Born in San Bernardino, California, Larry Davenport attended school in Arkansas, in the cities of Clinton and Fayetteville. After earning his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degrees in Mathematics at the University of Arkansas, Davenport began working in February 1965 at IBM, where for the next two and a half decades he would be employed in numerous positions in sales, corporate and oversea assignment.
In August 1989, Davenport left IBM to become Senior Vice President of Information Technology at JB Hunt Transport in Lowell, Arkansas. Six years later, he left to serve as Senior Vice President and CIO of Safety-Kleen Corp. in Elgin, Illinois, and later as Executive Vice President and CIO of Foamex Corp in Linwood, Pennsylvania, serving about three years in each of these positions.
Davenport returned to Fayetteville and served on the faculty of the Business School at his alma mater, the University of Arkansas, during the fall of 2003. In December 2003, he returned to IBM as Territory Services Leader for Arkansas and Oklahoma, the position he currently holds.