Eric A. Sheppard is President and CEO of Diversity Restoration Solutions, Inc. (DRS), a U.S.-based cultural heritage awareness and international trade development firm located in Hampton Roads, Virginia. Eric is the chief visionary and project director of the Underground Railroad Homecoming Project featuring the Underground Railroad Homecoming Center™ and Wall of Return ™ projects that bring awareness of the upcoming 400th anniversary of the documented transatlantic slave trade era in the Americas in 2019. Eric's mission and vision is to educate the public on the contributions of African Americans and others who used the Underground Railroad as an escape to freedom going North and beyond to the African continent.
Eric uses this knowledge to help transform U.S. and African/African Diaspora trade and cultural relationships to help develop emerging countries on the continent of Africa therefore strengthening cultural and human relationships, including business relationships.
In January 2013, Eric was named to the "Who's Who" in Black Culture and Heritage Tourism list by the African Diaspora World Tourism Awards and AfricanDiasporaTourism.com. Eric also leads the DRS African Diaspora Industry Sectors Network (ADISN) trade group and consulting services program for small and minority businesses looking for global opportunities on the continent of Africa. Eric is also an author and family genealogy researcher. He started family genealogy research in 1996. He is a past member of the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society.
During his genealogy research, He discovered an internationally recognized slave narrative about a former slave named Moses Grandy from Camden, NC, whom he believes is his ancestor. In 1843, the British & Foreign Anti-Slavery Society of London, England published Narrative of the Life of Moses Grandy; Late a Slave in the United States of America. Moses Grandy is considered one of a forerunning Black abolitionists, predating Frederick Douglass, Harriett Tubman and Solomon Northrop. After reading the Moses Grandy slave narrative, the genealogy research led to Eric's passion for reconnecting with his ancestral roots in Africa, where he developed his company's business concept of merging commerce and cultural relationships with Africa to enhance U.S. and Africa global trade relations.
In September 2008, Eric was appointed by the U.S. House of Representative Minority Leader, Congressman John Boehner, to serve on the Commission on the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (H.R. 3432). This federal commission was formed to coordinate activities across the United States to observe the 200th anniversary of the abolishment of the transatlantic slave trade.
In addition, he was nominated to serve on the Maryland Slavery Commission in 2006 by State Delegate Emmett C. Burns, Jr. (Baltimore County, MD). A veteran of the U.S. Air Force, Eric had a combined civilian and contractor career working with the various Department of Defense (DoD) agencies for over 25 years. One of the highlights of his DoD career was working on the Advanced Technology Bomber (B-2 Stealth) Program during its developmental, test, evaluation and initial production phases.
Eric has been featured in many national and regional newspapers and on radio shows including the Washington Post, Baltimore Sun, Afro American (Baltimore, MD), Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), Herald Sun (Durham, NC) and The Journal (National Naval Medical Center) newspapers, plus "Reynolds Rap" with Dr. Barbara Reynolds on XM Satellite Channel 169 and "The Morning Journey" with Sandi Mallory on WEAA 88.9 FM among others.
Eric earned a Bachelors of Science degree in Technical Management from the University of Maryland, University College and holds Associate degrees from the Community College of the Air Force and Catonsville (MD) Community College. He resides with his wife Lisa and children in Suffolk, Virginia.
Contact Information:
Eric A. Sheppard, President/CEO
Email: [email protected]
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