The sign on Bruce Griffith's office door at the Kishwaukee Education Consortium building on the campus of Kishwaukee College reads "special projects consultant," a title that is sufficiently vague so as to lend a broad definition to a job that may be informally described as the "go-to guy."

"We have a close working relationship with KEC," Kishwaukee College President Dr. Tom Choice said. "It seems like Bruce works for everybody. You see Bruce coming and you know he's got to be doing something great for the community."

Griffith has spent the last decade working for KEC, an association of area high schools that provides vocational-technical training and alternative education for local high school students. He is neither an administrator nor an instructor. Yet in some ways he is every bit the teacher he set out to be years ago before making a career in the automotive industry.

"He was going to be a teacher, and he never got it out of his system," Sycamore City Manager Bill Nicklas said. "But he is a teacher; a wonderful teacher. The need to educate is always there."

And like Nicklas before him, Griffith's contributions to the community are being rewarded with the Clifford Danielson Outstanding Citizen Award, which he will be given during the annual meeting of the Sycamore Chamber of Commerce on Thursday, Jan. 27.

"The award is given to someone who excels at what they do for a living to the point that they go above and beyond in helping the community," Sycamore Chamber Director Rose Treml said. "This is largely about what Bruce has done for students in our area and how important it is to him to make sure our students have everything they need to become important members of the community."



Building relationships

The five core high schools served by KEC are Sycamore, DeKalb, Rochelle, Genoa-Kingston and Hiawatha. There are more than 15 career and technical programs available to area high school students, including health occupations, fire science, construction trades, criminal justice, collision repair and many more. Griffith has a hand in all of the programs wherever he is needed, whether pushing to sell a house built by the construction trades class or showcasing the students during one of series of general partnership meetings he hosts that draws large crowds of local leaders in business, education and government.

"I don't know anyone who says no to Bruce Griffith," Choice said. "You look around the room (at a general partnership meeting) and you wonder, how did he get all these people here? Here's a bunch of people who couldn't say no. He does a wonderful job of showcasing the students."

The last meeting focused on KEC's aviation program, for which Griffith may be most closely associated. It is an understatement to say Griffith was instrumental in starting the program, which in just a few years has launched young people into careers as commercial pilots and into the Air Force Academy.

"It really was Bruce Griffith that got that program started," Choice said. "It's been a phenomenal program, but that's just how he works."

Building that program was accomplished largely by Griffith's ability to seek out and bring together local people who had the talent, know-how and equipment that the program required.

"He's a relationship builder," Treml said. "It's the relationship Bruce has with the college, the community and KEC. It's a tough thing to do, to be that link. But that's why he's so successful."



Business career

Griffith's impact on the Sycamore chamber goes far deeper than his role as liaison between business, education and government. For many years he was a successful Sycamore business man, a role to which he recently returned.
Griffith was teaching in Minnesota in 1972 when his father fell ill. Richard "Punk" Griffith was owner of Punk's Firestone, and Bruce agreed to come home and help out in the family business. He committed to three years, and ended up staying in that business for three decades.

He's never been a 9-to-5 guy," Nicklas said. "His business taught him that if you're needed, you go. That's how he built his business, is good service. And that service mentality he brought into his aviation class.

"He is relentless toward an objective," Nicklas added. "He believes you keep working until the job is done. Those skills were honed in the private sector. I wish we had more people who had to make a payroll, had to please customers, had to listen carefully to concerns and try to meet those concerns.

It wasn't until 2001, when he went to KEC, that Griffith left the auto business. But last year he resurrected that business, opening the R.W. Griffith Group's d/b/a Punk's, at 121 N. Maple St., in Sycamore. It's no surprise that some of his employees first learned their craft as high school students attending KEC.

"What we do at KEC is develop students, prepare them for the world of work," Griffith said. "I help kids. I provide opportunities, and try to establish a pathway for them. It's not all about teaching something. It's actually about executing; doing what we know can be done."



No better community

Griffith is fond of saying that in 30 years in business, he never dealt with a customer, but only with friends. He says "there is no better community" than Sycamore, and although he calls himself a private person, he seems to know everyone. The trick, it seems, is to be everywhere at once.

"Some people try to make a splash," he said. "I'm kind of like water torture. I try to be consistent, but not aggravating."

Those who know him well seem to agree that Griffith is nothing if not consistent. Nicklas calls him "an honest man and a straight shooter."

"He doesn't embellish," Nicklas said. "He's sometimes painfully honest. Kids know where they stand at all times.

"He's a remarkably selfless person," he added. "If you're looking for a model for public service, I think he's your guy."