Table of Contents Table of Contents
Previous Page  22 / 98 Next Page
Information
Show Menu
Previous Page 22 / 98 Next Page
Page Background

22

BizVoice/Indiana Chamber – May/June 2016

from coal and that’s shifting as Washington, D.C., the EPA, has

declared a war on coal to pretty much shut it down.

You’ve seen a lot of that coal-fired power switching over to

natural gas right now and at a cheaper cost certainly. How long will

that cheap gas be there? How long will that volume of gas be there

when you start making electricity? Renewable energy is an important

part of our energy pie, if you will, but it’s not the main thing because

if the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, you don’t have

that energy. Until we create a way to store that energy, it’s not going

to be a huge part of our energy pie.

BV:

Who are one or two people who have made the

biggest impact on your career?

Griffin:

So many people have helped me. I’ve tried to learn from

everyone I’ve ever worked with whether they’re doing something

positive or negative – (saying to myself) that’s something maybe I

ought to think about doing or maybe that’s something I shouldn’t do.

I’d have to say my wife, Pamela, has been a tremendous influence

on me. She’s always been positive, always been probably overly

confident about me, more so than I have, about doing things – (saying)

you can do that. That’s very exciting to have – your best friend, your

spouse helping you through this. Then I have to say my mom. She was

an incredibly upbeat person, extremely intelligent, everybody’s friend.

I think I learned a lot from her in a very positive way about how to

react to situations and work with people.

BV:

What have you enjoyed the most about being part

of the Chamber team?

Griffin:

The Chamber’s a family. We have 50 people in that

family – and I joke and say that’s just a few more people than we have

in the Pam and Vince family. But it’s always been a team effort; we’ve

always gone at things in a group way, a family way. I think we’ve got

the best quality government affairs team of any association, any

organization in the state. And that’s been exciting. I think we’ve

always been able to make a difference and produce a quality product.

BV:

What’s next in addition to spending more time with

your family?

Griffin:

That’s Pamela’s biggest worry, that I’m not going to be

challenged enough. We love bicycling. We’ve had the opportunity to

bicycle all over Europe and we have a lot of friends around the country

who have encouraged us, at this point anyway, to come visit and

bicycle with them. I still play racquetball, enjoy playing tournaments,

and that’s a family sport for us too.

Pamela’s training to run her 30th consecutive Mini Marathon. We

ran 25 of them together until my knee surgery. I will be out there on

the course on a bicycle supporting her. Then with all the kids and

grandkids – we have 18 grandkids from ages 1 to 21 –we’ll be going

to lots of sporting events. We do now and we’ll probably do even more.

BV:

Are you going to miss those marble floors at the

Statehouse?

Griffin:

Tom, I’ve done the (bicycle) ride across Indiana three

times and, as I said, run 25 mini marathons, but those marble floors

hurt a heck of a lot more than doing that. It is painful. It’s hard to

believe when you go home at night after being over there for hours –

you’re just exhausted. I won’t miss that. (But) I’ll miss the people and

the associations.

“Your experience here will help

define

how

you plan every

event going forward,

large or small.”

—Bart Shaw, Executive Director

GrandWayne Convention Center

Everything you desire. More than you expect.

225,000 sf. of versatile space with convention & expo hall, two ballrooms, 18 meeting rooms, intuitive floor plans

Carpeted, climate-controlled rooms

Free set-up • Extensive pre-function areas

On-site AV, Event management, Catering

High tech Productivity Suite

High performanceWiFi

500 attached guest rooms and attached covered parking

Easy access and move-in

Downtown FortWayne, Indiana, with more dining and more doing!

See for yourself @

grandwayne.com

Fort Wayne, Indiana | 260.426.4100

GWCC-BizVoiceHalfPg2016.indd 1

12/2/15 12:52 PM