WALTER DAVENPORT: Overcoming racism, the Raleigh native and CPA made his way into some of the state's most powerful boardrooms.

• Author: Infanzon, Vanessa

Even in high school, Raleigh native Walter Conaway Davenport knew he wanted to be a certified public accountant--it says so under his senior photograph in J.W. Ligon High School's class of 1966 yearbook. At the time he graduated, he'd only heard of one Black accountant, Nathan Garrett, a CPA in Durham.

Davenport attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, graduating in 1970 with a degree in business administration. He then joined Arthur Andersen & Co., one of five Black staffers among more than 300 employees in the Atlanta office.

In 1974, he was hired by Garrett's firm as a senior accountant. After passing the CPA exam a year later, he became a partner. In 1988, the duo formed Garrett & Davenport, the largest minority-owned CPA firm in North Carolina with six CPAs and 20 staffers in Durham and Raleigh. In 1998, the firm merged with Cherry Bekaert, a large regional firm with roots in North Carolina and Virginia. Davenport led the firm's nonprofit sector for a decade before retiring in 2008.

Davenport, 74, has been active in many industry, civic and business groups, including serving 10 years on the UNC System Board of Governors. He's on four boards, including Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina and Wake Tech Community College, while serving as a treasurer for N.C. Sen. Dan Blue's campaign committee.

In 2018, he suffered a septic embolism and was put into a medically induced coma. He spent six months at WakeMed, a rehabilitation center and in assisted living before returning to his Raleigh home.

He spends time at his timeshare at Atlantic Beach and with his two sons and two granddaughters.

Comments are edited for length and clarity.

I was part of the honor guard when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. laid in state at the Sisters Chapel on Spelman College's campus. [Like Davenport], Dr. King was a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, so the Alphas stood over his casket for a three- to four-day period while people came in to view him.

Everyone at Arthur Andersen did not accept "us." They hadn't bought into the idea of Black people being in the firm.

I had a partner tell me I was off an engagement because the client did not want a Black person. There are more stories similar to that. In spite of that, I became a CPA after enduring that kind of treatment.

Davenport with his sons, Winston and Walter Jr.

Lower right, he represented the UNO Board of Governors at a UNC Greensboro graduation ceremony.

I met Nathan (Garrett) in 1974 when I was being...