Dennis Fowler Hightower (born October 28, 1941 in Washington, DC), is a former Army Officer, retired business executive, college educator, and public servant who was the United States Deputy Secretary of Commerce from August 11, 2009 to August 27, 2010.He spent his formative years in Washington, D.C., and graduated from McKinley High School in 1958, at age 16, as class president. He entered Howard University that same year and graduated in 1962, at age 20, with a B.S. degree.