Xavier alum Dr. Leonard Lightfoot (‘04) was recently announced as the recipient of the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year Award in STEM for Professional Achievement after being nominated by the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Sensors Directorate. Dr. Lightfoot is also a co-founder of the Black Coffee Company, a company guided by the values of giving back to the community. In the spirit of philanthropy, Dr. Lightfoot and his colleagues support the annual Give.Love.Xavier day campaign.   

Dr. Lightfoot shared how he developed lifelong friendships among his peers during his time at Xavier. He and his Black Coffee Company co-founders, Branden Cole (‘06), Jamin Butler (‘04), Gino Jones (‘04), and Christopher Bolden (‘05), decided that they wanted to help provide opportunities for the Xavierites who came after them. The Black Coffee Company founders partner yearly with other businesses owned by Xavier and other HBCU alums and people of color active in their communities to support current Xavierites during Give.Love.Xavier. 

“We wanted to use the business to serve the community, and then covid hit, right before [the 2020] Give.Love.Xavier Day,” Dr. Lightfoot said. “We [as giving captains] felt that the free products and other discounts we were offering wasn’t enough, so we tagged up with another Xavier alum-owned business, Ohene Beauty, and then Tea’s Me Café, to offer a ‘Black Excellence’ package with tea, coffee, and beauty products.”  

Ohene Beauty was founded by 2005 Xavier graduate Kofi Onumah, Pharm.D. Renowned basketball player Tamika Catchings owns Tea’s Me Café in Indianapolis. Catchings has previously hosted basketball camps on Xavier’s campus.  

Typically, Black Coffee Company works with its coordinated partners to offer giveaways and prizes for those who donate using their team link. This year on April 6, the online, social media-driven fundraising event raised a total of over $1 million. 

Dr. Lightfoot credits his time at Xavier for planting the seeds that have led to his success as an entrepreneur and an engineer, especially when it comes to making connections and networking. 

“We had gained more access than the last generation, only to provide more access for the next generation,” Dr. Lightfoot explained. “[Our time at Xavier] was the catalyst for our future business ownership because of the help and guidance from the friendships we developed and the connections we made.” 

Currently, Dr. Lightfoot works as a program element monitor in the Pentagon in Washington D.C., going back and forth to a lab in Ohio. He acts as a technical translator, engaging congresspeople and their staffers to translate the technical talk to laypeople’s terms. 

“I’m a broker. I act as a link between science and the government. It’s kind of a ‘part of both worlds’ situation.” Dr. Lightfoot jokes. “I need to understand the technical jargon and turn it into something understandable.”  

In recognition of his work as a program element monitor and his eight-year service as a researcher in the lab, Dr. Lightfoot received his distinction as the recipient of the 2022 Black Engineer of the Year Award in STEM for Professional Achievement.  

“This was such a huge honor. To receive an award that was started in 1981 with a long history of recognizing African American engineers, it’s incredible.” Dr. Lightfoot said. “I’ve been at the Pentagon for three years, and it’s a very rapid pace environment, so I didn’t really realize how much I had accomplished and the impact I had during that time until I was putting together information for the award nomination.”