Mr. Theodore G. Davenport

Class of 1953
Career Pathway: Business, Management, Marketing & Technology

Ted Davenport was the president of the Grayling High School Class of 1953. He also played football, baseball and basketball and ran track. His summers were spent working at Camp Grayling. During his senior year, he enlisted in ROTC. 

Mr. Davenport earned a B.S. degree in business administration from Central Michigan University in 1957 and a master of business administration degree at the University of Arizona in 1967, where he was a member of Beta Gamma Sigma.

From 1957 to 1977, Mr. Davenport was in the United States Army, where he progressed from regular second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. He had two tours with the Headquarters Department of the Army, two at NATO Headquarters and one at battalion command. While in the Army, he received the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (two awards), Army Commendation Medal (two Awards), Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry with Palm, Vietnamese Civil Action Honor Medal First Class and the German Army Marksmanship Award (Bronze and Silver Awards).

After leaving the military, Mr. Davenport was employed at the Federal-Mogul Corporation in Mendon, Michigan, where he was responsible for all the plant personnel and labor relations, representing 160 UAW employees and 29 salaried employees.

From 1979 to 1989, he worked as the personnel manager for Lectron Products in Rochester Hills, Michigan, joining the company to reorganize and consolidate all employee relations functions into a personnel department in which he was responsible for the corporation's total industrial relations program for 210 employees. He played a major role in site selection, recruiting and start-up of a manufacturing plant in Indiana and an office in West Germany. He also contracted for and implemented self-insured group health and workers' compensation with a resulted annual savings of over $200,000 for each program. Through growth and expansion, the corporation reached 925 employees in two manufacturing plants and an overseas office.

In 1989-90, Mr. Davenport was the executive search consultant for Compass Group Ltd. in Birmingham, Michigan, before retiring to his home in Lake City.

Ted and his wife Anne-Lise have six grown children. He spends his time hunting, fishing and playing golf.