In 1992, Dr. Calvin Mackie co-founded Channel ZerO, an educational and motivational consulting company. He has been active on the public speaking circuit for over ten years giving motivational presentations to numerous educational, civic and corporate institutions.  Mackie is also a tenured associate professor of mechanical engineering at Tulane University in New Orleans, specializing in heat transfer and fluid dynamics.

After graduating from high school in New Orleans, Mackie earned, simultaneously, a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Morehouse College.  He has a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech. In March 1996, he was conferred the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Mackie is an active member of the National Speaker Association, the 100 Black Men of Metro New Orleans, and a board member of New Orleans Computer Access Program (NOCAP); a nonprofit organization that places computers in the homes of New Orleans Public School first graders.

Mackie is married to Tracy Ransom and has one son.