17 Facts About Dennis Hightower

Dennis Hightower graduated from McKinley High School in 1958, at age 16, as class president.

Dennis Hightower entered Howard University that same year and graduated in 1962, at age 20, with a BS degree.

Dennis Hightower was promoted to the rank of Major in Vietnam at age 27.

Dennis Hightower resigned his commission in June 1970, after early selection to attend the United States Army Command and General Staff College.

In 1987, Dennis Hightower was recruited by The Walt Disney Company, where he served as president of Disney Consumer Products for Europe, Middle East and Africa, based in Paris.

Dennis Hightower grew the business - 42 countries, 16 subsidiaries and joint ventures throughout the region - to a seven-fold increase in revenues between 1987 and 1995; and led Disney's entry into Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union prior to its demise, the Middle East, and Post-apartheid South Africa.

Dennis Hightower later served as president of Walt Disney Television and Telecommunications, then Disney's largest division based on revenues and operating income.

When Dennis Hightower retired from The Walt Disney Company, he was among the ten highest-ranking African American executives in corporate America.

In July 1996, Dennis Hightower joined the faculty of Harvard Business School, initially as a Senior Lecturer, and for three years thereafter as Professor of Management in the first year MBA program, where he focused on leadership, building emerging markets, and global general management.

Dennis Hightower taught in senior executive programs in South Africa and the Middle East.

In 1989, Dennis Hightower was one of the first African American protagonists in a Harvard Business School case study.

From 2000 to 2001, Dennis Hightower was CEO of Europe Online Networks, a privately held satellite-delivered interactive company based in Luxembourg.

Dennis Hightower returned to the United States to be treated for cancer.

Dennis Hightower is a Charter Member of the National Military Intelligence Association, Founding Sponsor of the US Army National Museum, Lifetime Member of the US Army Ranger Association, and Lifetime Member of the 101st Airborne Division Association; and a member of Sigma Pi Phi and the National Association of Guardsmen.

Dennis Hightower has been a guest lecturer on leadership at IMD in Switzerland, INSEAD in France, the London Business School, the United States Military Academy, the United States Military Academy Preparatory School, the National Association of Corporate Directors, and various private organizations in Brazil, India and Singapore.

Dennis Hightower took on some of Commerce's most difficult challenges, and in every case, those programs are on a better footing today because of his diligent work.

Dennis Hightower resigned on August 27,2010, due to a health-related matter, to return to the private sector.