2005 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

HENRY HOLLEY

Principal, The Holley Group

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Energy, courage, diligence and perseverance
characterize the life and career of Henry
Holley. A native of Windsor, North Carolina,
and one of eight children of hardworking
sharecroppers, Holley moved to the Bedford-
Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn at age 14 to join family
members in New York. Like many young people,
he says, he had “dreams and a vision for the future.”

“I wanted to be rich and wanted to retire at age
35,” adds Holley. Without a formal education, but
with a work ethic instilled by his father, Holley
moved to Hempstead when he was 17, worked with
his brother in a laundry business and co-founded a
small local cab company at age 20. Three years later,
he bought a home where he still resides. His desire to
be self-sufficient led him to study and apprentice as a
stationary engineer, learning the electrical, plumbing
and steam fitting trades, as well as the mechanics of
servicing and repairing boilers and large equipment.
During those early days, he worked an average 18hour
day as an assistant engineer, a dry cleaning
presser, and a cab and limousine driver.

A self-described “go-getter,” Holley has the heart
of an entrepreneur. By 1965, he built his cab company
into the Hempstead Transportation and Limousine
Service, running the business out of his home and
working side-by-side with his wife and long-time

sweetheart, Kaye, and their eldest children. His wife
and daughter booked reservations, his oldest son
took care of internal operations, and Holley drove.
The service specialized in providing limousines, town
cars, vans and mini buses to clients throughout
Nassau and Suffolk Counties, and eventually he purchased
his own building on 266 Main Street. In 1984,
he co-founded a custodial cleaning company, and in
1998, he started Holley Electrical Contracting
Company – a union shop. Two years ago, he began
The Holley Group, an electrical and plumbing consultant
company.

Holley’s always quick to acknowledge the mentors
in his life – his older brother and a man he refers to as
“ the Dutchman” who guided him in his professional
engineering career. He recalls his limousine driving
days when he nurtured friendships with corporate
executive passengers who recognized his desire to
succeed – attending accounting, marketing, public
speaking and sales classes in his “spare time” – and
offered financial advice.

Through those contacts and his knowledge and
interest in transportation, Holley was invited to join
the Long Island Association’s transportation committee.
A number of years before, when he joined LIA,
few African Americans were in visible positions,
notes Holley, acknowledging that even for him, it was

hard “to break the ice.” But as a shrewd businessman
who knew the value of “relationships, relationships,
relationships,” Holley realized, “Sometimes you can’t
afford not to be someplace.”

Holley has an incredible aptitude for good, old-fashioned
networking, and he’s known for how he works
the room. “If you want to do business you have to be
out there,” comments Holley. “If you’re out there, people
will get to know you, feel comfortable and trust
you.”

Holley has called himself a “trailblazer,” even “daredevil.”
He joined the NAACP at an early age; served as
president of the Hempstead Chamber of Commerce,
consolidating the group from chamber and merchants
divisions into a full Chamber; was a member of the LIA
Board of Directors for 19 years, serving on its Small
Business Council and Health Alliance; served on the
boards of the Hispanic Counseling Center, Institute for
Student Achievement, Long Island Convention and
Visitors Bureau and Nassau/Suffolk Limousine
Association; and among other groups, he’s been a member
of the Nassau County Legal Aid Society, Association
of Minority Enterprises of New York, Hofstra for
Hempstead/Hempstead for Hofstra Scholarship, and
Hempstead Community Advisory Committee. He’s
taken his networking prowess to many places, even an
all-women’s group where he “knew quite a number of
its members.”

Because of his extensive knowledge of Long Island,
its community groups and transportation challenges,
Holley was tapped by former County Executive
Thomas Gulotta, about the time Nassau transitioned
from the Board of Supervisors to a County Legislature
to serve on the Minority Affairs Council and the Nassau
County Planning Commission. Holley was instrumental
in bringing minority consultants on board during the
Master Plan days.

Recognizing the vision of Hempstead Mayor Jim
Garner and the Village Board, Holley was able to assist
in the revitalization of Hempstead while he served on
the County’s Tax Reassessment Commission.
Supporting the rehabilitation of the TSS and A&S buildings,
he oversaw the reevaluation of the vacant properties,
offering recommendations to restore them to profit-
making, tax-paying businesses.

Since 2002, Holley has served as an aide to State
Senator Kemp Hannon, representing him at local district
functions and reporting on issues of concern. In
this capacity, he has attended Boy and Girl Scout events,
worked with organizers of health and street fairs, and
built relationships with civic and community groups.

As president of 100 Black Men of Long Island, Holley
promotes the chapter’s main objectives: mentoring
youth, education, health and wellness and economic
development. The chapter recognizes exceptional individuals,
and Holley is especially proud of the organization’s
voter education efforts. He says: “It’s easy to say
‘ register to vote,’ but it’s more important to teach people
how to vote – how to recognize qualified candidates
who can bring change to your community.”

Holley is especially thankful that Long Island has
embraced him since he arrived here 51 years ago, and
he adds, “I’d like to feel that I have given back to Long
Island.”

A 48-year resident of Hempstead, Holley celebrated
43 years of marriage with Kaye before she passed away.
He has four children – Mynita, Henry Jr., Michael and
Christopher and six grandchildren, Christina, Stephen,
Preston, Ta’Marr, Michael Jr. and Justin. He is a member
of the Antioch Baptist Church of Hempstead, and runs
the substance and alcohol abuse program under the
auspice of the church’s Outreach Program.

NETWORKING® January 2005