Derrick T. Copeland

Derrick T. Copeland is the founder, chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of Applied Data Trends, Inc (ADT). Derrick founded ADT in 1994 and soon after made it one of the fastest growing privately-held companies in the United States. Under his leadership, ADT was ranked 101st in Inc. Magazine's 2001 Inc. 500 list and awarded Small Business of the Year 2005 in the technology category by the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce. A year later Derrick was selected as the Small Business Entrepreneur of the Year.

Mr. Copeland attended the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) where he earned with honors both Bachelor and Master of Science in Engineering degrees in Electrical Engineering. Derrick pursued graduate studies in Engineering and Management of Technology and in 2000 was selected by the faculty of UAH to be honored in the Distinguished Engineering Alumni Academy. Mr. Copeland has also served as part-time faculty in the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department and as a guest lecturer in New Product Development for the Management of Technology program at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. In 2006 he was designated a business fellow of the College of Business Administration at UAH and is currently a member of the Presidents Council and UAH Alumni Association. He is also a member of the Board of Directors at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce.

Derrick's career includes many technical highlights, a patent, and over 50 technical papers and reports. He led the design of the waveform used by GMD BMC3 to communicate to Kill Vehicle Interceptors “in-flight” and was also instrumental in designing and implementing the information technology and system,s architectures for the Army's Rapid Force Projection Initiative (RFPI) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration. Most recently, Derrick has received two Small Business Innovation Research Awards for his innovative Computer Methodology from the Department of Commerce National Institute for Standards and Technology.