Founder and CEO

Michael I. “Mike” Hodges
Mr. Hodges is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cherokee Information Services, Inc. His background of 22 years in the military, designing, engineering and implementing systems, combined with advanced degrees in both computer science and systems management provided the knowledge and desire to establish Cherokee. His vision was to provide expert technical and service assistance to valued customers, with an ultimate corporate goal of employee ownership.

Since 1990, Cherokee has grown to nearly 700 professional employees and has been inducted into the Inc. 500 Hall of Fame, an honor bestowed on those privately held companies that have been named to the Inc. 500 for at least five years. Cherokee was one of four inductees in 2004, bringing the number of companies in the Hall of Fame to only 73 since Inc. 500’s inception in 1982. Deloitte and Touche selected Cherokee to be on their list of the fastest 500 growing technology companies seven years in a row. Cherokee has been profitable every year and has no external debt.

These are impressive measures of achievement. More importantly, success has allowed Cherokee to implement an employee stock ownership plan, providing for ever- increasing percentages of ownership by the valued employees – the realization of Mr. Hodges’ goal.

Since 2004, Mr. Hodges’ focus has been on strategic and financial matters relative to Cherokee.