Born in Philadelphia and raised in Jacksonville Florida, Malcolm Waters has always carried a vision of entrepreneurship. As young as eight, he started cutting yards in his neighborhood to earn extra money. In his early twenties, he started his own vending machine business, where he learned the grueling tasks of being an entrepreneur. Through cold calling businesses door to door, he quickly grew his vending business from three machines to over 55—which proved to be a daunting task to keep up with in the sunny state of Florida.
After graduating college, he worked in corporate America for leading companies like Pepsi Cola, America Online (AOL), and Market Star, managing major clients such as Hewlett Packard and Intel. After moving to Nextel Communications, and then Mitel Corporation, Mr. Waters ended his corporate run and focused exclusively on building an IT consulting firm.
In the early 2000s, he and his wife opened a Caribbean restaurant in Park City, Utah. Island Spices Café was a boot strap venture. One restaurant led to the opening of three more over five years. After the financial crisis of 2008, Mr. Waters returned to corporate life and moved his wife and four children to Puyallup, WA, to work with Mitel Communication. He later launched an Interconnect company in 2011.
In 2016, Mr. Waters formed Ovation Technology LLC. The technology industry has afforded Mr. Waters the ability to harness his years of executive-level corporate positions and passionate, entrepreneurial experiences to develop a unique company dedicated to outstanding client service and the application of technology to build businesses. Over the years, he’s expanded Ovation Technology from Washington State into an international business. He sees Ovation as instrumental to developing and mentoring others interested in IT. He often hires interns from local colleges from Olympia to Tacoma, WA. His team has been an intricate part of the company’s overall success, and each day he is proud to work with such a committed and talented group of young people. In 2021, Mr. Waters was deeply honored when Ovation Technology was awarded the Bradford D. Williams Award as Minority Business of the Year by the University of Washington.
Malcolm has been honored to complete the University of Washington Executive Business program in 2017, the Small Business Administration (SBA) Emerging Leaders in 2016, and the University of Washington Business Collaborative program in 2018. He’s led many teams over the past thirty years and recently, in 2020, completed the Thurston County Leadership program.
Mr. Waters is passionate about his family and community. He is currently serving on the board of directors for Big Brother and Big Sisters, the YMCA of Olympia, and Behavioral Health Resources (BHR) of Olympia. He also is a member of the Olympia Round Table.
Mr. Waters enjoys advocating for youth development and appreciates the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion work occurring in his industry and community.