My Story: The Early Years
I’m blessed.
That’s the only way to describe the life God has given me. If you were to ask those who know me best, they would tell you my life is nothing short of miraculous: Having withstood many obstacles and setbacks to blazing my own path and forging an illustrious business and engineering career. Simply put, I have been fortunate to accomplish some pretty amazing things!
My grit and determination are linked to my ancestry. My lineage (on my father’s side) traces back to the Igbo people of Nigeria who were transported to America on slave ships. For at least 500 years, the men in my lineage have passed on this bloodline, and in 2022, I passed it along to my firstborn son. Our heritage is comprised of strength, resilience, ingenuity, and a strong sense of identity.
But God has blessed me with even more. Wisdom, knowledge, and an uncanny ability to laser-focus on my goals and see them through. No matter what. I spent the better part of my early adult years shaping a career in Tech, honing my expertise, and leading projects fueled by curiosity and passion.
I often say that it was Passion that led me to Atlanta, Georgia. And, that it was Passion that helped write what’s listed on my resume. But my journey started long before then. I was born “Thomas DeWayne Hubbard” (the “w” in my name, was, in fact, capitalized) in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As a child, I dreamed of becoming an astronaut. My imagination was always in overdrive, and my love for drawing often turned into sketches of rockets, planets, and made-up galaxies. That sense of wonder quickly expanded into a fascination with how things worked.
Speedometers, for example, would capture my attention. During outings, I would watch the needle climb and pepper my parents with endless questions about speed, much to their amusement (and annoyance). At home, I even tried building my own speedometers for my bicycle—drawing the dials by hand and poking sticks through the center to act as the needle. While not functional, it was my first attempt at design and engineering.
And then there were video games. From Pac-Man to Pole Position—I was obsessed with them all! Like most kids in the 80s, I was drawn to this newfound escapism that made its way into many American households. I was given an Atari 2600 from my uncle, who was 10 years my senior and had gone on to discover girls, cars, and Hip-Hop (I can still remember You Be Illin’ by Run DMC playing loudly from his bedroom in my grandmother’s house).
While I enjoyed playing video games and spent many hours doing so, I couldn’t help but notice the differences between the Pac-Man on our floor-model television, and the one at the arcade. At home, the graphics were clunkier, the audio was robotic, and it bothered me that our gaming console didn’t have something as simple as a pause button, which other systems, like the Atari 7800, had at the time.
That frustration turned into creativity. I began sketching out my own gaming console with pause, rewind, fast-forward, and record buttons. Inspired by VCRs in those days, the transport controls on my would-be gaming console didn’t make much sense at the time. But I had no idea that I was visualizing functions that wouldn’t appear in gaming until decades later.
I even created my own characters to serve as mascots for my gaming console. Just as Mario became the face of Nintendo and Bonk represented the TurboGrafx-16—and before Sonic the Hedgehog raced onto the scene for Sega—I was determined that my creations would surpass them all. Unfortunately, none of those sketches have survived, but the spirit of creativity that inspired them still resides in me today.
In fact, if there was ever a constant in the Hubbard household, it was creativity, even as life moved us from place to place. When my father inherited seven (7) acres in the Dewberry Town Fairview community of Rossville, Georgia, the move cost me friends, but I gained a playground of endless boundaries. I would spend countless hours riding my bicycle and venturing into the woods like the characters from Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn; stories my fourth-grade teacher, Ms. Brittain, would read to our class.
Those days gave me freedom and imagination. I can remember eating from the crab apple tree just at the border of our acreage, and driving down Battlefield Parkway with my parents to fetch spring water for my great aunt who was born in 1892 and babysat me in the East Lake housing projects in Chattanooga.
I was also quite the entrepreneur in those early years. In middle school, I became known for my artistic ability and was the “go-to guy” whenever our teachers gave us art projects. I’d sell my drawings for 10 or 25 cents (I remember Bart Simpson and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles being really good sellers). But a church program designed to teach kids entrepreneurship is where I really excelled.
My pastor, the late W.C. Hunter, gave each of the kids in his Saturday class $5 to flip. I used my $5 to buy candy and within three months, turned it thirty times into about $150. Not bad for a kid in the early 90s! I was good at entrepreneurship and knew even back then that it was something I wanted to pursue.
What started with crayons, speedometers, sketches, and adventure has evolved into a lifelong passion for building, innovating, and problem-solving. Those chapters of my life were fueled with curiosity, which eventually turned into craft. Creativity that was sharpened into expertise. And boyhood dreams that evolved into a greater purpose.
Further down the road…
Professional Bio
With twenty-seven (27) years of experience in the technology sector, Thomas Dewayne Hubbard is a seasoned software developer with a reputation for driving innovation and building world-class solutions for complex business problems. From startups to enterprise environments, Mr. Hubbard has consistently bridged the gap between technical challenges and strategic business goals.
Mr. Hubbard is the owner of Hubbard Digital, a business he founded in April 2006. Here, he leverages his expertise in user interface (UI), user experience (UX), data architecture, and artificial intelligence (AI) for industries spanning government, healthcare, education, and fintech.
From 2018 to 2025, Hubbard Digital was a subcontractor with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for two (2) major projects. The first was a research and development (R&D) project known as the Injury Data Management Platform (IDMP), which saw the development of one of the CDC’s first cloud applications. The second one involved the modernization of the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) for the National Center of Health Statistics, Division of Vital Statistics (NCHS DVS). In both roles, Mr. Hubbard led cross-functional teams in the design and development of mission-critical systems for one of the nation’s most vital public health agencies.
In 2017, Mr. Hubbard served as Senior Software Engineer for Trilogy Education Services. In this capacity, he was responsible for their portfolio of BootCamp websites and worked to support the software team’s DevOps methodology and culture. Mr. Hubbard helped develop and maintain over fifty (50) partner university websites, including their lead flow pipelines integrated with SalesForce. Mr. Hubbard also led the development of a prototype which integrated Data.gov and Census.gov APIs for live statistical data.
From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Hubbard served as Senior Consultant with the Professional Services division of Progress Software. In this capacity, he led three (3) modernization projects for major clients and helped coach associate and junior consultants. He also worked alongside the Director of Partner Development to provide direct assistance to Progress Application Partners, and to help streamline the adoption of new cloud and mobile products.
Prior to 2015, Mr. Hubbard worked for IBM, AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Reed Elsevier. He held senior roles with each of these companies. Mr. Hubbard got his start in Corporate America as a member of the accounting team at UnumProvident Corporation (now the Unum Group) in Chattanooga, Tennessee. There, he worked in the Corporate Finance department performing basic accounting duties, and successfully managed audit documentation and claims checks.
Mr. Hubbard holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Media Arts and Animation, which he obtained from the Art Institute of Atlanta. He is also a Certified Project Management Professional (PMP®) and holds numerous certifications, including Advanced Web Development and Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL®) v4 Foundation. He is currently studying Business Administration at the Quantic School of Business and Technology, where he will emerge with his Executive MBA.
When he is not working, Thomas enjoys reading, gardening, and working out. He is a proud donor to several local and international charities and enjoys speaking with youth groups about the values of education and hard work. He is passionate about mentoring rising talent, fostering collaborative cultures, and aligning technology initiatives with long-term organizational vision.
From 2022 to 2025, he served as an IT Career Coach with OpenClassrooms.com where he mentored dozens of students who were studying web and/or application development. From 2011 to 2012, he served as a mentor with Cooline / ENativeSpeaker.com, to non-native English-speaking students. And in 2001, he served as a commercial art instructor for Project Choices 2001, a summer program for inner-city youth sponsored by Chattanooga Parks and Recreation.
