Ernest E. Garrett III is Founder, Owner, and Chief Executive Officer at Garrett LCSW & Consulting, LLC, a deaf-owned and operated Minority-Owned Business Enterprise that has been A+ accredited by the Better Business Bureau since 2012. Within this social entrepreneurial venture, he practices management and leadership consulting as well as clinical social work with a focus on the mental health needs of C-suite and senior executive management leaders in the public, private, and non-profit sectors.

Garrett holds the distinction of serving as the first Deaf and African American superintendent of the Missouri School for the Deaf, a position that he held from July 2014 - July 2017. While serving as superintendent, he was appointed and commissioned as a member of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing by then-governor Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, a state agency that he led as its executive director from July 2011- July 2014. As superintendent, he championed the idea of "education without limits" and was instrumental in leading the school through a change management process, resulting in a new mission, vision, motto, and strategic plan that was unanimously approved by the school's board of advisors. A former president of the National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA), Garrett is a recipient of the "Advocate of the Year Award" from NBDA (2009), the "Lasting Impression Award" from Special School District of St. Louis County (2011), and the "Lifetime Achievement Award" from the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. He was also a finalist for the Paul G. Hearne Leadership Award from the American Association of People with Disabilities (2015).

He also holds the distinction of serving as the first Deaf and African American superintendent of the Louisiana Special School District, a state-level role within the Louisiana Department of Education that required appointment to the role by the state superintendent of education and eventual confirmation for the role by the Louisiana State Senate. He held this role and successfully engineered the consolidation of two state agencies into a unified educational services agency under the control of a Governor-appointed board of directors. This required an act of the Louisiana Congress and represented a time of exciting and transformational change. As with the Missouri School for the Deaf, he championed a universal design approach to the concept of “education without limits” and has since moved on to take his talents, knowledge, skills, and abilities into the private sector to further effect positive social change. While in this role, he was designated to a seat on the Louisiana Commission for the Deaf, where he served as Chairman the duration of his tenure. In addition to these lived experiences in the education management field, he has served as the executive director/CEO of a non-profit organization; he influenced public policy as the executive director of the Missouri Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and also cut his teeth in other areas of leadership development experiences that predated even these, such as 3 years with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and his time in direct social work practice as a school social worker at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf and Special School District of St. Louis County. These diverse management, leadership, and clinical social work practice experiences makes Ernest uniquely qualified to offer sound advice and counsel with respect to executing his role as a member of the NTID National Advisory Group.

Garrett received an Associate of Arts degree in general studies and dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in history and professional/technical writing from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. He then earned a Master of Science degree in Administration, with a concentration in Change Leadership in Education, as well as a Master of Social Work degree, with a specialization in School Social Work, both from Gallaudet University. In addition, he has an advanced research master's degree, the Master of Philosophy in Management, with a Leadership and Organizational Change specialization, from Walden University and completed his Doctor of Philosophy in Management, with a Leadership and Organizational Change specialization, also from Walden University.

He is licensed as an independent clinical social worker in five states, and holds multiple certifications and credentials in the field of social work.

Garrett is a lifetime member of the Gallaudet University Alumni Association, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Alumni Association, and the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. He holds memberships in numerous professional and advocacy organizations including National Association of Social Workers, The Network for Social Work Management, Academy of Management, Saint Louis Club, the City Club of Baton Rouge, and Rotary Club of Webster Groves.