That's not least because of her own ambitions to emerge from what she called "post-pandemic mode" and rev up the council into "growth mode."
McDaniel knows a lot about that, an entrepreneur who owns and leads electronics business S3 Recycling Solutions, which has ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private U.S. companies several years running.
The nonprofit tech council, which had $1.3 million of revenue in 2021, has 500 members ranging from startups to former startup Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN). Many of its past chairs have been corporate technology executives.
"He brings the flavor of a small-business owner and CEO. His entrepreneurial spirit … will be a quality that will be very important for us," Cambournac said.
"He has a fascinating story of courage, strength and tenacity to get where he is today, and that's very inspiring. He's a voice of optimism when you think of discussions at a board level, pushing the 'what ifs?' " she added. "We need a balance of the 'Debbie Downers' and the optimistic people, and he's definitely an optimistic voice who brings energy to the conversations."
McDaniel, who joined the board in January 2022, said he wants to target the talent gap in Nashville's tech sector — which still has more job openings than workers to fill them. It's one reason the region continues to witness tech companies, investors and workers moving to the region.
"I’ve realized technology really changed my life. I want to make sure we give access to those underserved areas that may not realize tech is an option," McDaniel said.
He went on to quote his late mentor: "Darrell Freeman said it best: 'It's easier to be it, if you can see it.' Seeing someone who looks like them in a role like this changes it."
McDaniel will be a trailblazer once he assumes the role of chairman, as the first Black chair in the tech council's existence. He's also one of the few native Nashvillians to head the board, and potentially the first.
Current Chair Casey Santos, the chief information officer at Asurion LLC, is the first Latina to lead the board.
"When you think about tech people in Nashville, it is the organization to be on," McDaniel said. "We have an opportunity to do some great things."
