Dr. Henok Tesfaye 2024 Speaker

CEO

USP Holdings

Biography

Dr. Henok Tesfaye is the Chairman and CEO of USP Holdings-a privately held multi-industry company headquartered in Washington, DC. Over two decades ago, Dr. Henok embarked on a career in the parking management industry as the President and Chief Executive Officer of U Street Parking, Inc., (USP). Once a parking attendant, he is now the owner of several parking facilities across the East coast. Within the last two decades, USP has become a premier company in the highly competitive parking market in the DMV region. Under Dr. Henok’s leadership, USP went from a four-employee operation to more than one thousand employees with more than fifty contracts across the DMV region. Furthermore, Dr. Henok’s savvy strategic partnership approach has enabled him to partner with Five Star Parking, a California company, to win a multi-million-dollar contractual award to manage the parking facilities at Washington Dulles International Airport and Roland Reagan Washington National Airport for over a decade.

Additionally, Dr. Henok’s tenacity to expand USP’s services has led him to take the company nationally. To date, USP has been awarded contracts to manage five of the busiest East Coast Airports including New York’s JFK, Orlando International Airport, Newark International Airport, and LaGuardia Airport. USP also manages one of Africa’s busiest airports, Bole International Airport, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Dr. Henok is also one of the co-founders and partners of United Investments, a multi-million-dollar real estate investment and development firm based in Washington, DC. As the co-founder and partner of United Investments, Dr. Henok is entrusted with cultivating government relations and fostering longstanding relationships in the real estate industry. Dr. Henok has formed partnerships leading United Investments to become one of the developers, investors, partners, and owners of the minority development team which has been awarded the rights to develop a $564 million, 1.2 million square feet of mixed-use project within the Hill East neighborhood of Washington DC.

A true entrepreneur, Dr. Henok leads USP Holdings groups of companies including USP Parking, United Investments, DC General Construction, and Potomac Management Group as well as all USP Holdings’ line of services-Parking, Transportation, Mobility Consulting, Security, and Janitorial services-with an impeccable foresight. Noted as a “”District of Columbia entrepreneurial success story”” and a “”savvy and focused businessman with good standing within the community”” by the Washington Post, Dr. Henok’s achievements are a testament to his business leadership. Dr. Henok serves as a Board Member of Capital Bank and Chair of the DC Chambers of Commerce International committee.

He is a member of the Economic Clubs of Washington DC, and a former Board Member of the Washington Architectural Foundation and Shaw Main Streets. He is also a member of civic and professional associations including the National Parking Association and the International Parking & Mobility Institute. Additionally, Dr. Henok is the East Africa Advisor for EB5 Capital. His extensive business experience and work in Ethiopia and the United States have allowed him to provide meaningful support to EB-5 investors across the East Africa region.

Dr. Henok believes that he has an obligation to give back. He is a well-respected philanthropist and gives his time and financial support to charitable efforts. Dr. Henok was appointed by Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister of Ethiopia, as one of the founding Members of the Ethiopian Diaspora Trust Fund (EDTF), a non-profit organization based in the United States. It was established to mobilize the global Ethiopian Diaspora to raise funds for life-saving socioeconomic projects in Ethiopia. In 2010, Dr. Henok was introduced to Mary Joy Orphanage in Ethiopia. Since then, he provides financial support to help raise thirty children. Inspired by the work being done in Ethiopia, in 2015, he established Mary Joy USA, an organization aimed at raising funds for at-risk children and mothers in Ethiopia. Dr. Henok Tesfaye is the recipient of the 2023 Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award. He holds an honorary degree from Washington Adventist University.