Earl W. Overstreet II is the retired president of General Microsystems Inc. (GMI), a company he founded in 1983. Over an almost forty-year span, Overstreet grew GMI from a one-person office offering PC products to an innovative IT solutions provider that became the largest Black-owned business in Washington state. GMI delivered end-to-end security, collaboration, networking, and data center solutions for medium to large sized customers with complex mission critical IT environments.
GMI received the received the 2008 William D. Bradford Minority Business of the Year Award and the 2006 Distinguished Business Achievement Award from the University of Washington Foster School of Business. The company also received the 2007, 2008, and 2014 Supplier of the Year Awards for Class III from the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council, and the 2012 King County Executive’s Minority Small Business of the Year Award. In 2019 GMI was recognized by the Puget Sound Business Journal as Washington’s 10th largest minority-owned company. The company was sold to Global Market Innovators (GMI) in 2020.
Overstreet started his career at the General Electric Miniature Lamp Department where he held positions in manufacturing, sales, and marketing. At Wyle Laboratories Electronic Marketing Group his responsibilities included sales, sales management, and division management.
He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Case Institute of Technology and an MBA from Case Western Reserve University in his hometown of Cleveland, Ohio. Overstreet is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, and Tabor 100. In 2014 he was inducted into the Case Western Reserve University Spartan Club Hall of Fame for football and track & field.
Overstreet was recognized as 2016 U.S. Small Business Administration State and Regional 8(a) Graduate of the Year. In 2018 he was awarded the John A. Gilmore Award by the Northwest Mountain MSDC for advocating on behalf of fellow minority business owners.
In 2014, Overstreet was appointed to a six-year term on the Western Washington University Board of Trustees where he served as 2018-2020 board chair. He also served eight years as a Bellevue Chamber of Commerce director, including 2010-2011 as board chair. He currently serves as a member of the Washington Roundtable Board of Directors. Other community service activities include Clallam and Island County Broadband Action Teams, UW Foster School of Business Ascend Program Coach, Central Washington University College of Business Advisory Board, the State of Washington Department of Enterprise Services Business Diversity Advisory Group, Bellevue College and Western Washington University Presidential Search Advisory Committees, and the South King County STEM Advisory Committee.
Overstreet was featured in the March 2008 Fortune Small Business article titled “Best Places to Live and Launch”, the April 2017 425 Business article titled “Built to Last” and the Puget Sound Business Journal November 30, 2017, article titled “Washington’s small business heroes have big ideas”. In 2021, he gave the keynote address at the UW Foster Tech Club event titled, “Is Tech Equity a Thing?” and at the Northwest Mountain Minority Supplier Development Council Business Conference titled, “An Entrepreneurial Journey”.