Controversial CLC trustee now teaching at Triton
College of Lake County board Trustee William Griffin says he hopes his new job will give him added perspective for his elected position.
Griffin, a former executive at ComEd and other companies, has just started as a nontenured, full-time instructor at Triton College in River Grove. Griffin is mostly teaching business law at Triton.
It was just two years ago when Grayslake-based CLC and Griffin drew heat from faculty senate leaders over a plan to install him as the school's president, in part, over concerns of him negotiating a contract with his board colleagues. The gripes led him to remove himself as the lone candidate for the presidency, now held by Girard "Jerry" Weber.
Griffin, 56, of Lake Forest, said being a full-timer on Triton College's faculty could help him foster a better relationship with teachers in his role on CLC's board.
"I think it's just a different perspective that I gain as a full-time faculty member. ... I hope that makes me a better trustee," said Griffin, who's had part-time teaching gigs at Oakton Community College, Lake Forest Graduate School of Management and Carthage College in Wisconsin.
Longtime CLC board member Richard Anderson said Griffin's full-time presence at Triton could become valuable in a variety of ways. For example, he said, Griffin could introduce CLC to worthwhile practices he observes at Triton that may not be in use at the Grayslake school.
Griffin said he also can be more in tune with student needs as a CLC board member through his daily teaching at Triton.
"I see in front of me, every day, the reason we're all here," he said.
Griffin is a former general manager of ComEd's Chicago region and at one time served as chief operating officer of XTnrgy, a firm involved in large-scale cooling and heating systems. He's also affiliated with a Lake Forest real-estate company and gained election as a life director of the Homebuilders Association of Greater Chicago in 1997.
Voters returned Griffin to the CLC board for a six-year term in April. He served on CLC's board from 1995 to 2001 and returned in 2003.