An entrepreneurship professor at North Carolina Central University in Durham is about to embark on a completely different adventure.
As part of President Joe Biden’s climate team, N.C. Central's Henry McKoy will play a key role in shaping a new White House initiative, targeting historically disadvantaged communities hit by pollution and working with entrepreneurs to solve the clean energy challenges of today and the future.
McKoy has been named inaugural director of the Office of State and Community Energy Programs, a new division within the U.S. Department of Energy. It’s a role with lofty goals, but McKoy said he has a superpower in his back pocket – his experience as an entrepreneur.
In an interview, he told Triangle Inno about the entrepreneurial mindset he’s taking to Washington.
No job description
It’s a completely new role, which means McKoy gets to set the tone. There’s no set “job description.” The job came about as part of the bipartisan infrastructure legislation passed in 2021, which allocated $10 billion to create the Office of State and Community Energy Programs. Part of the goal is to make sure the programs aimed at facilitating a clean-energy future will benefit a diverse and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.
“How do we ultimately make sure that there’s a more equitable entrepreneurial ecosystem out there?” he said. “That’s a key part of what the administration talked to me about … not only is the money deposited in ways that are efficient … but also how do we make sure they’re going to places they haven’t gone before?”
McKoy said that after multiple conversations with the Biden administration – it’s clear that his history as an entrepreneur gave him an edge. Part of the goal of the new position is to promote equitable innovation – to make sure DOE resources fund projects from a diverse set of entrepreneurs. But McKoy sees it as more than just being an administrator. As he’s been in the trenches, he understands the reality of how difficult it can be to innovate.
"What is valuable in the situation is understanding how entrepreneurial ecosystems work, understanding the entrepreneurial mindset, understanding the notion of uncertainty,” he said.
McKoy is the director of entrepreneurship at N.C. Central, a historically Black university. The university doesn’t receive nearly the same level of the entrepreneurship buzz as nearby Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, so McKoy is used to helping students break barriers. He also serves as the managing director of the Eagle Angel Network, a part of the Triangle Venture Alliance.
McKoy spent several years in corporate banking before launching a finance startup of his own, called Fourth-Sector Financial, which focused on community, energy and sustainable finance. But he also has a history in the public sector, having served as North Carolina's assistant secretary of commerce, working to recruit companies to the state under former Gov. Beverly Perdue.
McKoy, a UNC alumnus (and former college track star), isn’t exactly a stranger to Washington, having been invited by former President Barack Obama to discuss impact investing at the White House. But this is his first federal post.
Interesting' times
McKoy knows he’s entering D.C. at an “interesting” time politically. But he said he’s prepared. He was in Gov. Perdue's administration when the North Carolina legislature flipped in 2010, after all. And he points to the fact that it was bipartisan legislation that created his position as one thing working to his benefit.
“Part of this shows that, in at least something, we were able to cross the aisle,” he said.
But it’s his flexibility as an entrepreneur that may prepare him the best, he said. As an entrepreneur, you’re “entering into areas of uncertainty all the time.”
“I try to teach my students not just how to go out and start a business … but something more akin to having the entrepreneur mindset, which means you’re able to be flexible, you’re able to navigate and pivot as you need to,” he said.
As a new division, the office is really a startup. It’s figuring out how to build in partnership with the private sector, and McKoy.
Working in a presidential administration was never on his bucket list, “but it’s an honor to be asked.”
“In the sense of the work that I hope to wake up and do every day, it’s helping in some positive way,” he said, noting it’s his goal to “create systems that outlive me … to create a much more equitable entrepreneurship ecosystem.”
McKoy is moving to D.C. for the position – though keeping his residence in Durham. McKoy is a Fayetteville native, but said the Triangle is really “home,” and that won’t change, no matter where the job takes him.