What does it mean to be a “Hoosier Daddy”?!  D’uAndre A. Drain (DAD) was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1976.  As a child, he moved several times around the city of Indianapolis. After obtaining his high school diploma, he attended college in Bloomington, Indiana for four years.  After the successful completion of his undergraduate degree with honors, he moved back to Indianapolis for one year and later relocated to the state of Wisconsin in 2001.  All his life, he lived in big cities with the exception of Evansville, Indiana, which came to be his “home away from home”.  After successfully completing his Master’s of Strategic Management degree, with specializations in Logistics and Product Distribution, he immediately began his doctoral coursework in the School of Education and applied for a career advancement opportunity in the beautiful state of Texas.  Today, although he does miss his Indiana home, he is proud to say that he has been a resident of Texas for over four years, living the life that he had always dreamt of, working for a great company, spending quality time with his children, and completed his Chief Executive Officer doctoral program in Organizational Management - Ed.D.

DAD attended college at Indiana University as an undergraduate student.  His field of study was Psychology and he obtained a Bachelor’s of Science (B.S.) degree in that field.  Minoring in Biology and African-American studies, he performed psychological research in the city of Indianapolis while pursuing his B.S. degree in Bloomington. During those formative years, he was a proud member of the Ernest Just Organization of Biology (EJOB) and the Ronald E. McNair Scholars programs. As an undergraduate student, he also conducted research in the field of genetics while studying DNA methylation in a laboratory under the mentorship of Dr. Mimi Zolam.

Although he was a full-time student in Bloomington, he maintained a part time technician position working for Chrysler Corporation, a Fortune 500 automotive company, in Indianapolis. For decades, he enjoyed working in the automotive manufacturing industry within DaimlerChrysler Corporation and ending his automotive career at Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Incorporated, in 2016.  While gaining hands-on Toyota Production System (TPS) experience, he enrolled in graduate school at the Oakland City University - Evansville campus for the purpose of obtaining a Master of Science degree with specializations in Strategic Management.  Over the years, the many successes that he enjoyed within his academic life he also experienced in his professional career as he was recognized for having great work ethic and received many promotions within three different automotive manufacturing facilities. Today, he has successfully transitioned into a new career working in aviation aerospace while enjoying southern family-living in Texas.

While he loved his work, he loved his family more and had always dreamt of giving them the upbringing that he had not fully experienced with his own parents.  Despite the hardship of having absentee parents, he really did enjoy his life during the different stages of adolescence leading up to becoming a parent.  Having lived the ideal dream of a young, African American male who had experienced an impoverished lifestyle, DAD’s mid-20’s were filled with many memorable events.  In succession, he was blessed to have experienced events such as, but not limited to: 1) college graduation; 2) first apartment lease and later home ownership; 3) obtaining a salaried position; 4) getting engaged to, and later marrying, his girlfriend from junior high school; 5) job promotion opportunities; 6) international travel outside of the United States; 7) development of a realty company; and 8) purchasing new automotive vehicles. Although these life experiences gave him a sense of pride, nothing filled him with as much joy as when he held his first-born child for the very first time. Parenthood gave DAD a sense of purpose like nothing before. As a father, he discovered a treasure that was far more precious than silver, gold, or material possessions. 

As a husband, father, grandfather, and graduate student, DAD enjoyed many moments with his family over the years.  Everyone knows that family vacations and holidays are the post card moments in life; however, DAD found great joy in the simple pleasures of life such as watching his family smile on any given day, hearing laughter within the walls of his home, serving as their academic role model, and providing his family with all the necessities that a Christian father could offer his family. As he longed to fulfill all of his personal, academic, and professional dreams, obtaining an Organizational Management doctoral degree was simply the “cherry on top” as it would provide DAD with a greater platform to speak from.

His 30’s were filled with growth in all areas of life such as financial prosperity, academic excellence, spiritual maturity, physical strength, mental resilience after the loss of his maternal grandmother, and his immediate family grew larger as he became a grandparent.  As with his previous entry into parenthood, DAD found that being a grandfather to six beautiful kids was a new height that he never imagined in his lifetime.  Even when gone from this world, DAD’s life will go on forever through his four children and their children… and he thanks God for blessing him with their presence.  Now, as the founder and Chief Executive Officer for the DRAIN Corporation, LLC., DAD has created a portfolio business that will guide his family in the relentless pursuit of personal and professional development while advancing non-profit organizations, educational institutions, and for-profit organizations in achieving their strategic and organizational goals.

For pleasure, DAD enjoys swimming, exercising, playing instruments, going to the movie theatre, traveling, eating exotic foods, bike riding, running half marathons, fundraising for NPOs, doing community service, attending concerts & theatrical plays, singing in choirs & gospel groups, and participating in athletic challenges.  Through his growing confidence and faith, DAD has won many awards in his life from academic achievements, athletic placements, acting awards, instrumental music certificates, talent show trophies, and community service recognition awards.  Additionally, DAD enjoys learning new insights, methodologies, and challenging himself physically and mentally.  In DAD’s opinion, to truly understand a person’s real potential, an individual must stretch his/her self beyond their comfort zone to identify true growth.  In this way, DAD found great pleasure and discovered his true potential when he established and registered the DRAIN Corporation, LLC., with the office of the Secretary of State.

As a man of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., DAD lives his life aspiring for greatness while enjoying the greatest friendships along the way.  The Fraternity motto is “Friendship is Essential to the Soul” and DAD lives his life as a principled, Omega Man.  The Fraternity’s cardinal principles are manhood, scholarship, perseverance, and uplift and DAD never deviated from upholding these principles since his initiation into the greatest fraternity in the world.  Despite having many fraternal brothers internationally, DAD and his best friend, Steve, have been friends since their first day of undergraduate school at Indiana University. To DAD, his best friend gave him the confidence that he needed to survive outside of Indianapolis, Indiana, and he now draws from that same confidence by affirming his intention to further expand his business portfolio.

In DAD’s own words, “the most memorable things about me are my sense of humor, insatiable love for adventure, passion towards living the best life that I could live, and unshakable faith in God.  People admire my unwavering loyalty to my fraternity as a Life Member of Omega Psi Phi, integrity and work ethic, leadership capabilities, and love for my family.  When my time comes to leave this world, my family and friends will miss my zany sense of humor because I can turn every mishap into something to learn from and/or laugh about.  I’m certain that it’ll also be mentioned that I had incessantly encouraged the youth to use academic excellence as a tool to move mountains.  They will say these things as they read from the eulogy of this Hoosier native” - Dr. D’uAndre Antoine Drain