Kenston O’Neal says he always has been a tech-oriented person.
“Even growing up as a kid when I got my first computer, I took it apart to see if I could put it back together,” he says. “My mom said ‘You better put it back together and it better work,’ and I did and it worked.”
Today, O’Neal is chief technology officer for Chattanooga-based EirSystems. The startup company offers a system to track and secure online financial transactions applied to prescription drugs, with the aim of making those processes safer and faster for physicians and patients.
Earlier this year, O’Neal was named the 2020 ChaTech (Chattanooga Technology Council) Software Developer of the Year.
O’Neal, 29, grew up in Memphis and after graduation from high school, decided to attend the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He says he started off as a business major, but found he wasn’t challenged enough.